300 Wintering in Bee House. 



5th. Have as much empty space as possible inside the hive 

 and outside the packing; and never let the cover to the hive 

 rest immediately on the packing. 



6th. Crowd the bees on to a few frames — never more than 

 eight — and the packing close to the bees. 



7th. Winter pa ssages sho uld b e made through all the 

 combs. 



Mr. Jones prefers that the outer wall of the chaff hive 

 (Fig. 164) should be of narrow boards so as to be more per- 

 vious to dampness. Jjje also uses fine dry saw-dust instead of 

 chaff. Mr. Roet in his two-story hives (Fig. 165) uses a 

 thicker layer of chaff below, but carries it to the top. Of 

 course the double wall need not extend on the sides of the 

 frames. The' division boards on the sides of the frames may 

 make the double wall. 



WINTERING IN BEE HOUSE. 



As Mr. D. A. Jones has tested bee houses on a very large 

 scale, and met with success, I will quote directly from him : 



"The house should be so constructed that the out-door 

 temperature cannot affect that of the bee-house ; and in order 

 to accomplish this its walls should be packed tightly with two 

 feet of dry sawdust or three feet of chaff, packing overhead 

 same thickness, and the bottom so protected that no frost can 

 penetrate. Next, it should have a ventilating tube at the top, 

 of not less than one square inch to each colony of bees. It 

 should have sub-earth ventilation by means of a tube laid 

 below the depth frost will penetrate, and from one to three 

 hundred feet in length, coming in contact with outside atmos- 

 phere at the other end ; as air passes through this tube it is 

 tempered by the distance through the earth, and comes into 

 the house at an even temperature. By means of slides at 

 these ventilators, the temperature can be arranged in the bee 

 house, which should stand from 43° to 46°, and in no case 

 should it fall lower than 42°. There should be tight-fitting 

 triple doors, which will make two dead-air spaces. 



"When the bee house is filled, and during warm weather in 

 the spring — the bees should not be let out on the summer stands 

 until the first pollen appears (which is generally from the Tag 

 Alder or Black Willow)— it is necessary that the temperature 

 of the room be kept at the wintering standpoint. This may 



