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i'HE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



is easily made up in quantity. And tliis 

 brinies up the point of the proper thickness 

 for the packing. We have often thrust our 

 hand into the packinj^ surrounding a popu- 

 lous colony of bees, and found tlie warmth 

 preceptible at a distance of four inches from 

 the sides, and six inches from the top. 

 This would seem to indicate the thickness 

 when chatf or sawdust is used. Hollow walls 

 with no packing have been mentioned ; and 

 it has been asked if tliese dead (?) air spaces 

 were not e<jually as good non-conductors of 

 heat as those filled with chaff. They are 

 not. In the first place the air is not "dead," 

 it is constantly moving. The air next to the 

 inside wall becomes warm and rises ; tliat 

 next to the outer wall cools and settles ; 

 thus there is a constant circulation which 

 robs the inner wall of its heat. If chaff 

 hives are not used, how shall the packing l)e 

 kei)t ia place ? We know of nothing better 

 than boxes made of cheap, thin lumber. If 

 there is lack of room for ttoring them in 

 the summer, they can be so made as to be 

 easily " knocked down " and stacked up 

 when not in use. So far as they will go, 

 we use shade boards for the sides of these 

 boxes. When put together, ready to set on 

 the hives, the box is without top or bottom, 

 and is two feet deep, two feet wide, and 

 three feet long. A bridge is placed at the 

 entrance of the hive, the lower edge of the 

 front end of the box resting upon the 

 bridge. This raises the front end of the 

 box and gives the proper slant to the roof. 

 The sawdust is kei)t stored in barrels, and 

 after a box is jjlaced over a hive, the cover 

 to tiie hive removed and a piece of burlap 

 placed over the honey-board to prevent the 

 sawdust from rattling down among the bees, 

 a barrel is lifted and the sawdust poured in 

 until the hive is covered to the depth of six 

 inches. About two bushels of sawdust is re- 

 quired for each hive. The cover is next 

 laid on and a stone placed upon the cover to 

 prevent its being blown away. And now 

 that we aie about it we may as well tell how 

 tlie packing is removed. The box is taken 

 off first, raised I'ight straight up, and then 

 set to one side. The sawdust is then taken 

 up with a scoop sliovel and put back into 

 l)arrels. ( )ne who has never tried this 

 method will lie surprised to see iiow ciuickly 

 the work can be performed. Of course bees 

 can be packed u}) more cheaply by setting 

 the hives in long rows, building a long box 

 about them and filling it with the material 



used for packing. With this method, the 

 packing must be postponed until there is 

 little danger of the bees flying again until 

 they have forgotten their old location, else 

 some bees will be lost, or some colonies get 

 more than their share of bees. Then when 

 the bees are uni)acked in the spring and 

 moved to their proper places, there is more 

 confusion and mixing ; but we don't look 

 upon this as so very serious a matter. At 

 this time of the year, other things being 

 equal, a bee is worth just about as much in 

 one hive as in another. If tliere is any dif- 

 ference in the strength of the colonies the 

 weaker ones might be left nearest to where 

 the bees have been packed. Speaking of be- 

 ing compelled to wait about packing the 

 bees until they were not likely to lly again 

 until sometime in the winter, reminds us 

 that advantages have been claimed for early 

 packing ; that the bees in single wall hives 

 only wear themselves out with frequent 

 flights that are to no purpose, while those 

 that are packed are not called out by every 

 passing ray of fall sunshine, that they will 

 sooner get themselves settled down for their 

 winter's nap, and are in better shape when 

 winter comes. It is possible that there is 

 something in this, but there were two or 

 three years that we tried packing a colony or 

 two as early as the first of September ; and 

 continued to pack a colony every two or 

 three days until the fore part of November, 

 and we were never able to discern any ad- 

 vantages in very early packing. If fhe bees 

 are protected before fi-eezing weather comes, 

 we believe that is sulficient. We have never 

 seen any ill effects from dampness. When 

 the warm air from the cluster passes up 

 through the packing it is met by the cold 

 outer air and condensation takes place. 

 This moistens the surface of the packing, 

 but, it is dry underneath. When shall the 

 packing be removed ':' When warm, settled 

 weather has come for .sH/c. When it is al- 

 most time to put on supers. In this latitude, 

 about the first of J une. When in conver- 

 sation with Mr. Heddon last spring, he said : 

 " I tell you, Hutchinson, this is the last time 

 'Jeems' is going to try bringing bees 

 through the spring without protection." 

 "How will you protect them ?" we asked. "By 

 boxes, of thin lumber, made two inches 

 larger every way than a hive. The two 

 incihes space between the hive and the box 

 will be filled with dry sawdust, and the boxes 

 painted black. The bees will then get the 



