67 



turbing the bees, and before the temperature at night reaches the freez- 

 ing point. If the bees are to be placed in a damp or in cellar or winter 

 repository, great care should be taken not to disturb the cluster when 

 the hives are removed from the summer stand. I have found woolen 

 quilts or woolen blankets the best covering for winter. Wool, better 

 than any other material which 1 have tried, prevents the radiation of 

 heat, and permits the escape of moisture, thus securing warmth and dry- 

 ness. Hives should be placed 18 inches above the bottom of the cellar 

 or winter repository, and in tiering them up one above another it i s 

 better that they rest on a rack prepared for the hive rather than one 

 upon another. 



My report for 1885 covers the period from June 1 to November 25, 

 when the severity of the weather forbade further out-of-door experi- 

 ments. As nearly all the colonies in the apiary had been subjected to 

 very frequent, almost daily, disturbance and annoyance incidental to 

 the experimental purposes for which they had been used, they were, 

 almost without exception, in very poor condition for passing into winter 

 quarters. November 25 I packed twenty colonies for out-door winter- 

 ing. Notwithstanding the lateness of the season, and the altogether 

 unsatisfactory condition of the bees when packed, eighteen of the colo- 

 nies wintered fairly well. These twenty colonies were provided with 

 dry sawdust packing 8 inches thick on the sides, and covered with a 

 quilt and dry forest leaves to the depth of 8 inches on top of the frames. 

 A rim 2 inches wide is placed under the body box of the hive, making 

 a 2-inch space under the bottom bar of the comb-frames. A covered 

 tunnel leads from the hive entrance through the packing. This pack- 

 ing is left on the hive until warm weather is assured, thus guarding 

 against danger from chilling of the brood when building up the colo- 

 nies rapidly in early spring. The hive should incline from b ack to fro nt 

 permitting the moisture to flow out at the entrance. 



I placed ten colonies in the cellar from which the hive covers were 

 removed and the frames covered with woolen and cotton quilts. These 

 were used for observation and experiment during the winter. Eight of 

 the ten came through the winter alive, but being subjected to a wider 

 range of temperature, and being very frequentty annoyed and disturbed, 

 their vitality was very low, and the old bees, of which most of these 

 colonies were composed fell easy victims to spring dwindling. 



HIBERNATION. 



For the purpose of determining the degree of temperature in a dry 

 cellar necessary to secure the minimum of functional activity within the 

 hive during the period of hibernation, I framed comb-frames across each 

 other at right angles, and into these frames I fitted and fastened combs 

 filled with choice sealed honey. These were suspended in hives having 

 glass sides and top, exposing the cluster to view from all sides and from 

 the top. Eemovable wooden doors covered the glass. 



