114 WINTERING BEES. 



rapidly will the brood mature and the bees increase 

 in numbers. It is of the gi-eatest importance to 

 have strong stocks in early spring. This is one of 

 the strong points of the new system ot manage- 

 ment, taught in this book. 



In nearly all the hives now in use, there is no 

 proper ventilation, consequently the honey in such 

 hives becomes sour, the comb mouldy, and the bees 

 diseased. It is impossible, in our variable climate, 

 to winter bees successfully for any number of years, 

 with any degree of certainty, in the gi'eat majority 

 of the ordinary hives. 



Some, who have met with heavy losses in winter, 

 have taken the ground that the loss was caused by 

 a poor quality of honey, stored by the bees in a wet 

 season, or a large yield late in the fall. But this is 

 ,a great mistake. Bees will not collect and store 

 honey not suited to their use as food ; they make no 

 mistakes on this point. 



I might discuss in detail all the different methods 

 of wintering bees, and show the great losses attend- 

 ing each, with causes, etc., but by so doing I should 

 consume inore space than I can give in this work. 

 I shall therefore confine my remarks to ordinary 

 conditions of bees in winter, and the requisites to 

 insure uniform success in wintering. 



In the winter, bees cluster as closely together as 

 circumstances admit, and the severit} of the cold 

 demands. The more severe the cold, the closer 

 they cluster together, in order the better to keep up 

 the animal heat necessary to maintain life. 



By all the old methods, the cluster of bees is di- 



