THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



67 



Protection Needed for Single-Walled Hives 



all the Year Bound— The Light Movable 



Chaff Hive! 



Mr SEEMS to me there are several got)d 

 reasons wlij it will pay to protect siugle- 

 walled hivtis all the year round. Do we 

 want the hot sun pouring down on a flat 

 cover only a bee space from the sections ? 

 If you don't think this will drive the bees 

 out of the sections, I do. Have you not seen 

 such cool nights during a h6ney flow that 

 the bees left the cases ? I have. If the win- 

 ter case is high enough to take in the sur- 

 plus arrangements, it may be left on all 

 sutnmer, theu the hive is protected from the 

 hot sun Hud cool nights ; and the labor of 

 taking it off, storing it away and puttiug it 

 back on in the fall is saved. 



If the outer case is to remain on all the 

 time, the inside hive can be made from thin 

 lumber, and need not cost over one-half the 

 price of ordinary singh -walled hives, and 

 could be worked the same as any single- 

 walled hive, by simply lifting it out of the 

 case, as when hiving swarms on the old 

 stand, or wintering in the cellar. When 

 moving these thin hives to an out-apiary the 

 outer cases would have to be moved along, 

 but the advantage gained by their protec- 

 tion would pay well for the trouble. 



I would have these outside cases made the 

 same as the outside of a good chaff hive, 

 with a tin roof and nicely painted. 



A.S to i)ackiug, I prefer to put it in the 

 brood nest, in the shape of chaff dummies, 

 with a cushion on top. This contracting the 

 brood nest serves several important pur- 

 l)oses. It puts the packing next to the bees, 

 where it will do the most good, and thus en- 

 ables them to rear and protect more brood ; 

 and it confines the bees to their stores. In 

 severe winters bees often starve with plenty 

 of honey in the liive. I saw a case of this 

 kind the other day in a Root chaff hive, and 

 this has been a very mild winter ; but the 

 bees happened to consume all the honey in 

 the cluster, just at a time when it was too 

 c^ld to move over on to other frames con- 

 taining honey. Contraction of the brood 

 nest on plenty of stores would have saved 

 this colony. So I prefer to place the pack- 

 ing in the brood apartment, and when the 

 room is needed for Ijrood rearing, it is waro) 

 enough to take the dummies out. 



In regard to chaff hives, I agree in all you 

 say against bi<j, heanj, clumsy chaff hives 

 with high walls always packed, but all chaff 

 hives are not made in this way. I have in 

 my yard a small, light frame chaff hive, 

 that weighs less than the Simplicity hive. I 

 can handle this with tlie same ease as a sin- 

 gle-walled hive, and I prefer to leave the 

 packing out of the outside walls, which 

 makes it a very cool hive for sumtuer. Be- 

 tween such a chaff' hive and protected single- 

 walled hives, I think the advantages are with 

 the chaff" hive ; but, as I have already writtjBU 

 at greater length than I intended, I will not 

 take up the space to give my reasons. 



Union City, Ind. Feb. 20, lSt)l. 



Outside ■Winter Cases — "Why They are Supe- 

 rior to the Permanent Double-'Walled 

 Hive. 



EBNEST K. BOOT. 



jjR. EDITOR :— You ask me to give 

 my views on outside winter cases. 

 Personally, I have had but little ex- 

 perience, but yet enough to make me believe 

 there might be something in them. This 

 started an investigation, and I called for 

 reports ; and the result is, that I find they 

 are more generally used than I supijosed ; 

 and not only that, tliey answer their purpose 

 excellently. I notice iu some correspondence 

 that I am credited with the idea that they 

 are something entirely new. I never thought 

 they were. They are as old as the hills ; 

 but that fact, nevertheless, does not argue 

 that they are therefore worthless, because I 

 do not discover that they liave been dis- 

 carded where once given a fair trial. 



What do I mean by an outside winler case? 

 I mean something in the nature of a cap 

 made of J?s-iuch stuff' that can be set directly 

 over an ordinary broud-cliamber, leaving a 

 spa '.e between the walls of from one to two 

 inches. Tins winter case may be either 

 *• filled " with ( f ) dead air, or (2) with pack- 

 ing. 



The former, which I will style No. 1, is, in 

 detail, as follows : It is simply a box made 

 of % stuff, and dovetailed at the corners, 

 with a permanent cover large enough to set 

 down over an ordinary brood-chamber, and 

 yet leave one inch of space between the 

 walls and between the regular hive-cover and 

 the top of the outsi le case. To prevent the 

 circulation of air, this case is to be shoved 

 into a banking of sawdust around the hive. 



