104 PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING 
burning sulphur. Prevention, however, is better 
than cure, and if the combs are kept in a re- 
ceptacle which is moth-tight there is small fear 
of any harm coming to them. . 
A wintering system, which has much to com- 
mend it, is one known as the claustral detention 
system. In this method the hives are fitted with a 
special porch, which can be closed at will, and the 
bees confined to the hive during inclement weather 
in spring, or at any other time should the need 
arise. Ventilation is provided for by means of 
special tubes, and many other advantages are 
claimed for this hive entrance, which was intro- 
duced by the Abbé Gouttefangeas. It is asserted 
that bees have been confined for so long as five 
months in this way, and it is certainly very 
valuable in case of. moving bees to new locations, 
and in the making of artificial swarms, the pre- 
vention of robbing, and the eradication of bee 
diseases. In this latter case all that is necessary 
is to close the hive up entirely. Then no robbers 
can gain entrance, nor can the rightful inhabitants 
escape. There is no fetching and carrying of 
disease, and at the same time the medicinal treat- 
ment of the affected colony can go on. 
