ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



49 



posite; two hives, for instance, facing 

 East, and two facing West; it does 

 not make any difference whether it 

 is Easit, W€st, North or South; they 

 put these four hives tight together, 

 a.nd make the packing case big enough 

 to go round the four. 



Take the cover off the hives; lay 

 sticks across the frames and then cover 

 with a piece of burlap; the packing 

 case is high enough so they have a 

 chance for quite good heavy packing 

 over the four, and then the cover Is 

 placed on top of the whole business: 

 the cover is not allowed to touch tha 

 packing. 



The cluster in each hive forms in 

 the warmest corner; so that the four 

 clusters are formed inside the four 

 comers nearest to each other and 

 make one big cluster of bees. 



This may have something to do with 

 what we were talking about — the honey 

 being in one side. Bees are naturally 

 where honey is. ^ 



Those bee-keepers were bringing 

 their bees through the winter with 

 that method, successfully. 



I understand that R. Holtermann, 

 who had a one thousand dollar bee 

 cellar, has abandoned the cellar for thi-s 

 outdoor method of packing. 



Mr. Baxter — There is one thing about 

 wintering bees to be observed, the 

 frames ought to be deep. Bees will 

 winter a great deal better in deep 

 framesi than in a shallow frame. 



I think that is one great point, in 

 wintering bees successfully. 



I don't believe, the conditions being 

 right, that there has been any time that 

 the weather has been cold enough in 

 this latitude to kill the bees. I believ" 

 that bees, here, under proper condi- 

 tions, can stand 4'0 degrees below zero 

 and come through all right. It is the 

 question of cold weather in combina- 

 tion with other considerations. 



This four colony wintering case is 

 not a new thing; it has been tried in 

 the East, and has been abandoned; it 

 Is a great deal of work. It will prob- 

 ably be better, and easier, to take them 

 to the cellar. 



I want to know how to winter bees 

 right on the summer stand so I won't 

 have to imove them. I want to bring 

 the most returns for the least work. 



Mr. Tyrrell — Probably the plan of the 

 New York bee-keeper will suit this 

 brother — this New York bee-keeper 

 said he left his bees stand out in a 

 single wall hive with no bottom to IL 



—4 



I believed he used the Langstroth 

 frame; then he crowded the leaves he 

 used for packing in the super as full 

 as he could crowd them, so that he 

 had to press the cover to get it on — 

 and then weighted it down, and left 

 them — and he succeeded in getting 

 through the winter. 



He had no bottom board. It seems 

 to ime that that would be the best way 

 to fix them, so that he would have no 

 bees next spring, but he met with suc- 

 cess. 



Pres. Dadant — I have seen half a 

 dozen colonies in box hives winter all 

 right W'ithout bottom^ board by men who 

 did not take care of them; they win- 

 tered them successfully. It was the 

 extra ventilation they got that saved 

 them., I believe, but I would hate to try 

 it, if they were weak. 



Mr. Stone — When I was first begin- 

 ning with bees, I was told by an uncle 

 who had a good many swarms of bees, 

 taht if I managed in some way to have 

 something sharp to rest the hives on, 

 it would be a good plan. I drove posts 

 in the ground and nailed two pieces 

 one by six fencing, and sharpened the 

 upper edges, and wintered several hives 

 that way without any bottom, and they 

 Wintered as well as they do now. 



After I got more hives, I wanted 

 to go into a better way of keeping 

 them, and began to keep them in the 

 cellar. Some man would write "You 

 must not have any moisture in the cel- 

 lar." And the cellar bottom would get 

 moist enough so that there • would be 

 a little water standing there — and I 

 never had any better success than .1 

 did the winters when there was water 

 in the cellar. 



Then again I have had them winter 

 very well when it was drj- in there; 

 and in later years I began to find out 

 that they wintered as well outside. 



I would most always lose two or 

 three in the cellar, from dysentery — ■ 

 and that never occurred when I win- 

 tered outside; then I began to winter 

 outside altogether. Hereafter I alway^s 

 had good luck, but last year my loss 

 was about eighty per cent. 



Question — How much air does it re- 

 quire to winter bees in the cellar? 



Mr. Tyrrell — Mr. C. F. Smith, of She- 

 boygan, Michigan, has one of those cel- 

 lars that Mr. Stone mentioned, having 

 water in the bottom. 



Mr. Smith claims he had some 

 trouble with mouldy combs, until one 

 winter, accidentally, one cover was left 



