Hence it appears that the three hives (Nos. 1, 2, and 3) that had never been removed from their summer stands, were 33 lbs. lighter than when I first weighed them, that is, on an average, 11 lbs. a hive; and even with the weight of their two swarms added to them, there was a falling off in the year of 9 lbs. or, on an average, of 3 lbs, a hive: whilst Nos. 4, 5, and 6, had gained 17 lbs. or, on an average, nearly 6 lbs. each; and with the weight of their swarms added to them, they had gained 107 lbs. or, on an average, nearly 36 lbs. a hive in the year. I could carry this subject much further in my explanations, as I did in my experiments, but it requires no facts in addition to those just stated to explain the difference of aspect in the winter-season to Bees. Every cottager must know that the richer his Bees are in spring, the sooner they will swarm. Then, to make them rich, he must not neglect to place his hives out of the influence of the sun during winter,--_in a dry, cold, and quiet situation_. He will find by this practice, that not more than five or six pounds of honey will be consumed by a good stock; but if he suffer his Bees to remain fronting the south, they will in a mild winter, if they survive it at all, become paupers before spring. Now what is proper during the winter for stocks in common hives, is equally proper for stocks in collateral-boxes, of which the middle-box is the winter-pavilion or stock-hive. Long before winter all the Bees of the most populous stock will draw into the middle-box and cluster round their Queen; and when that is the case, the dividing-tins should be put down, in order that all the Bees may be securely kept in the pavilion; and previously to removing them from their summer situation, the entrance should be carefully closed with a piece of wire-cloth, or perforated tin; which, whilst it admits fresh air into the box, will keep the Bees within and all their enemies without. It is hardly possible for the smallest enemy to make its way into a box thus secured. A perforated tin may also be put over the way down into the drawer. Towards spring this last may be withdrawn, and the Bees, when they begin to revive, will soon rid themselves of those that may have died in the winter, by carrying them down into the drawer. Having made every necessary preparation, remove your stocks to such a situation as that herein before recommended, and there in quietude let them pass the dreary months of winter. I do not advise that they be taken too early to, nor that they remain too long in, their hibernacula: generally speaking, they may be removed towards the latter end of November, and again in the third or fourth week of February; but the Bees themselves, if duly observed, will be the best directors. This is _my_ practice, and it is also the practice of my apiarian friend at Gedney-Hill, than whose, no stocks in this neighbourhood are more healthy or much more prosperous. CHAPTER XVIII. APIARIAN SOCIETIES.