338 WINTERING. 
Mr. E. T. Sturtevant, of East Cleveland, Ohio, widely 
known as an experienced Apiarist, thus gives his experience 
in wintering bees in the open air: 
“No extremity of cold that we ever have in this climate, will 
injure bees, if their breath is allowed to pass off, so that they are 
dry. I never lost a good colony that was dry, and had plenty of 
honey.” 
The absorbents generally used are chaff in cushions, 
straw, forest leaves (maple leaves preferred), corn cobs, 
woolen rags, or wool waste, etc. Mr. Cheshire uses cork- 
dust, which he claims gives fourteen times as much protec- 
tion as adead-air space. The oil-cloth, which makes an 
air-tight covering, must be first removed, and if no straw- 
mat is used, the cushion of absorbents may be placed right 
over the frames. We use the straw-mat, and fill the upper 
half-story with dry leaves, these being the cheapest and 
best absorbent at our command. 
In the coldest parts of our country, if upward absorbents 
are neglected, no amount of protection that can be given to 
hives, in the open air, will prevent them from becoming 
damp and mouldy, even if frost is excluded, unless a large 
amount of lower ventilation is given. Then they need as 
much air as in Summer. Often, the more they are protected, 
the greater the risk from dampness. <A very thin hive 
unpainted, so that it may readily absorb the heat of the 
sun, will dry inside much sooner than one painted white, 
and in every way most thoroughly protected against the 
cold. The first, like a garret, will suffer from dampness 
for a short time only; while the other, like a cellar, may be 
so long in drying, as to injure, if not destroy, the bees. 
637. If the colonies are wintered in the open air, the en- 
trance to their hives must be large enough to allow the bees to 
Sly at will. Many, it is true, will be lost, but a large part 
of these are diseased; and, even if they were not, it is 
