WINTERING OUTDOORS 
911 
break that the boards are placed a slight 
distance apart. As a little of the blast of 
air filters between the hoards it stops it 
from rushing upward so fast, and then 
diving downward as it will do with a solid 
construction. 
IMPORTANCE OF LETTING BEES 
FORM A WINTER NEST. 
What is meant by “winter nests”? A 
space of empty brood-cells in one or more 
combs, such space approximating the form 
of a flattened" sphere in an ordinary Lang- 
stroth brood-nest. These empty cells sur¬ 
rounded by sealed stores constitute the 
winter nest where bees cluster when condi¬ 
tions are ideal. As the stores are consumed, 
the number of empty cells increases either 
backward or forward, but always upward. 
As a general thing, the ball of bees will 
be located near the front of the hive and 
regularly over the entrance. As the stores 
are consumed they move upward and back¬ 
ward ; but the cluster in no case extends 
over the sealed honey when the bees can 
have their own will. 
Very often a well-meaning ABC scholar 
finds three or four combs in the center of 
the hive, having a space of empty cells as 
large as the hand spread out. He thinks 
this is all wrong and will remove the 
combs containing such spaces, and put in 
their place solid combs of honey. What 
has he done? He has compelled the bees 
to cluster upon sealed honey. The cluster 
is broken up into slabs approximately % 
inch thick, each slab of bees separated by 
approximately an inch of solid honey. In¬ 
stead of having one solid cluster separated 
by only the midrib of the combs, he has 
made a series of clusters, each within itself 
trying to maintain its own body heat but 
at very great disadvantage. 
To illustrate: Two people on a cold 
winter’s night require less bed clothing 
than one person would in the same bed. 
Suppose that, instead of having those two 
bed-fellows separated from each other by 
only their night clothing, a slab of metal or 
even wood is between them. If they are com¬ 
pelled to place their warm bodies in con¬ 
tact with that cold surface, they lose a 
great deal of their body heat because the 
cold surfaces carry away (that is, dissipate) 
the warmth. 
There is precisely that condition when 
combs of sealed honey are set down into a 
bunch of bees. They are compelled to 
divide up into four or five clusters. The 
result is, that colonies tampered with in 
this manner perish or come out in the 
spring very weak because of their inabil¬ 
ity to maintain the requisite temperature. 
Where outside bees become stiff with cold 
they can not long endure that condition. 
If a colony is fed gradually during 
Fig. 4.—This apiary, belonging to Mr, Pritchard, is located at the bottom of a hill which forms a semi¬ 
circle protecting the bees against the west, north, and east, leaving only a southeastern exposure. The 
thick growth of young trees on the top of the hill, together with the larger trees in the apiary inclosure, 
would make it impossible for any eddying currents to sweep down the hill and on the hives. The ar¬ 
rangement as a natural windbreak is ideal. 
