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ADVANCED BEE-CULTUrE. 



Wve. The best of the lumber should 

 be picked out for making roofs; and, as 

 the front end of the packing box is rais- 

 ed several inches, the water will run off 

 at the back end. Dry sawdust makes 

 excellent packing; probably the best that 

 is easily obtainable. It seems to be pe- 

 culiarly adapted to absorbing and retain- 

 ing the heat given off by the bees, and 

 that received by the sun, and gradually 

 giving it off in times of need. It be- 

 comes, in short, a sort of caloric balance 

 wheel. With this method of packing, all 

 the extras needed are the little bridges, 

 the packing material and the rims; and, 

 if the latter are only slightly nailed, they 

 can be knocked apart and piled up snug- 

 ly out of the way when not in use; or, 

 by laying the two boards that are used 

 for the sides of the rim side by side, and 

 uniting them by tacking a strip of wood 

 across, they may be used as a shade- 

 board. The roof may be used as a shade- 

 board. To pack bees with this arrange- 

 ment, the sawdust is brought into the 

 yard in barrels upon a wheelbarrow. A 

 rim is set over a hive, then a barrel raised 

 up and sawdust poured over the hive un- 

 til it is well covered. Perhaps a bushel 

 or more of sawdust is used for each hive. 

 The cover is then put in place, and a 

 stone laid on to keep the wind from 

 blowing it off. The work can be done 

 more rapidly than one would suppose. 

 When the time comes for removing the 

 packing (which is not very much before 

 it is time to put on the supers), the cover 

 is taken off, the rim raised right straight 

 up from over the hive and carried away, 

 then the sawdust is shoveled up into a 

 barrel with a scoop shovel. 



Mr. Heddonnow protects his bees in 

 spring, after taking them from the cel- 

 lar, by putting each colony into a box 

 made of thin lumber, and iilling the 

 space between the hive and box with 

 sawdust. The box has a bottom, is two 

 inches larger each way than the outside 

 of the hive, is painted dark red that it 

 may absorb the heat of the sun, and the 

 cover has a rim that shuts down over the 



outside of the box like a chest cover. 

 When the hives are taken from the boxes, 

 the sawdust is left in the boxes, and they 

 are stored in a rain-proof building until 

 wanted another spring. Mr. Heddon 

 prefers packing not more than two inches 

 thick, asserting that more benefit is thus 

 secured from the warmth of the sun than 

 when the packing is thicker. 



Quite a number of bee-keepers have 

 used and recommended double-wall hives 

 with no packing between the walls. 

 Protecting bees in the spring, in a simi- 

 lar manner, by simply setting a box over 

 the hive has been recommended. Sim- 

 ply an enclosed space cannot be so effec- 

 tive as though the space were filled with 

 some material like chaff or sawdust. If 

 there is no packing, the aii next the hive 

 is warmed and rises; that next the outside 

 wall is cooled and falls. In this way a 

 circulation is brought about by means of 

 which the hive is robbed of its heat. 

 Packing puts an end to this circulation. 

 Mr. Root, of Ohio, is experimenting with 

 a thin outer shell for use in winter in the 

 South, or in the spring at the North. It 

 is made of material only Y% of an inch 

 thick and dove- tailed, lock-jointed, at 

 the corners. He leaves only ^ of an 

 inch between the hive and outer case. 

 He also recommends, when necessary, 

 wrapping a long, wide, flat, thin cushion, 

 filled with chaff, around the hive before 

 the outer case is slipped down over the 

 hive. I consider the space for packing 

 too small. 



Bees may be protected to some extent 

 by putting packing of some kind at the 

 sides of the brood-nest, inside the hives, 

 and putting chaff cushions over the brood 

 nest, or filling supers with chaff or saw- 

 dust and placing them over the hives; 

 but none of these devices are so effectual 

 as completely surrounding the hive with 

 packing. 



Years ago, what was called stimulative 

 feeding was frequently practiced in the 

 spring, but it has been largely abandon- 

 ed. It is stimulation in the true sense of 

 the word, and often encourages brood 



