This was so perfectly simple, that I wondered I had not thought of it before, and wondered still more that some one of the many intelligent apiarians had never discovered it. I immediately inverted every hive in the room, and kept them in this way till spring; when the combs were perfectly bright, not a particle of mould to be seen, and was well satisfied with the result of my experiment. Although I was fearful that more bees would leave the hives when inverted, than if right side up, yet the result showed no difference. I had now tried both methods, and had some means of judging. BEES WHEN IN THE HOUSE SHOULD BE KEPT PERFECTLY DARK. When not kept perfectly dark, a few would leave the hives in either case. I have found it much better to make the room dark to keep the bees in the hive, than to tie over them a thin muslin cloth, as that prevents a free passage of the vapor, and a great number of full stocks were not at all satisfied in confinement; and were continually worrying, and biting at the cloth, till they had made several holes through it for passages out. Thus the little good was attended by an evil, as an offset. Even wire cloth put over to confine them, which would be effectual, would not save bees enough to pay expense. I have thus wintered them for the last ten years, and am extremely doubtful if a better way can be found.[17] For several years I made use of a small bed-room in the house, made perfectly dark, in which I put about 100 stocks. It was lathed and plastered, and no air admitted, except what might come through the floor. It was single, and laid rather close, though not matched. [17] I was so well pleased with my success, especially with small families, that I detailed the most important points in a communication to the Dollar Newspaper, Philadelphia, published November, 1848. A ROOM MADE FOR WINTERING BEES. In the fall of 1849 I built a room for this purpose; the frame was eight by sixteen feet square, and seven high, without any windows. A good coat of plaster was put on the inside, a space of four inches between the siding and lath was filled with saw-dust; under the bottom I constructed a passage for the admission of air, from the north side; another over head for its exit, to be closed and opened at pleasure, in moderate weather, to give them fresh air, but closed when cold, and so arranged as to exclude all the light. A partition was extended across near the centre. This was to prevent disturbing the whole by letting in light when carrying them out in the spring. By closing the door of this partition, those in one room only need be disturbed at once. MANNER OF STOWING AWAY BEES.