WmTlSEING BKBS. 301 



Air is a poor conductor of heat. We readily succeed 

 in warming a room, but it is when the heated air can 

 move from the fire, forming a current, and is replaced by- 

 cold air to become heated in turn. But confine the air 

 in what we call a dead-air space, as is done in the walls 

 of a house, or, if you please, within the interstices of a 

 woolen fabric, and the heat passes oflf very slowly. I 

 can readily conceive that straw, the leaves of the cat-tail 

 flag, or broom-corn stalks, used as a material for bee- 

 hives would act similarly as a non-conductor of heat, the 

 thousands of tiny air-cells, being so many dead-air spaces 

 to prevent the escape of the heat, and permit the passage 

 of moisture. I speak comparatively, for some warmth 

 wiU of course escape, but not so much by far as when a 

 wood hive is properly ventilated. 



It is thus apparent that a wood hive thoroughly water- 

 soaked would conduct away the heat far more rapidly 

 than when perfectly dry. In the one case the pores of 

 the wood are filled with water, thus becoming a good 

 conductor like a wet garment ; in the other the pores are 

 occupied with air, and the heat leaves slowly. The more 

 numerous the air-cells, the slower it will pass. Hives 

 made with double walls of boards, enclosing a dead-a,ir 

 space, do very well in regard to warmth, but do not dis- 

 pose of the moisture with sufficient rapidity. 



The moisture must be got rid of, and in no way can it 

 be done so well, as by straining it through straw. Be- 

 . side being advantageous for wintering, straw hives are 

 superior in keeping the temperature warmer, and more 

 uniform, throughout the spring, thus promoting early 

 breeding and swarming. After the beginning of summer 

 they do not seem to possess any special advantage over 

 wood hives, further than that their combs are less liable 

 to melt down. But the objection fii'st raised by most 

 persons — ^the harbor for the moth-worm — ^has not arisen 



