October 24.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
53 
ancl covered over to some depth with earth, gravel, cinders, 
dry leaves, or any other available material. Care must be 
: taken of course to allow a free passage for the air under¬ 
neath, by leaving open the ends of the frame. If hives be 
thus treated, let them be stowed away in some unfrequented 
room, loft, or outhouse, where there is an absence of all 
I noise or concussions of any kind. A floor of wood is bad, 
! because every foot-fall will disturb these insects, who are 
extremely sensitive of touch—the slightest concussion being 
enough to arouse them. This evil might, perhaps, be 
j obviated by resting the frame on a substratum of sand, or 
on bits of flannel rag. This plan of Mr. Richardson is 
admirable, not only because of the perfect ventilation it 
affords, but also as facilitating the running off of any con¬ 
densed vapours which might be engendered in the hives by 
i the bees’ perspiration. I have thought that the suspension of 
j hives by a stout rope from the beam of some dar/c, cool, dry, 
' and well-aired barn would answer the same and equally well, 
while nothing could be simpler. They should be hung up 
out of the reach of mice or other vermin, to be effectually 
closed against their possible intrusion. Mr. Cotton, of old, 
recommended tying up hives in cloths, and thus hanging 
them ; but this I am persuaded must be bad, both from the 
imperfect ventilation, and because the cloth would catch and 
retain the moisture, which it is so important to get rid of. 
My plan is to suspend the hives in a plate of perforated zinc, 
in shape like the scale of a balance; or still better, perhaps, 
suspend them on their usual bottom-board, out of which, in 
the centre,has been cut a square hole, from four to six inches 
in diameter ; underneath this a slide of perforated zinc 
might be arranged in a groove, which would answer all the 
pm’poses of ventilation, and afford facilities for the occa¬ 
sional sweeping out of any dead bees or accumulated filth 
during the winter. One or other of these two plans I would 
recommend, in preference to any other, to those who fear the 
burial of bees as too hazardous an experiment, or hold that 
i air is essential to their well-being in winter. 
There are some persons (and among them bee-keepers of 
, much longer experience than myself) who maintain,that not 
only air but also exercise is necessary to the same end. To 
a certain extent I agree with them. I allow it: for instance, 
where bees are so situated as to be tempted to take exercise 
| in winter, as they are when hives are suffered to remain on 
their summer stands, or in the open air at all. In the former 
case it is not uncommon, in our variable climate, for a change 
of 20 degrees (as when the sun shines) to occur in the ex¬ 
ternal temperature within a very few hours even in January; 
and though, perhaps, such change is not so great where 
bees are wintered in a northern aspect, it is still often 
sudden and considerable. Here, of course, the insects 
must naturally awake from their winter slumbers and be 
tempted into the open air, and it is good for them, doubt¬ 
less, so to do; although in so doing, on such a day as I have 
described, they would consume, each hive probably, not less 
than from three to five ounces of food. Confinement, under 
such circumstances, would probably be fatal. Where, how¬ 
ever, the hive is so placed as not to feel these sudden and 
great changes, I am persuaded the bees will remain in good 
health and in a state of torpidity for a very long time, and 
i be no more incommoded by a three months’ than by a three 
weeks’ imprisonment. My theory seems to me to be sound, 
and to be borne out by those remarkable and well authenticated 
instances on record, in which interment of bees has been 
tried with success for such long periods. I do not believe 
; that even a great amount of cold is required to throw bees 
into this inactive state. On dark days, with an external 
; temperature of 53 degrees, and even upwards, my own bees 
! seldom stirred last winter until they had been fairly aroused 
by repeated warm suns in February; and now my old hives 
can scarcely produce a single forager, except on very tempting 
days. I confess, taking all these things into consideration, 
1, for my part, am veiy sanguine of success; the issue, how- 
j ever, will determine with what reason. 
I have another theory on the subject moreover, namely, 
I that bees gain an extension of just such length to their natn- 
i rally short life as they pass in a torpid state in winter. If this 
j be correct, here is another most important argument in favour 
of my scheme. 
