188 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 



ON WINTER TREATMENT. 



Doctors differ in their opinions as to tlie treatment iDees 

 should receive in the winter months. One says, keep them 

 ■warm — another says, keep them rather cold ; one suggests 

 a nice warm spot facing the south — and another recom- 

 mends all hives to face the north, lest the warm rays of 

 the sun tempt the hees to come out when the atmosphere 

 is too chilling. One prefers to winter bees in the garret, 

 and another has buried them in cavities underneath the 

 ground. In America some large bee-keepers have erected 

 large houses on purpose to hold their hives during the 

 winter months. These houses are perfectly dark, and the 

 hives are placed upside down on shelves, with aU their 

 combs exposed to the air of these dark rooms. The bees 

 are thus kept in perfect darkness for months, in a posi- 

 tion which permits the exhalations of their bodies to pass 

 away from their hives, but not their excrements. These 

 houses are meant to protect bees from the severity of 

 American winters. For large apiaries of toooden hives 

 these houses answer well in North America. In Great 

 Britain they are quite unnecessary : here bees can be 

 kept sufficiently warm without anything of the kind. 



Would you keep bees warm, then, in winter 1 Yes ; as 

 >varm as possible out of doors, so that they get fresh air 



