WINTERING OUTDOORS 
907 
that it involves a considerable amount of 
work, but no more than the quadruple case. 
Another and more valid objection is that, 
after the bees begin to build up in the 
spring, there is no room for further ex¬ 
pansion. The eight frames will soon be 
filled with brood and bees; and when that 
time arrives it has been argued that it is 
a little too early to unpack. If the colony 
crowds the space of the eight combs, no 
harm will be done to unpack and restore 
the frames to normal position with two 
more combs. 
recapitulation op outdoor wintering. 
The system of outdoor wintering one 
should use will depend largely upon the 
climate. In the southern States wrappings 
of paper without packing may be sufficient, 
or perhaps one can practice the manner of 
packing described and illustrated in Spring 
Management. 
In the colder climates, where the tem¬ 
perature seldom goes down to zero, double- 
walled hives with two inches of packing 
space between the walls give excellent re¬ 
sults; but the colonies should be con¬ 
tracted down to six or seven frames, and 
the space on either side filled with packing 
or dummies. 
Where the climate is so cold that the 
mercury goes down to zero and stays there 
for weeks at a time the quadruple winter 
case or paper case with packing or Demuth 
case here shown should be used for outdoor 
wintering. However, if there is a large 
amount of snow every winter, a double- 
walled hive can be used. 
Pigs. 15 and 16.—These two figures represent the Demuth method of wintering a single-story colony 
of bees on Langstroth frames. It consists of an inner case large enough to take seven and eight frames— 
preferably eight—placed on end instead of the way they hang in summer. The outer case consists of 
two Langstroth hive-bodies and a super, or three hive-bodies. The hive-stand may be packed full of dry 
leaves and set on a platform a few inches from the ground. The inner case, containing preferably eight 
frames, is then set down in the center of the two hive-bodies. Dry leaves packed solid, or planer shav¬ 
ings, are then filled in between the inner case and the regular summer hive-bodies surrounding it. A bridge 
connects the inner case to the outer for the entrance. The entrance consists of five %-inch holes, all but 
one of which may or may not be closed during the coldest part of the winter. It is important that there be 
no ledge to catch snow and ice under the entrance; so the bottom-boards and hive-stand are turned 
around to leave an entrance at the rear as shown. A cake of candy, if there is a shortage of stores, is 
put on top. The cost of this arrangement is only about one-fourth of that shown on page 901, and the 
amount of stores will be only a little over half as much. The amount of packing to the case in this way 
between the walls will be 2% inches on the sides, and 3 inches on the ends. While this is less than 
recommended in the Government case, the form of the winter chamber is such than less packing is re¬ 
quired. The objection to this general plan is that it must be unpacked earlier than the hives shown 
on page 901. 
