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any change when the temperature runs up to 60 degrees, nor 
when it runs down on cold nights. 
Q. Do you use ventilation under supers, or open at the top 
through the summer? 
A. Generally, with section-supers, I have ventilation at the 
back end, between the hive and lower super, and sometimes in 
the cover of the hive as well. In a cool time, however, it is bet- 
ter to have the ventilation closed, for sections at that part are 
not finished so soon. 
Q. In your text-book you give a plan of ventilating the upper 
stories by shoving them forward and back, leaving a space at one 
end. Does the rain not get in through the space? 
A. I suppose it does, but it never seems to do any harm, being 
at the end. At any rate, the harm is overbalanced by the good. 
Q. How is the best way to ventilate hives in winter? 
A. In the cellar it matters little how, provided there be enough 
ventilation and there is no danger of having too much. For- 
merly, with box-hives, a good plan was to turn the hive upside 
down, with no covering over it. That left it all open above and all 
closed below. Of course, no sort of hive ventilation will avail 
if the air in the cellar is impure. For outdoor wintering, the en- 
trance may be three-eighths by six inches for a strong colony, 
and less for a weak one; besides this opening at the entrance, 
some cover with some sort of packing that allows a little air 
slowly to pass upward. Others leave the cover sealed down as the 
bees left it in summer and fall. But in this case the top must be 
warmly covered. 
Q. What do you think of ventilation at the top of a hive in 
winter? Is it important, and, if so, would it not be proper to 
cut a 2-inch hole through a quilt and place the cloth cushions 
filled with cork chips on top of this? I use table oilcloth for 
quilts in summer and winter. Is there anything better? 
A. There is a decided difference of opinion as to the matter 
of upward ventilation in winter, some reporting success with 
sealed covering, others reporting disaster. In either case it is 
important to have warm covering overhead for outdoor wintering. 
You are on the safe side not to have all sealed tight, and the plan 
you propose may work all right. I used oilcloth, same as you, 
for years, but for many years past have had no covering over 
brood-frames except the hive cover, and this method I like better. 
But it must be remembered that I winter in the cellar. 
