SEVENTEENTH ANMIAL REPORT OF THE 



5-4 



slotted boards and warp them all out pf 

 shape. I had some of those boards spring 

 up one winter, because I did not have any 

 packing or anything on and the moisture 

 warped them. I had that in mind and I 

 was afraid that the moisture would curl 

 them all up, and the evidence that there 

 was not any moisture that struck them 

 was that there was only one hive that had 

 warped the . least bit and that was one 

 that stood in the wind. I protect my bees 

 well against the wind, and I belie v^e that 

 has more to do, as Mr. Root said, I believe 

 the unpacked hive out of the wind is 

 just as good as a packed hive in the wind. 

 That is evidence that there is no moisture 

 there at all. If there is any moisture in 

 it the leaves get it all and the bees do not 

 get it. 



Mr. Dadant — If I could have my choice 

 for wintering, it would be a shed in which 

 the bees would be enclosed in bad weather 

 and the front of which would be open 

 whenever the sun was shining, so that the 

 bees could fly. I believe that would bei^an 

 ideal arrangement. I like the big packing 

 boxes, but when you have kept bees ffiirty 

 years and tried all sorts of things and thJere 

 is such a pile of lumber in the packing 

 boxes, you get tired of so much material; 

 it is expensive, it gets out of shape and it 

 is not pleasant to have around. Some bee- 

 keepers who are very careful and put every- 

 thing under shelter succeed in that way, 

 but we have found it much more profitable 

 to pack oyr bees in leaves every fall and 

 carry the leaves away in the spring. How- 

 ever, there is such a thing as poor packing, 

 when the packing is loosely done and the 

 hive is almost unprotected, but if the 

 leaves are well packed around the hive, 

 with the front open and the roof on top, 

 I believe we have as good packing for our 

 locality, for our conditions of wintering 

 as we can find. 



Mr. Coppin — Do you pack each hive 

 separate? 



Mr. Dadant — Separately, yes, each hive 

 by itself. 



Mr. Coppin — I have a little different way 

 of packing mine. I pack them in clumps 

 of either 6 or 12. My hives are in rows, 

 one facing east, and the other facing west, 

 and I place them up, back to back, the 

 back of each hive about 5 inches higher 

 than the front. All this is on a 6 inch 

 stand. I lay a board on the ground in 

 front of the hive, resting on the ground, 

 and the back of the hive resting on the 

 stand, and the other one the same, on the 

 back of iti Then the covers are slightly 

 wider than the hive, they telescope, like 

 Mr. Dadant tells. There is a space be- 



ween the hives. That space is packed 

 with leaves or straw and also the space in 

 the back of them, at the tops. That does 

 not take a lot of packing, because they 

 protect one another. Then I have a piece 

 of roofing paper that I put over the top. 

 I have either 6 or 12 in the clump and it 

 requires a board over that clump. It does 

 not take much lumber. 



Mr. Dadant — Are they moved from that 

 spot, or left all summer? 



Mr. Coppin — Yes, they are moved. I 

 have to move them back because I have 

 the roadway behind them. They are just 

 about half a yard apart in the row, so I 

 do not have to move them very far to- 

 gether, or very far back. They are not 

 very far apart. That is the easiest way 

 I can pack mine. 



The Secretary — Does the wind affect 

 them, do you suppose? 



Mr. Coppin — I have not proved that. 

 But I can protect them, as Mr. Dadant 

 said. I can place boards in front of them, 

 and I could let them out on fine days. 

 I think that would be a good idea, to keep 

 them boarded up to keep the wind away. 



Mr. Kildow — You have pretty fair pro- 

 tection from the wind. 



Mr. Root — Mr. Dadant touches on a 

 point that we have often had in mind. 

 There is nothing more distressing than to 

 have the workrnen leave packing material 

 scattered all over the yard. That is one 

 serious objection to the quadruple case. 

 We are using the single wall hives under 

 one shed, using all the different hives side 

 by side. Our men are taking the double 

 wall hives, having them close together, pile 

 corn stalks around them, I think they have 

 loose boards enough to keep them from 

 getting away. One trouble with the quad- 

 ruple is to get it away at the end of the 

 season. The other difficulty is, after pack- 

 ing the bees, they are so used to the great 

 big quadruple hive that we have serious 

 trouble with drifting. 



Mr. Dadant — I do not want people to 

 think I am trying to tell what you should 

 do. I simply want to tell you what we 

 do and why we do it. Why do we use 

 leaves? Because all our apiaries are right 

 in the woods, the leaves are right under 

 you, it does not take much trouble to get 

 leaves and pack the hives. 



The Secretary — Why can not the hives 

 be brought in and put back on the same 

 old stand? 



Mr. Dadant — You have two hives some 

 distance apart and then another one 

 further on, bring those two hives together 

 or four hives together, you change the 

 location of them. The moment the hives 



