58 ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



nies are puflfing- and blowing like the runner of a foot-race. Why is 

 this? Isn't it because the strong colony is suffering from the accu- 

 mulation of its own heat — that generated by itself — that can not 

 escape fast enough ? If this is true, why isn't a chaff hive the most 

 insufferably hot place imaginable for a colony of bees in hot 

 weather ? Possibly the point is just here: the bees in the chaff hive 

 have to contend with their own heat only, while those in the single- 

 wall hive have that from the sun in addition to theirown. The thick 

 walls act as a sort of absorbent of heat; taking it up during the day, 

 and gradually giving it up during the cool of the night. Let this be 

 as it may, a colony can be kept the coolest in a thin-wall hive 

 in the shade. How do -wc keep cool in hot weather ? We wear thin 

 clothing, and lie in the hammock in the shade. A colony of bees is a 

 living, heat-producing body, and can be kept cool in the same man- 

 ner that we keep our bodies cool, viz., let its clothing (hive) be thin, 

 with a free circulation of air upon all sides, above and below, and 

 then protect it from the sun's rays. 



The color of the hives has a great bearing upon the necessity for 

 shade. Black, or a dark color, absorbs heat, while it is reflected or 

 repelled by white. I have seen the combs melt down in an old, 

 weather-beaten hive that stood in the sun, but I never saw them melt 

 in hives painted white, even if standing in the sun. 



There is still another point that has a bearing upon the question 

 under discussion, and that is the circulation of air about the hives. I 

 have read of combs melting down in hives standing in shade so dense 

 that the sun never shone upon them. The trouble was that grow- 

 ing corn on one side, and dense brush upon the other, made it so 

 close that no air circulated. 



Shade is not needed in the spring, fall, morning or evening. 

 The only time that it is needed, if it is needed, is the middle of our 

 hottest days; and some temporary, quickly adjustable, easily remov- 

 able shade is preferable to an attempt to furnish a permanent shade 

 by growing evergreens, grape vines and the like. In fact, a perma- 

 nent shade, like that furnished by an evergreen, is an injury in 

 spring, robbing the bees of the benefit to be derived from the heat of 

 the sun. In fact, I know of nothing better than a light board, 2x3 

 feet in size, laid upon the top of the hive. One of the longest edges 

 of the board is placed parallel and even with the north edge of the 

 top of the hive, the opposite edge of the board projecting beyond the 

 hive. This shades the hive when shade is needed, and only when it 

 is needed, — in the middle of the day. In a windy situation it may be 

 necessary to lay a brick or stone upon this board to keep it in place. 

 Don't imagine that hooks or something of that kind will be prefer- 



