^66 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



would wrap a bundle, and with the 

 lower edges fastened down with strips 

 of wood tacked on, gives a water and 

 wind-proof protection. With this 

 should be coupled, besides the "colony 

 conditions," before mentioned, an 

 abundance of ventilation at the en- 

 trance. I give an entrance /4 x 14 

 inches. 



The tarred paper accomplishes this, 

 keeps out water, keeps out wind, ab- 

 sorbs the sun's rays, which runs up 

 temperature within the hive, thus driv- 

 ing out any condensed moisture, and 

 enabling the bees to feed, clean house, 

 and move about. When the sun is 

 gone it lets that heat escape so slowly 

 that the bees have abundant time to 

 settle dovs'n as they should. 



Bees do not fly unduly from hives 

 thus protected, and so ventilated, and 

 such bees as do fly and fail to return, 

 are those which otherwise would die 

 within the hive. 



When I first published this system I 

 especially cautioned all persons north 

 of here to go slowly in their experi- 

 ments with it, as I was then uncertain 

 as to how it would work in more se- 

 vere climates. From experiments, by 

 myself and others, since that time, I 

 am satisfied that the system will be as 

 effectiye many degrees north of here, 

 as it is here and further south. 



Tarred paper is no more effective 

 than chaff in keeping the bees warm, 

 but it does serve to give them heat 

 whenever the sun shines, which is what 

 chaff hives absolutely prevent. If 

 colonies filled the chamber within a 

 chaff' hive, then its packed walls would 

 conserve the heat of the bees, but the 

 bees occupy only a small part of such 

 chamber, and the space all about 

 them — air, combs, honey, and all— is 

 practically no warmer than the air 

 without the hive. I believe that bees 

 winter well in chaff hives, in spite of 

 the chaff, not on account of it. They 

 will winter perfectly in hives but one- 

 quarter inch thick, exposed to a tem- 



perature 26 below zero, and holding be- 

 low zero for a week at a time, if condi- 

 tions of bees, food, ventilation, etc., 

 are right; and they die just as dead in 

 chaff hives as they do in any other. 



THE DISADVANTAGE OF CHAFF HIVES. 



Chaff hives heat through very 

 slowly, and in the short winter days 

 they do not heat through. Unpro- 

 tected hives heat through readily, and 

 cool quickly. Tarred paper, on 

 single-walled hives, corrects the faults 

 of both hives. 



When the bees break their cluster 

 and spread their brood-nest in the 

 spring, at which time they warm the 

 whole brood chamber, then chaff pack- 

 ing is a real help and an eidvantage 

 over an unprotected hive. But tarred 

 paper accomplishes the same with the 

 additional help of gathering heat from 

 without whenever the sun shines. 



The wintering problem is one of 

 many details, not of any one alone. It 

 is too late now to do much to help out 

 poor stocks, but the black covering 

 will help all very much. But don't 

 forget the abundant ventilation at the 

 entrance, 



If some will devise or discover some 

 equally wind- and water-proof protec- 

 tion that is cleaner to handle and more 

 durable in use than is tarred paper, 

 he will do us a world of good. But it 

 must possess similar felt-like proper- 

 ties and be black. 



Providence R.I., Oct., 21, 1904. 



[This question of the position of 

 stores, while not entirely new, has re- 

 ceived very little attention. When bees 

 are wintered out of doors, it certainly 

 must be of much importance — in a warm 

 cellar it does not seem as though it 

 would be of nearly so much importance. 

 Whether the feeding of ten pounds of 

 honey, instead of sugar, in Mr. Town- 

 send's case, would have produced the 

 same results, is doubtful in the mind 

 of The Editor.] 



