CONSTRUCTIVE BEEKEEPING 15 



reduce swarming. All tearing apart of hive-bodies from each 

 other or from covers or bottom-boards leaves a rough surface 

 to the adjoining parts, the result of dirt, grass or bees adhering 

 to the propolis. When the hive is again put together the adjoin- 

 ing surfaces are not tight and ventilation is the result. 



The result of ventilation is room. Because ventilation has 

 given more room we have all believed in it. Room can be given 

 by ventilation but at the expense of a warm hive. 



The velocity of the wind and shape and size of the entrance 

 must be studied in their relations to one another when consider- 

 ing ventilation. The ill effects from winds, even with reduced en- 

 trances, is sometimes apparent. A bunch of grass or a shrub, 

 sometimes two or three feet away from the entrance may deflect 

 and send a current of air right- into the hive, or it may produce 

 a calm at the entrance. The only possible way to have uniform 

 ventilation is to have a good wind break. If the hives are so 

 situated as to be in a calm at all times then what ventilation there 

 is is regular, but hives so situated are troubled with excessive 

 swarming. 



With any wind at all blowing, no two hives in a row, nor in dif- 

 ferent rows, even though they have the same size openings, will 

 have the same ventilation. To any one who has tried to follow 

 the course of air movements along the surface and a few feet 

 above the earth, winding in and out among obstructions, some- 

 times flying off at a tangent, sometimes circling all around, 

 sometimes upward or downward, bounding and rebounding from 

 such obstructions, it is apparent that air currents among the 

 hives in an aipary are so complex as to be past our understanding. 

 This but shows with what little certainty ventilation can be made 

 anyway uniform. Hence the different results at different times 

 from apparently similar treatments. 



Shade in the afternoon has been proven to be somewhat of a 

 preventive of the urge. This is clearly explained by the laws 

 governing condensation of water vapor, and will be treated in the 

 chapter under that head. 



Ventilation and shade each make more room in the hive, 



