WINTERING BEES. 105 
warmth will be generated ; consequently the more rapidly 
will the brood mature and the bees increase in numbers. 
It is of the greatest importance to have strong stocks in 
early spring. ‘This is one of the strong points of the new 
system of management, taught in this book. 
In nearly all the hives now in use, there is no proper 
ventilation, consequently the honey in such hives becomes 
sour, the comb mouldy, and the bees diseased. It is 
impossible, in our variable climate, to winter bees suc- 
cessfully for any number of years, with any degree of 
certainty, in the great majority of the ordinary hives. 
Some, who have met with heavy losses in winter, have 
taken the ground that the loss was caused by a poor 
quality of honey, stored by the bees in a wet season, or 
a large yield late in the fall. But this is a great mistake. 
Bees will not collect and store honey not suited to their 
use as food; they make no mistakes on this point. 
I might discuss in detail all the different methods of 
wintering bees, and show the great losses attending each, 
with causes, etc., but by so doing I should consume more 
space than I can give in this work. I shall therefore 
confine my remarks to ordinary conditions of bees in 
winter, and the requisites to insure uniform success in 
wintering. 
In the winter, bees cluster as closely together as 
circumstances admit, and the severity of the cold 
demands. The more severe the cold, the closer they 
cluster together, in order the better to keep up the ani- 
mal heat necessary to maintain life. 
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