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 front 
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 frequently 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. Removable wooden doors covered the glass. 
