342 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



have surface drains along each side of 

 the pits to carry off any water that 

 ir.ay come that way. 



In this location we bury during- tlie 

 last half of November and dig- them out 

 as soon as the frost is out of the pits, 

 usually the last week of March. 



In uticovering- the pits, shovel off all 

 the earth except, say, two inches, leav- 

 ing- enough sand so the bees can not 

 get out. Of course, this getting a 

 whiff of fresh air will cause the bees to 

 make quite a demonstration; but they 

 will not leave their hives then. Just 

 at night, when it is too late for the 

 bees to fly, remove the rest of the earth 

 and straw. Thus far the uncovering 

 has been done the day before you ex- 

 I'ect a good day for them to fly. The 



onies last winter in clamps without 

 the loss of a single good one, and that 

 we will winter 450 of our 600 colonies 

 this way next winter. 



If you look at the accompanying 

 half-tone, you will see our motle of 

 protecting bees during spring with 

 building-paper. The ideal wa}', and 

 the way we do when we are supplied 

 with those ^s-thick board, brood-nest 

 covers, is to remove the hive-cover and 

 place one of these thin covers on, then 

 fold the paper around the hive nicely, 

 as the half tone will show, then nail on 

 four lath at the bottom. Put 30ur hive 

 cover on, held down with a stone or 

 brick, as the wind is more likely to 

 blow covers when prepared. With this 

 protection, even in the coldest weather 



Hive Protected by Tarred Felt. 



next morning the bees will all be 

 clustered in their hives, and can be 

 set on their summer stands without a 

 single bee flying. After trying several 

 different plans of removing bees from 

 clamps, the one described above is de- 

 cidedly the best. It might give some 

 timid bee-keeper courage to tr}' this 

 plan to knovi' that we wintered 3U0 col- 



in April, the bees will be clustered 

 clear across our ten-frame hives, just 

 as they do in chaff" hives, with the 

 additional advantage over the chaflf 

 hive of the benefit of the sun heat dur- 

 ing the day. 



I have for several years wintered 

 bees in clamps, and can most thor- 



