360 WINTERING. 



with absorbents, and make the best and safest out-door shel- 

 ters (Fig. 135). They are only hooked together by nails 

 partly driven, and are taken off in pieces, in the Spring and 

 put away, under shelter. The roofs may be used, over the 

 hives all Summer, if desirable. The only disadvantage of 

 outer-boxes is that they may harbor mice or insects. Some 

 use them, without any packing, and we know by experience, 

 that even in this way, very small colonies may be wintered 

 safely. If the hive has a portico, the front of the box is 

 made to fit around it. In any case, the portico itself can be 

 closed, during the coldest weather, by a door fitting over it, 

 but it must be opened on warm days. In the extraordinary 

 Winter of 1884-5, several bee-keepers of McDonough County, 

 Illinois, among whom, we will cite Mr. J. G. Norton, of Ma- 

 comb, safely wintered their Simplicity hives with this method, 

 while their neighbors lost' all, or nearly all, their bees. 



644. If the colonies are strong in numbers and stores, have 

 upper moisture absorbents, easy communication from comb to 

 comb, good ripe honey, shelter from piercing winds, and can 

 have a cleansing flight once a month, they have all the con- 

 ditions essential to wintering successfully in the open air. 



In-door Wintering. 



645. In some parts of Europe, it is customary to winter 

 all the bees of a village in a common vault or cellar. Dzierzon 



says: 



"A dry cellar is very well adapted for wintering bees, even 

 though it is not wholly secure from frost; the temperature will 

 be much milder, and more uniform than in the open air; the 

 bees will be more secure from disturbance, and will be pro- 

 tected from the piercing cold winds, which cause more injury 

 than the greatest degree of cold when the air is calm. 



"Universal experience teaches that the more effectually bees 

 are protected from disturbance and from the variations of 

 temperature, the better will they pass the Winter, the less will 



