CHAPTER XIII 

 HOW TO WINTER BEES 



IDEAL CONDITIONS 



THE wintering of bees in the northern latitudes is 

 usually attended with more or less loss. Although 

 we now think we know the conditions necessary 

 for perfect wintering,, it is only now and then 

 that they are attained. There are so many 

 unhappy and unpredictable circumstances and 

 vicissitudes, that one must needs be a true prophet 

 as well as a good bee-keeper to be sure that all 

 his swarms will successfully pass the period of snow 

 and cold. 



The problem of wintering hinges as much on 

 protection from dampness as on protection from the 

 cold. We all know that double windows in a room 

 keep the frost off the panes. The reason for this 

 is that the dampness of the room is not allowed to 

 come in contact with the cold outside glass. So it is 

 with the bee-hive; if it is single walled the dampness 

 from the breath of the bees causes the frost to gather 

 on the walls of the hive, which later melts and wets 

 the bees so that they chill easily; the double-walled 

 hive is a guard against this condition. 

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