28 
is decidedly the best plan. The thickness of this surrounding packing 
should be from 2 inches to 8 or 10 inches for single colonies, according 
to the severity of the climate, but if four or more colonies are grouped 
for the winter, so as to make the natural warmth generated mutually 
advantageous, somewhat less packing will be sufficient. A most 
important point is to have the soft warmth-retaining packing come in 
close contact with the edges of the combs, and above all not to have a 
hive wall, either thick or thin, between this material and the bees. A good 
plan is to construct an open framework or skeleton hive of laths, cover 
it with sacking, or, preferably, some less fuzzy cloth which the bees will 
not gnaw, and, after placing it in an outer wooden case large enough 
every way to admit of the necessary 
packing about the colony, to fill in 
on all sides with some dry, porous 
material (fig. 19). If the frames are 
shallow, like the Langstroth, it is 
better to construct the inner case so 
as to place them on end, and thus 
give a deeper comb for the winter. 
Layers of newspapers may come next 
outside the cloth covering of the 
framework. Wheat chaff answers 
well to complete the packing. Wool 
is to be preferred, but is of course 
too expensive unless a waste product. 
Ground cork, waste flax, hemp, saw- 
dust, etc., in fact, any fine porous ma- 
terial, if thoroughly dry, may be used. 
A board passageway 3 or 4 inches 
wide and three-eighths of an inch 
high should connect this inner apart- 
SSS == ment and the flight hole of the outer 
Hie, -19,—Colony of bees with apyspaners case, tus alordms an ext taeente 
packed between inner and outer cases and 
brood frames on end for the winter. bees whenever the weather may per- 
mit them to fly. When these prep. 
aratious have been completed, the hive is ready for the combs, which 
with adhering bees, are taken from the summer hive and inserted in 
the winter hive. A quilt is then laid on the frames and the top pack- 
ing put on. This, for convenience, may be held in a cloth-bottomed 
tray. It is quite important, as already mentioned, that air be allowed 
to circulate freely above the packing. The outside case must be quite 
rain-proof or else wholly protected from the rain by a roof. 
All other necessary conditions having been complied with shortly 
after the gathering season closed, the combs may be lifted from the 
summer hives and placed in these specially arranged winter cases 
before cold weather wholly stops the bees from flying out. Thus pre- 



































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a 
