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 CHAPTER XIII

HOW TO WINTER BEES

IDEAL CONDITIONS

wintering of bees in the northern latitudes is usually attended with more or less loss. Although we now think we know the conditions necessary for perfect wintering, it is only now and then that they are attained. There are so many unhappy and unpredictable circumstances and vicissitudes, that one must needs be a true prophet as well as a good bee-keeper to be sure that all his swarms will successfully pass the period of snow and cold.

The problem of wintering hinges as much on protection from dampness as on protection from the cold. We all know that double windows in a room keep the frost off the panes. The reason for this is that the dampness of the room is not allowed to come in contact with the cold outside glass. So it is with the bee-hive; if it is single walled the dampness from the breath of the bees causes the frost to gather on the walls of the hive, which later melts and wets the bees so that they chill easily; the double-walled hive is a guard against this condition. 145