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Fred Briggs of New Sharon, Mahaska county, reports that 

 his father kept bees in that locality for about forty years. Dur- 

 ing that time he wintered a part of his bees in double walled 

 hives out of doors and a part of them in single walled hives in the 

 cellar. After this long period he was still undecided, all things 

 considered, whether they wintered better in the cellar or in the 

 chaff hives outside. For himself Mr. Briggs writes as follows: 



For my part I prefer the double walled hive well packed. 

 They are not so handy to manipulate but for the good of the 

 bees I much prefer them. The single walled hives if put in the 

 cellar should have some sort of protection from cold snaps 

 late in the fall before being put in and in the spring after 

 being set out. * * There are generally a few warm days in win- 

 ter when bees get a good fly outside. I think a good natural 

 windbreak of great importance. 



TENEMENT HIVES AND PACKING CASES. 



Various kinds of tenement hives have been in use for many 

 years, so that the idea of packing several colonies together for 

 winter protection is not new. Much interest has been shown in 

 the packing boxes as used by R. F. Holterman who is one of the 

 most extensive honey producers of Canada. Mr. Holterman 

 abandoned the use of a fine cellar, which had been built at a 

 cost of about a thousand dollars, to winter in these tenements. 

 His plan is to pack four colonies together as the following com- 

 munication to "Gleanings in Bee Culture" will explain: 



When wintering in the cellar my method was to remove the 

 bees from the cellar and to place them on stands. They were 

 next taken to clover pasture, sometimes a distance of thirty 

 miles. Next they were taken to buckwheat, and finally returned 

 to the bee yard in connection with the cellar. 



By this method the hives and bees were unprotected during 

 the spring, also in the autumn until placed in winter quar- 

 ters about November 20. I was also compelled to he on hand 

 when the cold weather began to moderate in spring, and there 

 was always a good deal of anxiety as to the best time to set 

 out, sometimes to find that, owing to conditions of weather, 

 many bees had perished in their first flight, and others had 

 drifted to the disadvantage of weaker stocks. 



As I now winter the bees, four twelve frame Langstroth hives 

 are wintered in an outer case; two hives are placed in the 

 case side by side, and another two also side by side, but back 

 to back with the first pair. This makes two sides of each 

 hive have the best of winter protection — namely the protec- 

 tion of other hives warm with bees. 



The fact that Mr. Holterman winters successfully outside as 

 far north as Canada shows plainly enough that bees can be well 

 wintered in the open air, if proper provision is made for them. 

 It will be noted also that his hives are of the twelve frame size. 

 Several years' observation indicate that bees seemed to winter 

 better in the large hives than in the smaller ones. It is unfor- 



