40 



TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



anything over the brood frames be- 

 fore you put on the mat? 



Mr. Baxter — Yes, a straw mat. 



Mr. Stone — I want to relate an ex- 

 perience I had last winter. I did not 

 have ;; hive th^t went through the 

 winter safely except the hives I had 

 left brood frames on in the top story. 

 I had put them on to get honey for 

 exitra'Uinig purposes, and there were 

 eight only out of sixty swarms that 

 had honey enough in there to amount 

 to anything; I took the others off, 

 empty as I put them on. 



I left these cases on because I 

 thought they would eat the honey, and 

 when the extreme cold weather came, 

 I thoii'jht the warmth of the hive would 

 escape to the top s'tory and they would 

 freeze to death. Only eight hives 

 went through all right and safely; the 

 others all died. 



Mr. Vaughn — It seemed to be the 

 conclusion of those present that it was 

 the extreme cold weather and poor 

 stores that caused the loss, until Bro- 

 ther Stone spoke. 



I lost 50 per cent: out of twewty-four 

 stands I brought through twelve; I am 

 a beginner; I observed that the bees 

 that died had eaten all the honey they 

 had above; two out of 12 died with 

 honey on both sides and none above; 

 the other ten had some little honey on 

 one side but they were clustered on 

 the other. Mr. Riggs, my neighbor, 

 and I, — instead of having a center en- 

 trance, we are going to have an en- 

 trance at one corner of the hive, so 

 that the bees clustering here on one 

 side of the hive can eat towards the 

 stores, and won't eat away from the 

 stores. 



I don't know how that is going to 

 work, but we are going to try the side 

 entrance. 



Mr. Tyrrell — Some time ago a writer, 

 in one of the Bee Journals, brought 

 out that point, but he held the theory 

 that if the entrance to the hive was 

 in the center at the front of the hive, 

 the bees naturally formed there close 

 near the entrance, and would eat both 

 ways; if they went to the right, they 

 struck the right hand wall, and if to 

 the left, the other side, but by making 

 two little entrances, one on each cor- 

 ner, the bees would form on one corner 

 or the other and work clear across the 

 hives before they run out of stores; 



that statement was made by a promi- 

 nent bee-keeper. 



A member — When they had two en- 

 trances, did it not result in not put- 

 ting honey in the corners and putting 

 it in the center ? 



You will notice that if you make 

 an opening near the top of the hive, 

 the bees will take honey away from 

 that' opening and store it somewhere 

 else. The bees don't want their honey 

 where the robbers can get it. If you 

 make two openings, one on each cor- 

 ner, instead of putting their honey on 

 the sides away from the entrance, they 

 will put it to the center, away fTom the 

 entrance. You may think the bees are 

 working towards the honey; they 

 simply have their honey differently 

 located. 



Mr. Vaughn — I only spoke of one en- 

 trance; I have read of this double en- 

 trance, too; I am not in favor of a 

 double entrance; bees will not cluster 

 at the entrance; I am in favor of only 

 one entrance, and that at the corner. 



Mr. Baxter — I want to ask Mr. Stone 

 whether t'he top box was sealed tight 

 in these hives, so that moisture could 

 remain in the upper story and keep 

 the lower story dry? 



Mr. Stone — It was a double story; 

 on top of the upper frame there was 

 oil cloth; the bees had sealed it tight. 



Mr. Baxter — The moisture was a'b- 

 sorbed in the upper box and kept the 

 others dry, so that it was virtually the 

 same as being packed. Warm air 

 naturally rises up; steam rose up into 

 the upper chamber; the air itself is a 

 good absorlDent. 



Mr. Stone — 'I had as high as twenty 

 pounds of honey in the lower part of 

 the hives. 



Mr. Baxter — If you had had matting 

 or some ventilation over the upper 

 story, the bees below might have been 

 unable to survive, but that gave a 

 check to the escape of warm air and 

 helped to retain heat in the lower body 

 of the hive. 



In regard to the question of a side 

 entrance: In taking off the boxes in 

 the fall, getting ready for the winter — 

 with an entrance in front you find' the 

 bees clustered in any part of the hive; 

 I found them in the sides or in the 

 center; ther6 is no regularity about 

 that, no matter where the entrance is; 

 I have had bees ^vhere they did come 

 in on the side, but I could not see that . 



