WINTERING 157 



From this it will be seen that the colder 

 the weather and the poorer the hive the 

 greater, will be the consumption of food. 

 If we could keep the hive temperature 

 above fifty-seven degrees no cluster would 

 be formed, there would be but little ac- 

 tivity and as a result only a slight amount 

 of food would be used. Prom all of which 

 discussion it is easy to see the inter-rela- 

 tionship between the hive, the food, and 

 the size of the cluster. 



With the knowledge that the single 

 walled hives offered little protection to 

 the colony there have been many attempts 

 to devise double-walled hives of various 

 sorts. Some of these have their advan- 

 tages but in most cases the advantage is 

 theoretical rather than practical. In sec- 

 tions where zero weather is common in 

 winter it is doubtful if the double walled 

 hive is of very great value unless it is 

 given additional protection. 



Beekeepers do not always agree as to 

 how much or what sort of additional pro- 



