160 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



hive the bees naturally built their combs irregularly, and any part 

 of the hive was easily accessible from the center. It is a well-known 

 fact tbat bees fill the top of their hives with honey first and then 

 work down. The result is, that in the fall they are clustered in 

 the bottom part of the hive, their heat rises and warms the combs 

 and honey just above them; this enables the bees in cold weather to 

 gradually move upward to a new supply of stores. During my 

 experiments in wintering, I put a swarm of bees in a hollow log 

 six feet high and four inches thick; the space inside was about 

 eight inch.es in diameter; the entrance, a squirrel hole, was half the 

 way up; no attention whatever was shown them; each year they 

 sent out a swarm, and that was all the income. After ten years, 

 in order to examine and learn all the facts connected with their 

 wintering, I transferred them, and found just what I had antici- 

 pated — their comb built irregularly, and in such a way that every 

 comb was conveniently situated for their winter use; and an- 

 other thing — 1 noticed that the cavity was sufficiently large to 

 allow a surplus of old honey, to be kept on hand year after year, 

 in case of need. I do not say that this was economy, but it was a 

 safeguard. The history of this stock helped to confirm theories in 

 connection with the wintering of bees. Hives should have protec- 

 tion in some form during the winter and spring. 



The plan I like best for wintering is a dark, dry cellar, with the 

 thermometer at forty-five degrees. When the weather becomes 

 sufficiently warm, set each hive on its old stand, and stimulate by 

 feeding coarse rye flour. The framed hive was formerly built 

 with particular reference to surplus honey, which, with the too free 

 use of the extractor, together with the forcing system for surplus 

 comb-honey, I believe, have been the leading causes of the loss of 

 more bees than all others combined. 



The question naturally arises, shall I succeed if I invest ? Why 

 is this question applicable to bees more than to farm stock gen- 

 erally — cows, sheep, swine ? If you make a failure in any one of 

 these it is attributed at once to some mismanagement; not to your 

 inability, nor to the particular branch in which your experience 

 was a failure. What are you prompted to do but to carefully re- 

 view, step by step, ascertain the cause of your failure, compare 

 your management with those that have succeeded, gathering all 

 the knowledge and facts that you can, then change your former 

 plan of action, when four times out of five you will succeed. Will 



