THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



275 



warmth is so slow in reaching them, 

 when bees in sing-le-wall hives may be 

 in full flig-ht. There is occasionally a 

 still, mild day in winter, upon which 

 the sun shines out bright and strong 

 for an hour or two, and bees in single- 

 wall hives enjoy a real cleansing flight, 

 while the momentary rise in the tem- 

 perature passes away ere it has pene- 

 trated the thick walls of a chaff hive. 

 On the other hand, there are days and 

 weeks, and sometimes months, un- 

 broken by these rises in temperature; 

 and the bees must depend for their ex- 

 istence upon the heat generated by 

 themselves; and the more perfect the 

 non-conductor by which they are sur- 

 rounded, the less will be the loss of 

 heat. When bees are well-protected, 

 there is less necessity for flight than 

 when the protection is slight. If a 

 bee-keeper thinks, however, that bees 

 in a chaff hive ought to fly on a warm 

 diiy, and they don't fly, he has only to 

 remove the covering from over the bees, 

 and allow them to fly from the tops of 

 the hives. 



For several winters I left a few col- 

 onies unprotected; and I discontinued 

 the practice only when thoroughly con- 

 vinced that, in this locality, the losses 

 were lessened by protection. In severe 

 winters the bees in the outside spaces, 

 or ranges of combs, died first; the 

 cluster became smaller, the bees in 

 more ranges died; and, by spring, all 

 were dead, or the colony so reduced in 

 numbers, and the survivors so lacking 

 in vitality, as to be practically worth- 

 less 



I have never seen any ill effects from 

 dampness, but I have always given 

 abundant ventilation above the pack- 

 ing. When the warm air from the 

 cluster passes up through the packing, 

 and is met by the cold, outer air, some 

 condensation of moisture takes place. 

 This moistens the surface of the pack- 

 ing, but it remains comparatively dry 

 underneath. With a good strong col- 

 ony of bees, and ventilation above the 



packing, I have never known trouble 

 from moisture. 



In the giving of protection, chaff 

 hives have the advantage of always 

 being ready for winter, and of doing 

 away with the labor and untidiness of 

 packing and unpacking; but they are 

 expensive and cumbersome. It is some 

 work to pack bees in the fall, and to 

 unpack them again in the spring, 

 but light, single-wall, readily-movable 

 hives during the working season are 

 managed with enough less labor to 

 more than compensate for that of pack- 

 ing and unpacking. Then there is an- 

 other point: The work of packing and 

 unpacking comes when there is com- 

 parative leisure, while the extra work, 

 caused by great, unwidely hives, comes 

 at a time when the bee-keeper is work- 

 ing on the keen jump. 



P'or packing material I have used 

 wheat chaff, forest leaves, planer shav- 

 ings and dry sawdust. I have never 

 used cork-dust, but it is probably the 

 best packing material. Its non-con- 

 ductivity is nearly twice that of chafi^, 

 while it never becomes damp. The 

 only objection is that it is not readily 

 obtainable, and usually costs some- 

 thing, while the other substances men- 

 tioned cost nothing. What they lack 

 in non-conductivity can be made up in 

 quantity. And this brings up the point 

 of the proper thickness for packing. I 

 have often thrust my hand into the 

 packingsurrounding a populous colony 

 of bees; and found the warmth per- 

 ceptible at a distance of four inches 

 from the side, and six inches from the 

 top. This would seem to indicate the 

 thickness when sawdust or chaff are 

 used. I presume that packing has been 

 condemned when it was not more than 

 half done that is, when not enough 

 material was used. I don't appreci- 

 ate the arguments of those who advo- 

 cate the use of thin packing. I don't 

 believe that the benefit of the heat from 

 the sun during an occasional bright 

 day, can compensate for the lack of 



