528 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
lies in this, that the so-called dead air is not dead 
but circulating. It rises against the inner skin of the 
hive, and falls where it touches the outer, and so is eyer 
acting as a distributor of heat. In the same way, a 
man in bed might argue that the air is a better non- 
conductor than the bed-clothes, in which he would 
be perfectly correct; but if he were to add, “I shall, 
therefore, be warmer without them,’^ universal experi- 
ence would contradict his conclusion. The bed-clothes 
are useful because they prevent the circulation of air, 
and that next the body, being warmed, is imprisoned 
instead of passing away for cold to take its place. 
Further experiments proved that cork-dust (a waste 
product used for packing Spanish grapes, as sent to 
this country), in lieu of the chaff packing, gave a non- 
conductivity to be represented by 14. The cork has 
many advantages ; it is perfectly effective even with 
poor carpentry ; it is not liable to mildew, and if it 
becomes damp, it does not droop down between the 
wooden skins, as chaff would do. 
In thin hives, in hard weather, the inner face of the 
wood is too cold to permit the bees to touch it, so 
that they are driven to remaining in the middle of 
their frames, exposed on all sides. In those packed 
as described they winter, by preference, against the 
hive wall, and are thus only exposed on one side, 
while they close the frame ends for themselves, and 
can always pass freely from comb to comb without a 
possibility of getting lost in detachments ; in addition, 
by having* the entrance 5in. or bin. long at the corner, 
the bees have always sufficient air, and work round 
the hive as the store is consumed. 
