-J 2 THE beekeepers' DIRECTORY. 



one of the greatest safeguards against bee diarrhoea and not the 

 removal cff bee-bread from the combs. ' 



Next after the protection stands the question of food. I haVe 

 maintained and still hold that good natural stores are first in val- 

 ue and reliability. , Sugar syrup- has been tried with success in 

 many instances, but the fact remains that few bees comparatively 

 have been wintered upon sugar stores. And in these few cases 

 when put to the test of severe cold there have been many heavy 

 losses. Hence I can but think that bees winter best on the food 

 that nature has provided for them. 



However, I beUeve sugar syrup infinitely preferable as a winter 

 food to the sweet excretions of aphides which bees sornetimes 

 gather and store in the combs. It is also no doubt preferable 

 to any inferior quahty of honey that may be stored in the fall. 



Thin fall honey is especially deleterious and should be, either 

 extracted and good food substituted, or thick honey or syrup fed 

 over it. Thin honey may be known by its running out of the 

 combs when held horizontally. 



Ventilation. 



Bees require free ventilation in winter. They throw off a large 

 amount of moisture in their breath that must have a ready means 

 of exit from the hive or the bees will become restless, — a never^ 

 failipg indication of something wrong. All undue loss of heat ' 

 must be prevented and it can be easily retained by giving free 

 bottom ventilation and allowing no upward movement of air ex- 

 cept through wood or other very close pqrous covering. In my 

 experience the best and most economical covering is solid un- 

 painted wood. Simply place a thin board over the brood-cham- 

 ber so as to leave a bee-space over the frames in time to have it 

 well propolized and I will guarantee it to hold the heat to the 

 comfort of the bees and at the same time give an almost unob- 

 structed exit to all moisture, and that too, directly through the 

 board and the propolis. 1 



I am prepared to say from ample experience that every kind of 

 upward ventilation through free openings or loose pofouS cover- 

 ings is pernicious, and liable to disaster ; for tlie life of a colony 

 of bees subjected to cold goes out with the loss of heat which is 

 forced strongly upward through free outlets by the pressure of 

 cold air coming in at the entrance. We can now see why bees 

 instinctively stop up all crevices with propolis. It is to prevent 



