MINNESOTA BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 309 



in summer and autumn, so that they will he ready and in proper condition 

 when the honey season closes; herein lies the great secret of success, (here 

 in Minnesota we generally have a honey flow in September.) Properly 

 speaking, to separate wintering bees from summering them, to say the 

 least, is a misnomer, and would be like dividing a man into his body and 

 into his spirit; if one is neglected the other is affected thereby. It is also 

 like grape culture. To be successful we must select and properly prepare 

 the young vines for the next year's crop, while in the meantime we are 

 raising our present year's crop of grapes. So with bees, our colonies must 

 be properly worked and fitted in the summer in order to obtain the best 

 results in wintering them. The best worker brood combs should be put 

 in the center of the brood nest and the less perfect ones, or some with 

 patches of drone comb, towards the outside, &c, this, with a good prolific 

 queen, will leave the colony strong and populous for the winter. Such 

 colonies as a rule will always have their stores in the right position around 

 and above the brood nest (if not spoiled and raked by their keeper.) When 

 the winter sets in they are also fitted and prepared for early spring, after 

 successful wintering, and can be left alone (if they have food enough) till 

 warm weather sets in. I always put my bees into the cellar the first cold 

 snap we get, which comes quite regularly from the 10th to the 14th of 

 November— this has not failed for the past ten years. The time to set 

 them out in the spring is not so regular and good judgment should be ex- 

 ercised; we must be very careful and not set them out too early as that 

 has ruined many colonies, it should be warm enough for them to fly freely, 

 as any degree under fifty-six degrees above zero in the shade will be destruc- 

 tion. At sixty degrees above in the shade there is no danger; as a rule I 

 set my bees out from the 1st to the 10th of April. Many more things of 

 less importance could be said, but that would make my essay too long and 

 take up too much valuable time here. There are a few other methods of 

 wintering bees, such as double-walled hives and others, but I have not 

 tried them, nor have I any desire to do so, as I am willing to let well enough 

 alone. Late years I have wintered my bees almost to perfection. I have 

 only lost one swarm in the past three winters, and wintered from 145 to 

 280 colonies each winter. 



DISCUSSION. 



Pres. Wilcox: Gentlemen, you have heard the paper of Mr. 

 Theilmann. It is now before the house, and open for discus- 

 sion. 



Mr. Cutler: I would like to ask Mr. Theilmann how he 

 killed the seventy swarms? 



C. Theilmann: My bee house is built half w T ay into a side 

 hill; and is covered w T ith dirt except the roof and the front part 

 of the house, which is double walled and filled with saw dust. 

 The winter before I had the twenty-four colonies I spoke of in 

 the same house. They only consumed from three to five 



