39 
Nature has provided that the accumulation of waste products in the 
body of the bee during its winter confinement should be small under 
normal conditions, but unusual consumption of food, especially of a 
highly nitrogenous nature like pollen, necessitates a cleansing flight, or 
diarrheal difficulties ensue, combs and hives are soiled, the air of the 
hive becomes polluted, and at last the individual bees become too weak 
to generate proper warmth or drive off the surplus moisture which 
then invades the cluster and brings death to the colony; or, what is 
more frequently the case, a cold snap destroys the last remnant of the 
colony, which has been reduced by constant loss of bees impelled by 
disease to leave the cluster or even to venture out for a cleansing flight 
when snows and great cold prevail. 
The problem then is: Zo retain the warmth generated by the bees, 
which is necessary to their well-being, and at the same time to prevent the 
accumulation of moisture in the hive. A simple opening at the top of 
the hive would permit much of the moisture to pass off, but of course 
heat would escape with it and a draft 
would be produced. Absorbent ma- 
terial about the cluster creates, 
without free ventilation, damp sur- 
roundings, and again the temperature 
is lowered. It is only necessary, 
however, to surround the bees with 
sufficient material to protect them . 
fully against the greatest cold likely = 
to occur, and to take care also that Fis. 17.—Double-walled hive adapted to out- 2 
this enveloping material is of such door wintering as well as summer use below 
. = 40° north latitude in the United States. 
a nature and so disposed as to permit —rhickness of each wall, 3 inch, space be- 
the free passage of the moisture tween walls, 2 inches, packed with dry chaff 
5 3 or ground cork. 
- which would otherwise collect in the 
interior. of the hive, and to permit the escape into the surrounding 
atmosphere of such moisture as enters this material from within. 
This packing should also be fully protected from outside moisture. 
South of Virginia, Kentucky, and Kansas single-walled hives may 
be employed in most localities with good success in outdoor wintering. 
On the approach of the cool or the rainy season a close-fitting quilt 
should be laid over the frames and several folded newspapers pressed 
down on this, or a cushion filled with dry chaff or some other soft 
material may be used instead of paper. The cover or roof should be 
absolutely rain proof, yet between this cover and the cushion or 
papers should be several inches of space with free circulation of air. 
In order to permit this ventilation above the top packing, the cover 
should not rest upon the cap or upper story all of the way around, or 
if it does, an auger hole in each end, protected by wire cloth against 
the entrance of mice, should give free passage to the air. In the 
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