20 
BEE-CULTURE. 
VENTILATION. 
In whatever manner bees are wintered, care must be taken 
that they have air, and are kept dry. If any one doubts 
whether bees can be smothered, let him confine a swarm in 
an air-tight box for an hour, and shake them occasionally to 
keep them active, and he will find his bees all dead and as 
moist as though they had been drenched in water. In hot 
weather, whilst transporting a strong colony of bees, nothing 
less than a whole side or end of a common-sized lnve covered 
with a loosely woven cloth or wire gauze is sufficient to secure a 
colony from smothering ; yet when bees are still and cool in 
the dark, they require but little air. This is evidenced by 
the fact, as persons of credibility have informed me, that 
having attempted to smother a colony of bees in the fall of 
the year by burying them in a chip-yard, after taking all o 
their honey, in the spring on digging up the chips they 
found living bees. I have buried several colonies of them 
together in the ground, in a dry place, covering them first 
with boards, and then with a layer of straw or fodder, then 
with ten inches of clay, leaving plenty of openings in the 
hives, and having a large tube run up through the top to 
give upward ventilation; but in this case as in damp cellars, 
the combs are inclined to mould; and being so very closely 
confined they become unhealthy after being set out in the 
spring. 
What I consider the best in-door arrangement for winter, 
that I have used, and for this hint I am indebted to M. Quiu- 
by, the author of the “Mysteries of Bee-keeping,” one of the 
most valuable and practical of boc-books, is a room parti- 
tioned off in a cellar especially for bees. Mine was ten feet 
square. The walls were made by setting up four inch scant- 
ling, nailing boards on both sides and filling between with 
sawdust, so that the temperature would not be suddenly af- 
fected by the external air. It had an opening at the top 
and another at the bottom for ventilation. These openings 
were covered with wire, cloth to keep out the mice, and 
shaded with a cloth to keep out the light. It had four 
tiers of shelves all around, so that the hives could be 
set on these like store goods. Common hives were inverted 
on these sliefces and left bottom up, that they might be thor- 
oughly ventilated. (It is not necessary to be alarmed about 
