98 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



and they were left so the year round. 

 I inquired of one old and intellicrent 

 beekeeper why he let so much air in 

 at the bottom of his hives, and he re- 

 plied that they could not winter their 

 bees in anyotlier way ; that the combs 

 and hives, without the large openings 

 at the bottom, would become damp 

 and the bees would die ; that, as long 

 as the hives and combs were dry, the 

 bees were never injured by the cold ! 

 I suppose I iiave seen this fact stated 

 in tlie bee papers a hundred times, 

 and yet it does not appear that the 

 mass of beekeepers are profiting by it. 

 It is now a well-known fact that bees 

 in winter, at intervals of three to five 

 days, arouse from their torpid condi- 

 tion, and feed. During the intervals 

 they take no food until the sense of 

 hunger again arouses them. Tiiis is 

 an interrupted hibernation. I have 

 thought tiiat they often go as long as 

 a week Avitliout food ; but when they 

 do rouse up they raise the tempera- 

 ture and warm up their stores before 

 they can feed ; and in the operation 

 they set in motion active currents of 

 air. Now, I have observed that bees 

 cannot properly ventilate a hive ex- 

 cept from tlie bottom ; and the exper- 

 iments of Mr. Cornell have shown that 

 free bottom ventilation cannot be had 

 through an horizontal entrance of the 

 usual size, without other openings in 

 bottom or other part of the hive. Bees 

 then may, at their feeding times ven- 

 tilate and dry out their hives to some 

 extent, where free bottom ventilation 

 is provided for. The plan that I have 

 tried, and which seems to answer 

 every purpose, is to give a full en- 

 trance (§^ X 12 inches), and in tlie bot- 

 tom of the winter-case, at the rear end 

 of the brood-chamber, make five one- 

 inch augur holes, which are to be cov- 

 ered with tinned wire cloth. Upward 

 ventilation is prevented as far as pos- 

 sible b}' the use of an inside cover for 

 the brood-chamber, made of wood. 

 The hive stands near the ground, and 

 a few leaves are placed loosely be- 

 neath to keep the bees from trying to 



get under the hive, when they can fly, 

 where the augur-holes are located. 

 The hives" are painted on the bottom, 

 and the dampness of the ground does 

 not affect the hive or bees. 



With the above arrangement the 

 packing gets only slightly damp, 

 which is soon dried out by taking off 

 the cover of the winter-case once in 

 two or three weeks when the sun sliines 

 clear. If the packing gets quite damp 

 over the brood chamber (and it often 

 gets so on the cool days of spring), 

 I throvv it all out to dry on the cover, 

 which is inverted on the ground. The 

 sun is also allowed to shine fidl upon 

 the inside cover of the brood-chamber. 

 The effect of this treatment on the 

 bees in the spring is very remarkable, 

 and especially upon the laying of the 

 queen and the ra|)id extension of the 

 brood. The covers are usually taken 

 off about 10 A.M., and returned at 

 4 P.M. Where upward ventilation 

 is given, the entrance is closed to two 

 inches by three-eighths, and no holes 

 are made in the bottom of tiie hive. 

 Over the brood-cliamber is laid two 

 thicknesses of cheap cotton cloth, and 

 four or five inches of packing. I pre- 

 fer the cloth to .lie flat on the frames 

 without any cross-sticks for passage- 

 ways. With this arrangement, after 

 a few weeks of cold weather tiie sur- 

 face of the packing will become quite 

 wet, while it is warm (fifty degrees) 

 and dry beneath. I use mostly the 

 excelsior sawdust on tiie brood-cham- 

 ber, loose, as it can be handled almost 

 as easily as a cushion, and is readily 

 dried out, while a cusiiion is wet. 

 When ready for the sections it may 

 be taken out and stored in barrels, for 

 future use ; but the packing around 

 the first story is left in place, as a 

 rule, all the year. 



A properly constructed double-wall 

 hive is simply a winter-case for a 

 single-wall hive. They should not be 

 constructed all in one, as the pack- 

 ing, if it becomes damp, cannot be 

 removed to dry it out. My winter case 

 is made of thin boards, nine thirty- 



