stock, to keep them all out of the sun; because an occasional warm day
would call out the bees, when they get on the snow, and perish; this is
a loss, to be sure, but there is such a thing as inducing a greater one
by endeavoring to avoid this. I have said in another place that second
rate or poor stocks might occasionally starve, with plenty of stores in
the hive, on account of frosty combs. If the hive is kept from the sun,
in the cold, the periods of temperate weather might not occur as often,
as the bees would exhaust the honey within their circle or cluster. But
on the contrary, when the sun can strike the hive, it warms up the
bees, and melts the frost more frequently. The bees may then go among
their stores and obtain a supply, generally, as often as needed. We
seldom have a winter without sunny days enough for this purpose; but
should such an one occur, stocks of this class should be brought into a
warm room, once in four or five days, for a few hours at a time, to
give them a chance to get at the honey. Stocks much below second-rate
cannot be wintered successfully in this climate; the only place for
them is the warm room. I have known bees thoroughly covered in a
snow-drift, and their owner was at considerable trouble to shovel the
snow away, fearing it would smother them. This is unnecessary, when
protected from the mice and ventilated as just directed; a snow-bank is
about as comfortable a place as they can have, except in the house.
When examined a short time after being so covered, the snow for a space
of about four inches on every side of the hive is found melted, and
none but quite poor stocks would be likely to suffer with this
protection. A little snow around the bottom, without a vent in the side
of the hive, might smother them.

EFFECTS OF SNOW CONSIDERED.

As for bees getting on the snow, I apprehend that not many more are
lost there, than on the frozen earth; that is, in the same kind of
weather. I have seen them chilled, and lost on the ground by hundreds,
when a casual observer would not have noticed them; whereas, had they
been on the snow, at the distance of several rods, every bee would have
been conspicuous. Snow is not to be dreaded as much as chilly air.
Suppose a hive stands in the sun throughout the winter, and bees are
allowed to leave when they choose, and a portion are lost on the snow,
and that it was possible to number all that were lost by getting
chilled, throughout the season,