184. A Modern Bee-Farm 



Dysentery and other ills are brought on by the too 

 common neglect of this matter, dead bees drop to the 

 floor a«d clog the shallow space under the frames, then 

 getting into a mass ventilation is impeded, and when a 

 fine day does occur the bees have enough to do to find 

 the entrance, while the dead and rubbish remain 

 untouched, only to be added to during the next cold 

 spell. Insufficient ventilation and foul matter now begin 

 to tell upon the constitution of the population, and there 

 is [little chance that the stock will ever be of much use 

 unless it has immediate attention, as many of the bees 

 are now unable to fly when warm days do offer them a 

 chance ; particularly is this the case where the frames run 

 across the entrance with double walls. With single walls 

 and the frames end on to the entrance the bees are not so 

 liable to be blocked in. 



Covering: above Frames. 



Much uncertainty exists among novices as to whether 

 the frames should be covered with porous or non-porous 

 material ; but, dear reader, it is just this : if you use 

 porous material above your winter cluster, an entrance 

 not more than three inches in width should be allowed ; 

 if a non-porous covering such as American oilcloth be 

 used next above the frames (of course with warm material 

 above that), then a wider entrance must be provided 

 according to the strength of the colony. 



Wintering: with no Quilts 



above the frames may be supposed by my readers to be 

 something unheard of, and yet some of my best stocks 

 have been wintered in that manner, with a 6-inch entrance. 

 The bees, of course, had tough combs to cluster in, and 

 by the spring were breeding merrily ; in fact, they had 

 larger patches of brood than some others covered up 



