THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
35o 
of honey each, that I might ascertain whether they would survive 
with so small a supply of food. I placed therein, also, a late 
after-swarm, which had built only a few short combs, and con¬ 
tained not more than four or five pounds of honey. All the 
others had ample stores. I closed the entrance and ventilating- 
passage of one strong colony, and placed some pieces of empty comb 
in the rear of the hive, to test whether, if moisture were generated 
from want of ventilation, mould would form on those combs. 
“From the 18th to the 23rd of November, the weather was 
very mild, and the ventilating-tubes were, therefore, all left open 
day and night. On the 24th, the clamp was covered with snow, 
and I closed three of the ventilating-tubes. On the 26th, a thaw 
commenced, and the weather continued to be very moderate to 
the end of the month, the thermometer standing at 33° in the 
open air. Two of the tubes were kept open. From the 1st to 
the 3rd of December, ten inches of snow fell, with the thermo¬ 
meter ranging from 20° to 22° ; and 1 kept only one tube open. 
On the 6th, the weather moderated; from the 7th to the 12tb, the 
thermometer stood at from 54° to 66°, and I again opened all the 
tubes, and kept them open till the end of the month, and to thb 
5th of January. On the 6tli, the weather became cold and freez¬ 
ing, and I now added the outer mantle, or coating of leaves and 
pine shatters, closing all the tubes. The cold spell continued till 
the 17th of January. From the 18th till the end of the month, 
we had continuous fair, mild weather, and I opened all the venti¬ 
lating-tubes. In February, the weather was particularly mild 
and fair, and, from the 18th to the 21st, the thermometer ranged 
from 76° to 78°. The bees belonging to some of my neighbors, 
and which were wintered in the open air, were now flying briskly 
every day, and most of the colonies in my chamber became so 
restless that I was constrained to remove them out of their 
Winter quarters. 1 did so with the less reluctance, as we had all 
the indications of an early Spring. The fair weather continuing, 
I deemed it wrong to keep my colonics longer confined in the 
clamp, and accordingly opened it on the 27th of February, to 
release them. 
“ Though the clamp had been exposed to the direct rays of the 
