WINTERING BEES. 115 



vided by the sheets of comb, which is a great hind- 

 rance to successful wintering. In such cases the 

 bees cannot cluster compactly together, but are 

 spread out between the different sheets of comb. 

 In the Controllable Hive, and on the plan of win- 

 tering here recommended, the bees in very cold 

 weather cluster in the space between the wire cloth 

 of the ventilator and the top of the frames of the 

 brood section. They are here able to keep up the 

 required amount of animal heat, as they can cluster 

 compactly, without anything to separate them. 



By the ordinary plan, in sudden turns or very 

 cold w^eather, the bees between the outer combs are 

 often frozen to death. "Oh!" says some one, 

 "that's all humbug ; you can't freeze a bee." Cer- 

 tainly you can. To satisfy yourself of this, after a- 

 very cold turn of weather, look under your box hives, 

 if you have them, or any patent hive having a loose 

 bottom board to admit of an examination, and see if 

 you do not find hundreds of bees which have fallen 

 dead from the outside combs. I have examined 

 hundreds of stocks, and found them as here des- 

 cribed. If you don't believe a bee will freeze, take 

 out a dozen from a.hive, in a severely cold spell of 

 w^eather in mid-winter, confine them in a box, and 

 set them out doors, letting them remain only one 

 night. See it they are not dead beyond resuscita- 

 tion, the next morning. This notion that bees will 

 not freeze, is a great mistake, and has led to some 

 very foolish experiments in wintering them. 



A swarm ot bees of average size, put in proper 

 condition tor winter, will not freeze ; but from this 



