THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



\A1 



t i be able to do so. If we omit the 

 wire cloth, they will, in time, build 

 the holes up, by much labor, with 

 walls of propolis, until they have 

 effectually .-topped the inconvenient 

 draughts that the improved (?) venti- 

 lators would admit at all times through 

 the hive. 



During extremely hot weather, a 

 powerful colony may need more air 

 than is afforded by an ordinary 

 entrance, etpecially if the hive stands 

 fully in the sun. In such a case I 

 would much prefer giving the bees 

 shade rather than cutting ventilating 

 holes, which the bees will soon begin 

 to use as entrances, and when the hot 

 weather is over, and it is desirable to 

 close these entrances, you confuse 

 and annoy the bees by so doing. On 

 this account I would give all the 

 ventilation that a strong colony might 

 need to keep them inside at work in 

 the boxes, by simply enlarging the 

 entrance. This can be done very 

 readily with the Simplicity hives, and 

 I have frequently given them an en- 

 trance, under such circumstances, the 

 whole width of the hive, and as much 

 as two or three inches broad. The 

 chaff hive with its entrance 8 inches 

 by | has always had all the ventila- 

 tion it seemed to require, because the 

 sun can never strike directly on the 

 walls of the apartment containing the 

 bees and the honey. 



For the same reason the house ap- 

 iary with its two-inch auger-hole en- 

 trance has never required any further 

 provision for ventilation. The chaff 

 cushions placed over the bees in winter 

 are kept over the snip I us frames for 

 the greater part of the time in sum- 

 mer to confine the heat during cool 



nights; and from their porous nature 

 they allow the escape of more or less 

 air that comes in slowly through the 

 entrance, the honey boxes having no 

 other covering than the wide-frames 

 that hold the sections and these same 

 chaff cushion •. I have obtained more 

 surplus honey with this arrangement 

 than with any other, and am firmly 

 persuaded that a great loss of honey 

 often results from allowing such a 

 draught of air through the hive that 

 tlie bees can not work the wax, unless 

 during extremely hot weather To 

 test this matter I covered a large col- 

 ony in the house apiary, with woolen 

 blankets while they were gathering 

 clover honey, to induce them to re- 

 main in the boxes even after the 

 weather had turned quite cool. So 

 long as the blankets remained on the 

 bees would remain in the boxes work- 

 ing wax; but as soon as the blankets 

 were removed, at each time the ex- 

 periment was tried, they retreated to 

 the body of the hive. The same thing 

 was tried with the thin-walled hives 

 out of doors. 



Smothering Bees by Closing the 

 Entrance. — Although bees will make 

 out to get along, even with a very 

 small entrance, we should be very 

 careful about closing the entrance en- 

 tirely, in warm weather, even for only 

 a few minutes. Many are the reports 

 we see every season of bees destroyed 

 by simply closing their entrance, 

 while undertaking to stop their 

 swarming for a few minutes, until 

 some other colony can be attended to. 



Si nun/ Side, Mil. 



Few can afford to produce comb 

 honey without the use of separators. 