! That bees do not require exercise in winter seems to be 
acknowledged, in the winter management of their apiaries, 
: by the bee masters of Poland, who regularly shut up their 
bees for five months every year. A late Polish writer on 
bees (whose work, however otherwise interesting, recom- 
mends to us a most imrecommendable plan of bee manage¬ 
ment, as far at least as concerns the method of harvesting 
the honey —may I never know the taste of Polish honey! 
forbid it, ye gods !) states, if I understand him rightly, that 
from about the middle of October to the beginning of April, 
every cranny and chink (“slits,” he says) is carefully stopped 
i up with clay, including the entrance of every hive, so that 
not a bee can, if he would, stir abroad in all that time.* 
Now, it is no objection to say that the winters of Poland are 
more severe than ours, because by the peculiar construction 
of then 1 hives the inclemency of the climate is effectually j 
withstood; a suitable temperature being kept up within, not j 
much, if at all, lower than that which would probably be 
secured by one or other of the new methods proposed by me. 
I believe, how r ever, that it is not so much a very cold climate 
as a very equable temperature that is favourable to an econo¬ 
mical winter treatment of bees. 
I may seem, from the strain of this paper, to recommend 
the suspension of hives in preference, generally, to their in¬ 
terment. If so, I am misunderstood. Let the hives only 
be buried in a dry situation, and this plan offers as many 
advantages as any other; not, however, in a hole filled with 
leaves, as it has been suggested, for these, methinks, must J 
naturally heat and rot under-ground, and occasion the very 
evil we wish most to avoid. A good thick coating of straw, a 
gravelly or strong soil (whether artificial or natural), a north 
aspect, and a shady though dry situation, these alone are 
requisite ; and the hives may be buried at a depth of from 
two to five feet, on a rubble (and w r ell drained) substratum. 
The best time for wintering will offer with the first sharp 
frost hr October, and for disinterment and restoration to their 
summer stands, with the first day in April which promises to 
be warm and sunny throughout. 
I should be greatly obliged to those of your readers who 
are disposed to copy out for their own use the table furnished 
in your 103rd number, if they would distinguish then* 
several experimental hives in the first column by the letters 
ABC, and so on; also, state in the second column how 
much food and comb was allowed to the bees which they 
preserved (if any) ; in the fourth, any peculiarity of experi¬ 
ment differing from those there specified, as well as the depth, 
if buried in the ground; in the fifth, the general character 
of the winter ; and add two more columns at the end, stating 
in one the aspect and situation in which the hives were 
buried, and in the other the system of ventilation adopted. 
We shall thus have a uniform report from every experi¬ 
mentalist, and be better able to judge of the causes of suc¬ 
cess or failure. Any further observations will also be very 
acceptable. 
In conclusion, I am happy to say that I have already 
received applications through you from seven or eight quar¬ 
ters for my table, which is an encouraging sign ; but I shall 
not be satisfied unless I get as many more papers in the 
spring from individuals who have listened to your public as 
well as to my private invitation to join me in my experiments. 
P. S. Since writing the above, I have observed in your 
paper of to-day (Sept. 26 th) the remarks of “An Old Bee 
Master ” on my former communication. At the hazard of 
being considered tedious, allow me to make a few observa¬ 
tions in reply. I am glad to find that lie speaks undoubt- 
ingly as to the desired result of hive interment, but I cannot 
see where the great expense lies which he seems to depre¬ 
cate in my proposed experiments. Surely the cost of a small 
tube or plate of zinc w'ould very little exceed that of such a 
screen as he recommends; seeing,moreover, that that screen, 
however it may check the egress of the bees, will very little 
hinder the consumption of honey; i.e., where hives remain 
in a sunny aspect; because the temperature of the atmo¬ 
sphere surrounding the hives will be raised many degrees 
every warm day, and this must affect their interior; neither 
do I hope that many will be found to complain of the little 
additional trouble. 
Your correspondent, however, suggests a very good plan 
of wintering bees (which I had purposed to add to my table 
of experiments) in recommending their removal to a well- 
* They seem thus to exclude air from the hive, as well as to confine 
the bees I 
