Out-door Wintering of Bees. 173 



an occasional bright day can compensate for the lack of protection dur- 

 ing months of extreme cold. 



Hollow walls with no packing have had their advocates ; and it has 

 been asked if these dead-air ( ?) spaces were not as good non-conductors 

 of heat as those filled with chaff. The\- are not. In the first place, the 

 air is not "dead ;" it is constantly moving. The air next the inside wall 

 becomes warm, and rises; that next the outer wall cools, and settles; thus 

 there is a constant circulation that robs the inner wall of its heat. 



If chaff hives are not used, how shall the packing be kept in place? I 

 know of nothing better than boxes made of cheap lumber. If there is lack 

 of room for storing them in summer they can be made so as to be easily 

 "knocked down" and stacked up when not in use. Of course, bees can 

 be packed more cheaply by setting the hives in long rows, building a 

 long box about them, and filling it with the material used for packing. 

 With this method the packing ought to be postponed until it is so late 

 that the bees are not likely to fly again until they have forgotten their 

 old location's, else some of the bees will be lost or some of the colonies 

 get more than their share of bees. When they have a "cleasing flight" 

 in winter there is also a likelihood of some bees returning to the wrong 

 hive. Then when the bees are unpacked in the spring there is more 

 confusion and mixing ; but I don't look ui)rn this as so very serious a 

 matter. At this time of the year, other things being equal, a bee is 

 worth just as much in one hive as in another. If there is any difference 

 in the strength of colonies, the weaker ones might be left nearest to 

 where the bees were unpacked. 



Speaking of being compelled to wait about packing the bees until 

 they are not likely to fly again until some time in the winter, reminds 

 me that advantages have been claimed for early packing; that bees in 

 single-wall hives only wear themselves out with frequent flights that 

 are to no purpose, while those that are packed are not called out by 

 every passing ray of sunshine ; that the early-packed bees sooner get 

 themselves settled down for their winter's nap, and are in better condi- 

 tion for winter when it comes. It is possible that there is something 

 in this ; but there were two or three years in which I tried packing a 

 colony or two as early as the first of September, and I continued to pack 

 a colony every two or three days until the fore part of November, and 

 I was unable to discern any advantage in very early packing. If the bees 

 are protected before freezing weather comes, I believe that is enough. 



There is one other point that ought not to be neglected in preparing 

 the bees for winter, whether in doors or out, and that is the leaving of 

 a space below the combs. When wintered out of doors there ought to 

 be a rim two inches high placed under each hive. This not only allows 

 the dead bees to drop away from the combs to a place where they will 



