56 



SEVEXTEENTIf ANNUAL EEPOET OF THE 



dead air space in the covers or the Wpers 

 was what saved them. \ 



The President — It is very easy to account 

 for Mr. Stone's loss, and that is that those 

 that came through had double tier supers; 

 they had plenly of stores, the honm- was 

 deep and the top of course was not so 

 well sealed as those where the super had 

 been taken off. Those that did not/have 

 sufficient ventilation and sufficient stores 

 were the ones that died, ^^'here yo« have 

 cloth on the top super, I have neveri seen 

 a super that was so tight but there was 

 ventilation between the super and the 

 body of the hive and the corner. >That 

 accounts for the fact that the bees where 

 they had the super came through and the, 

 others did not. 



I am speaking for this latitude and I am 

 speaking for the large hive. Many of you 

 have been to my place, you have seen my 

 orchards, and you have seen my apiaries 

 a^d you know the work I am doing. My 

 object has been always to get the greatest 

 results with the least expense. Why go to 

 all this expense getting extra cases, moving 

 colonies and all that, if you can accom- 

 plish the same thing with the hive on the 

 place where it has stood 40 years mthout 

 moving it? That is what I am doing. 

 I have tried this, that, and many things 

 and I finally came to this conclusion,, that 

 to winter bees safely, to carry them 

 through the winter, as they should be 

 carried, we have to have plenty of stores 

 and good stores, the better the stores the 

 better they will winter. Then see that you 

 have plenty of young bees; so as to carry 

 your colonies through the winter. Then 

 pack your bees as has been mentioned, or 

 in some similar manner, so that the vapor 

 of the bees will be carried away and not 

 condensed in the body of the hive, and 

 then have wind breaks, you will succeed 

 very well. Last year I gathered 42 bar- 

 rels of honey from two apiaries, besides 

 grapes and apples and all that. I see to 

 it practically myself, with the exception 

 of extracting and picking the fruit, etc. 



A Member — -You speak of having plenty 

 of stores, what do you consider plenty of 

 stores? 



The President — I would want not less 

 than 30 or 40 pounds of honey. Mr. 

 Root, what would you say? 



Mr. Root — I am interested in what this 

 gentleman said over here. I do not quite 

 understand his locality. You have a 

 splendid wind break, must have. 



Mr. Bowen — No, one of our apiaries is 

 right on the banks of the Illinois River, 

 where the wind comes down the river, and 

 the first place it strikes, I believe, from 



the north pole, is our bees. Our hives are 

 square, they are the same size one way as 

 the other. 



If there is any honey put out in the 

 country, we usually have it. I do not 

 believe in small hives. Some years ago a 

 party met me and said, "Mr. Bowen, the 

 great trouble with the hive j'ou use is, 

 it is too large, the bees cannot fill it." 

 He had no more than got through when a 

 man stepped up and said — One of them had 

 been talked to by a scientific man who was 

 coming into the niehgborhood raising bees, 

 using the 8-frame hive. Winter came on 

 and this scientific man with the S-frame 

 hive lost every one of his bees, and we 

 lost one. 



From our past experience I will say, 

 when spring comes, we will have as many 

 bees in proportion as j-ou people with 

 your thick wall hive. When you get a 

 thick wall hive, 6 inches thick, when it 

 gets cold weather that gets cold all the 

 way through. Dr. Phillips told us that 

 in his experience he found that the tight 

 hive got just as cold inside as on the top 

 of the hive. There is one disadvantage, 

 when there comes a warm day, the warmth 

 does not have as much effect on the thick 

 hive as on the thin hive, and the bees in 

 the thin hive will be out taking their 

 flight, when the thick hive is not stirring. 

 Unless we see something that will con- 

 vince us the other way, we will continue 

 to use our thin walled hive with a winter 

 protection made of wrapping paper, and 

 it is a whole lot less trouble than to move 

 your hive back and forth. We keep our 

 bees about six feet apart, center to center, 

 in rows, and then the rows 12 feet apart. 



Mr. Root — How cold does it get? There 

 must be some explanation. What I am 

 trying to get at is, how many days of 

 sunshine do j'ou. have in your particular 

 locality? 



Mr. Bowen — Mr. Stone maj' say how 

 much they have down here and that is the 

 same as we have down there. 



Mr. Root — What would be your guess? 



Mr. Bowen — Well, take the ordinary 

 winter, I would not think there were over 

 ten days to two weeks, never more than 

 four weeks, that we did not have a flight. 



The President — Not last winter. The 

 winter of '84 to '85 there were six weeks 

 when there were no flights at all; 39 below 

 zero. 



Mr. Bowen — I think there were three 

 days in succession that the thermometer 

 was below zero. 



Mr. Root — How many lost that winter? 



, Mr. Bowen — I do not think I had any. 



