THE BEE-IvF.EPERS' REVIEW 



343 



oughly endorse all that Mr. Townsend 

 says regarding the wintering of bees 

 in clamps. The first and most impor- 

 tant requisite is a sand^' hill side. 



Without this, success is problemati- 

 cal. Clay is death. I have tried it 

 repeatedly No matter what you may 

 think, or feel, no ventilation is needed 

 in a sandy soil. 



Bees can be wintered as perfectly in 

 a clamp as in a cellar, but no more so, 

 and. cnl3' the dtubt of permanently 

 occupying a location gives an excuse 

 for emplo3'ing the clamp method. I 

 have this fall helped to build three 

 cellars, each with a capacity for 200 

 colonies, and the cost was about $50.00 

 for each cellar. The interest on this 

 sum, even at 10 percent, would be only 

 $5 00 a year, and 200 colonies could 

 not be buried and dug out for much 

 less than five tim.es that amount. An- 

 other point: A cellar allows the bees 

 to be hustled in, if the season is late, 

 and winter coming on, while the 

 clamp method takes some little time 

 with large numbers In my opinion, 

 only the unceitainty of occupying a 

 location justifies the use of the 

 clamp. 



WINTERING BFES. 



Some Excellent Advice From an Excellent 

 Man. 



In many locations in the North, the 

 real problem of successful bee-keeping 

 lies in the successful wintering of the 

 bees, and I know of no one who has 

 been more successful in this line, in a 

 large way, especially in out-door win- 

 tering, than my old friend N. E. 

 France, who contributes the following 

 article to Gleanings : 



In the Northern States successful 

 wintering of bees is quite a problem. 

 The more I study this as I visit 

 apiaries, the more I believe the bee- 

 keeper is to blame for losses. How, 

 then can they be prevented ? 



1. I want, early in July, more 

 sealed honey in the brood-oom'is than 

 is necessary to winter thecolony. The 

 unused honey in the spring will all be 

 usod to feed early-hatched brood, and 

 I often find weak colonies or dead ones, 

 as I go over the State in the spring, 

 that are starved or nearly so. Starving 

 colonies in spring are seldom 

 profitable. This shortage also causes 

 the bees to eat too much pollen, and 

 dysentery will follow. 



2. During the latter part of the 

 honey harvest I remove every queen, 

 and at the same time replace, with 

 new queens, either those which I buy 

 or some raised in the apiary for the 

 purpose. This will leave the hives 

 soon after the honey-flow with fewer 

 old bees to feed during the fall, that 

 would die before winter anyway, thus 

 saving winter food. The new queen 

 will fill the hives in the fall with 

 young workers that will live through 

 the trying months to maintain heat and 

 care for early brood in the spring. In 

 this northern climate where winters 

 are hard, I do not dare to winter 

 queens twice, for they are liable to die 

 in the spring, leaving queenless cilon- 

 ies that are of little value. 



3. The location of the apiary often 

 decides success or failure, especially 

 if bees are wintered outside. The 

 apiary should be well sheltered from 

 cold winds, the hives provided with 

 young queens and an abundance of 

 young workers, and well filled with 

 honey in the fall. It is well to allow 

 a free flight of bees twice during the 

 winter, on warm days; the hives should 

 be protected from the outside air with 

 heaving building paper, or by an out- 

 side casing. If the above conditions 

 are met I would rather winter the bees 

 on summer stands. It is much less 

 work, and the amount of extra food 

 consumed (not over 10 lbs.) will not 

 pay for the extra labor. The illustra- 

 tion (see next page) shows such an 

 apiary of over 100 colonies, protected 

 with building-paper, in a sheltered 

 location; the winter loss, including 

 spring dwindling, is never over 2 per 

 cent. The hive in the foreground has 

 the outside p.iper removed, showing 

 the brood-chamber and the super of 

 sealed combs for winter food. 



As I go among hundreds of apiaries 

 inspecting bees I find a large portion 

 of the apiaries are not so located as to 

 be protected, and outside wintering 

 results in heavy loss. Cellar winter- 

 ing then must be resorted to. Go )d 

 results are obtained where the bees are 



