In order to ascertain whether or not winter protection is valuable, experiments have been carried on at the Kansas State Agricultural College in which two sets of three hives each are used. One set of these hives is placed out in the open where it is not protected by any windbreak, while the other set is protected by a dense windbreak of shrubery. In each set of the three hives, each hive is wintered under different conditions. There is one one-story hive, one two-story hive, and one packed hive in each set. All of these hives are placed on scales and daily readings are taken of the change in weights. In the fall of the year when the bees are placed in winter quarters the amount of honey in each hive is ascertained, also the exact weight of the bees in each hive. As the number of bees in a bound is variously estimated at about 5,000, for the purpose of this experiment this will be the number used. As the number of bees in the hive ready for work on the day that the nectar flow starts is a good test of how they have wintered, the weight of the bees is again taken in the spring of the year on the date when the nectar flow begins. As a result of these weighings it was found that the one-story hive which was unprotected had in the spring 11,718 bees, while the two-story hive, under similar conditions, had 16,406, and the packed hive had 36,718, or 25,000 more bees than were in the one-story hive. As bees are now selling for $2.50 a bound, this would make a difference of $12.50 between the packed hive and the unpacked hive. The same was found to be true in those bees which were protected by a windbreak. The one-story hive had 14,063 bees, while the two-story hive had 20,936 and the packed hive had 36,594. A comparison of the number of bees in the hives protected by the windbreak and those not protected shows a difference of about 2,500 bees in the one-story hive and over 4,000 in the two-story hive, which gives a very good indication of the value of a windbreak over no windbreak. In the packed hive the value of the windbreak is not as striking as that in the unpacked hive, which was reasonably to be expected. A theory which has long been held and frequently preached in Kansas is that there is no need of winter protection in this state, because we have open winters. The winter of 1917-18 was called a severe winter, while that of 1918-19 was known as an open winter. The following facts will show very clearly that this theory of not needing packing on account of an open winter is a myth and a dangerous one at that, as the open winter is much more severe on bees than a severe winter. A comparison between the number of bees in the hives in the spring with the number in the fall shows that in 1917-18, which was a severe winter, there were 332 less bees in the one-story hive which was not protected by the windbreak, while in the hive similarly placed during the open winter of 1918-19 there were 3,282, or about ten times as many. In 1917-18 the two-story hive without a windbreak gained 2,806 bees, while in the open winter there were 469 less bees in the spring than in the fall. In those hives protected by a windbreak the one-story hive in the winter of 1917-'18 gained 4,538, and only 313 during the open winter. The two-story hive protected by the windbreak gained 13,346 during the severe winter, while a hive similarly placed gained only 5,936 during the open winter.