248 



'M:^IA3U .S}ISd33H-333 a[HX 



ally days warm enough for them to fly, l)ut, 

 this is not the main reason, it is that the 

 warmth may be retained, which enables the 

 bees to bieed more rapidly, and averts any 

 danger of loss by a culd .snap. 



It is undoulitodly true, that combs filled 

 with honey or sugar syrup surrounding tlie 

 brood would absorb and retain the heat from 

 the bees, but for retaining the heat they 

 would be nothing like a coating of some non- 

 conductor entirely surrounding the hives. 

 If combs of stores answered the purpose of 

 protection there would l)e no necessity of 

 protecting the hives in winter. 



Surrounding the hives with sawdust does 

 not rob the bees of the heat from the sun, 

 unless the sawdust is used in too large quan- 

 tities; it simply equalizes the heat; it absorbs 

 heat from both the bees and the sun during 

 the day and gives it up at night. We wish 

 our hives white that they may reflect the heat 

 in the summer, but we would have our pack- 

 ing boxes dark that they may aVjsorb the heat. 

 There is no doubt that the sun can more 

 quickly and more thorouglily warm up the 

 inside of a hive when the hive is not pro- 

 tected, but this heat lasts only as long as the 

 sun shines. It does not help much on a 

 frosty night. Without protection, it is first 

 hot and then cold. Packing is an equalizer. 

 With ordinary weather packing is not im- 

 perative, but right here allow me to quote a 

 little from this chapter in Advanced Bee 

 Cxdture: 



"I have learned from repeated experi- 

 ments that protection allows or enables the 

 bees to develoj) greater quantities of brood; 

 but I do not consider this the greatest ad- 

 vantage of protection. The point is just 

 here. We often have nice, v/arm weather 

 for three weeks. The alders, elms and 

 maples bloom, i>ossibly the cherri^^s, and all 

 this has encouraged the bees to extend their 

 bi-ood until the combs are well filled. Then 

 comes a cold "snap." The mercury goes 

 down to freezing, or nearly there, and re- 

 mains so several days; perhaps the ground is 

 covered by two or three inches of snow — a 

 veritable " snuaw winter." More than once 

 have I and my bees passed through such ex- 

 periences, and to our sorrow. The cold 

 drives the bees into a compact cluster in the 

 center of the hives. Half of the brood, per- 

 haps more, is outside of the cluster, where it 

 perishes. The newly hatched bees, if any 

 there are, are tender, like a newly hatched 

 clucken, and easily succumb to the cold. 

 The old bees have lost their vitality in bring- 

 ing into existence the hive full of brood, and 

 the cold snap is the "last straw " needed to 

 send them to the bottom of the hive. Weak 

 colonies, in passing through such severe 

 weather unprotected, almost invariably die. 



Ordinary colonies are rendered practically 

 wcjrthless for the season, and strong colonies 

 are not improved. Hiich low temperature 

 does not usually come so late in the season. 

 l)ut it is liable to come any year; while 

 "cold snaps," even if not so severe, come 

 almost every spring: while the loss that may 

 occur from an unusually severe spell of 

 weather late in the spring, will be sufficient 

 to f)ay for the exi)ense of protecting the h< es 

 each spring for several years. Several 

 times, when protecting the bees m the sj)ring 

 after taking them from the cellar, I have 

 left a few of the most populous colonies nn 

 protect 3(1. In the early morning, or during 

 cool days, tlie bees in the unprotected hives 

 would be found closely clustered, while those 

 in the iirotected hives would be found crawl 

 ing actively about all over the combs, and a 

 puff of smoke would drive them down an 

 inch or two and exi)ose large quantities of 

 sealed brood. When the honey harvest came, 

 a majority of those protected were actually 

 stronger than those left un(>rotected. Some 

 have cotnpared this packing of bees in spring 

 to a sfiritulmd. It is not a stimulant, as we 

 understand the word. It simph confines 

 the heat of the bees, allowinir them to spread 

 out and rear and yirotect larger quantities of 

 brood. Give them the proper conditions for 

 followinf^ their instinct in the direction of 

 brood rearing, and no additional stimulus is 

 needed." 





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