454 
HIVES 
shown will keep a cake of ice, if the en¬ 
trance is closed, almost as well as a refrig¬ 
erator. It will also hold a pail of boiling 
water and keep it hot for hours on the 
principle of a tireless stove. 
The general features that go to make up 
a refrigerator or a tireless cooker apply 
equally well to a beehive. 
Some have the idea that a hive having 
so-called dead-air space will winter bees as 
well as one having space tilled with packing 
material. This is a mistake. In the first 
place, there is no such thing as “dead air” 
space in a beehive or in anything else. Air 
is bound to circulate. The air 
nest to the outer wall that is 
cold cools and necessarily circu¬ 
lates over to the other side or 
inner side Avhere it is warm. The 
cold air rushing over to the warm 
side cools the warm side, thus 
making the inner wall almost as 
cold as the outer. When a hive 
is so designed that it can hold 
packing material, this material 
holds an infinita number of pock¬ 
ets of air in little compartments. 
As the air in these compart¬ 
ments cannot circulate, it fol¬ 
lows that the outer Avail may be 
comparatively cold, while the 
inner one will be warm. The fact that all re¬ 
frigerators have the space betAveen the Avails 
packed with material, goes to sIioav that the 
theory of “dead air” space between two 
Avails is Avrong. Not only that, but actual 
practice shows a big difference between 
the so-called double-walled dead-air-space 
hive and a real double-walled hive, the 
spaces between which are packed. 
The hive just described is one of the 
standard double-Avalled hives that has been 
on the market for a number of years. 
There is a feeling, however, on the part of 
Government officials and others, that for 
very cold localities it does not 
afford enough packing. Indeed, 
Dr. E. F. Phillips, in charge of 
Bee Culture Investigations in 
the Bureau of Entomology at 
Washington, D. C., stated that, 
in his opinion, the original two- 
story A. I. Root chaff hive was 
much better and was the best 
winter hive that was ever on the 
market. It provides for two or 
three times the amount of pack¬ 
ing on the sides and top that is 
given in the Buckeye hive. The 
author’s experience with it 
showed that the bees wintered 
in it much better during severe 
winters than in the Buckeye. 
Moreover, the bottom was pack¬ 
ed, as well as the sides, ends, 
and tops. In the early editions of this 
work it Avas shown that bees wintered in 
this hive in the Medina climate for a series 
of tAvelve years with a loss not exceeding 
on an average three per cent. This is a 
record beyond that subsequently secured in 
Buckeye hive dissected, showing separate parts, and how the 
brood-chamber packing is shut in by cleats M and L. A, outer 
wall brood-chamber ; T, inner wall brood-chamber; X, W, pack¬ 
ing space cover; L, M, packing space bottom; F, telescope 
cover; E, chaff-tray; D, super-cover. 
Buckeye hive dissected, showing the inner walls detached 
from the outer walls of the brood-chamber. 
