298 Chaff Sives. 



passed. This permits the bees to fly when very warm weather 

 comes in winter or spring, and requires no attention from the 

 apiarist. By placing two or three hives close together in 

 autumn — yet never -move the colonies more than three or four feet at 

 any one time, as such removals involve the loss of many bees 

 — one box may be made to cover all, and at less expense. 

 This will also be more trustworthy in very cold winters. Late 

 in April these boxes may be removed and packed away, and 

 the straw or chaff carried away, or removed a short distance 

 and burned. 



CHAFT* HIVES 



Messrs. Townley, Butler, Root, Poppleton and others, prefer 

 chaff hives, which are simply double-walled hives, with the four 

 or five inch chambers filled with chaff. The objections to these 

 I take to be : first, they are not proof against severe and long- 

 continued cold, like the winter of 1880-81 ; second, such cum- 

 brous hives are inconvenient to handle in summer ; and, third, 

 they are expensive. That they would in part supply the place 

 of shade, is, perhaps, in their favor, while Mr. A. I. Boot 

 thinks they are not expensive. 



Mr. O. O. Poppleton, one of our most intelligent bee-keep- 

 ers, shows practically that the first objection given above is not 

 valid. So very likely the failure in so many apiaries in 

 1880-81 was rather due to improper use. Mr. Poppleton 

 claims numerous advantages for these hives: 



1st. In his hands, success. 



2d. They permit early preparation for winter. 



3d. They give entire freedom from care of the bees from 

 September till March. 



4th. Preparation for winter requires only slight labor. 



5th. We can easily get at the bees at any time. 



6th. The bees are not excited by a slight rise in tempera- 

 ture, and so are not lost by flying on cold days ; do not breed 

 in winter and spring when they need quiet, and do not 

 ' 'dwindle" in spring. 



7th. They are valuable aids in building up nuclei and 

 weak colonies at cold periods at any one time of the year. 



8th. They are specially desirable to protect the bees in 

 April and May, and prevent "spring dwindling." 



