32 BEEKEEPING 



thickness of inch boards or they may be 

 double-walled with the space between 

 either left empty or packed with some in- 

 sulating material. Beekeepers do not 

 agree as to what is the best form of hive 

 body. It has provided food for argument 

 for many years and is by no means settled. 

 The double-walled hive has been claimed 

 to be the ideal hive because it afforded 

 such perfect protection in winter, but in 

 actual practice it has been found that bees 

 winter no better in such hives than they 

 do in single-walled structures. In fact it 

 is very doubtful whether the construction 

 of the hive has a great deal to do with the 

 success with which bees survive a winter. 

 I have known colonies to live through 

 winters that saw repeated days when the 

 thermometer went to twenty-five below 

 zero, with no greater protection than the 

 walls of a soap-box. Bees in modern 

 hives alongside of the soap-boxes died 

 with great abandon and regularity. This 

 of course is no argument in favor of soap- 



