PRACTICAL BEEKEHPING 57 
accomplished by auger holes through the gable ends of the roof. 
The roof and whole hive should be thoroughly painted, and the 
hive placed several inches off the ground to prevent freezing and 
thawing and the attendant soaking up of water. The entrance form- 
ed by a bridge passage-way through the packing at the usual place 
is contracted to an inch or so for the winter. There should be in 
most instances no trouble in wintering bees so packed if they are 
strong in numbers and with plenty of stores. 
Similar conditions may be approached with single walled hives 
by placing winter cases around them and packing chaff or simi- 
lar material between the two walls thus formed. The disadvant- 
age of this is that the thick wall of the inner case next to the bees 
and separating the packing material from the colony furnishes a 
cold surface for condensation. 
In the chaff hives the inner case is made of very thin boards 
spread somewhat where joined and in some instances bound straw 
ox even a heavy quality of canvass forms the inner walls. The idea 
is to bring the packing in the closest proximity to the cluster. 
Several single walled hives packed close together in one long case 
with-straw about them were wintered very successfully several times 
at the .Experimental Station. In our tests the percentage of loss 
among colonies wintered outside in chaff hives was found not io 
exceed those lost wintered in straw or those placed in the bee 
house. The colonies placed in the small winter room of the bee 
house were connected with the outside for flight, thus establishing 
normal conditions. The only packing they had was a tray of chaff 
above the canvas and a felt paper quilt above the canvass quilt. In 
the coldest winter weather the temperature of this room was found 
to be quite moderate, due to the heat generated by so many colonies 
of bees enclosed in so small a space. 
One method widely practiced in the northern states and Canada 
is to winter bees in dry cellars. Late in the fall before cold weather 
comes on, after the bees have been put in shape inside and cloth 
quilts with perhaps felt paper quilts, newspapers or chaff trays 
placed above, the colonies are carried to a dark cellar. Here the 
entrances, temporarily closed while moving, may be opened and 
plenty of ventilation given above, the covers even being removed. 
The temperature of the cellar should be kept evenly at about 42 
degrees Fahrenheit. This should never be permitted to vary more 
