Oct. 17, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



663 



the most of the working- force into the new hive ; placed an 

 empty frame between the two full ones, and adjusted the 

 division-board. I sent for an Italian queen for the old hive. 



Now, I have two boys, one 12 and the other 14 ; both are 

 anxious to learn about the bees, so I have opened both hives 

 three and four times a week, and sometimes twice a day, to 

 take out the combs and show the bees at work, the queen 

 depositing- eggs, how the workers unload their pollen, etc. 



The bees are hybrids. One scarcely finds a swarm that 

 is not more or less crossed with Italians. 



In examining those bees we have not used a bee-veil or 

 one particle of smoke at any time. Now, if I should, as 

 most bee-keepers recommend, puff smoke into the entrance, 

 we should disturb them and stop their labors entirely for 

 the time, but as we handle them, they keep right on at 

 work, and they are not disturbed a particle. If every time 

 we looked at them, we annoyed them with smoke, we should 

 soon have them so cross that it would be dangerous for the 

 children to go about them. 



When I had 125 colonies about the house, I never had 

 my own or the neighbors' children stung by them at all. 

 We never open a hive too early in the morning^, nor too late 

 in the evening, when the weather is too cool. 



I commenced this article some time in Maj-, and it is 

 now Aug 3. It was mislaid and forgotten. 



Always have your smoker ready in case of any mishap. 

 But I could never see the necessity of the first thing puffing 

 smoke in at the entrance, whether it is required or not. It 

 looks to me like carrying your whip, and every time you 

 approach your horse or cow, give them a good, smart cut 

 with it for fear they will kick or hook. When I use smoke 

 I use but a little at the top of the hive. Let the bees keep 

 on at work, out and in at the entrance. By so doing we 

 can keep them gentle. 



I admit that there is occasionally' a colony that one can 

 hardly keep down, no matter how much smoke is used, but 

 I will not keep a queen that produces such bees. It does 

 not pay. 



I now have 10 laying queens and a good, strong nucleus. 

 All the combs have been built worker-comb except one that 

 was built while the bees were rearing a queen. I had one 

 colony given to me, one that I paid 25 cents for, and one 

 that I paid 50 cents for. I have transferred about 10 frames 

 full of ready-made worker-comb, all the rest having been 

 made without foundation. Bees are yet sending out nat- 

 ural swarms. One went into the corner of a large fruit- 

 packing house on July 21, between the outside and chimney. 

 Being too much trouble to get them, I let them alone. 



Bees that were in good condition have done remarkably 

 well. The honey season is nearly over now. The loss in 

 the three dry years that have passed has been very heavy 

 in the mountain apiaries where there was no irrigation. 

 They will work in the valley until into September. 



Orange Co., Calif., Aug. 3. 



Preparing Bees for Winter— A Conversation. 



BY G. M. DOOUTTLK. 



HELLO ! what are you doing with the bees this morn- 

 ing ? I supposed all work with them was over for this 

 year." 



"In this you are mistaken, Mr. Smith ; for, in my opin- 

 ion to reap the best results in wintering bees, September is 

 the month in which they should be prepared for winter. 

 This gives them a chance to get their stores for winter 

 placed just where they wish them, so that, by the latter part 

 of October, they are ready to go into that quiescent state 

 which is always conducive to the best results." 



" Well, this is something new to me, as I always 

 thought November would do very well as to time to fix the 

 bees for winter. But what do you do now by way of prep- 

 aration ?" 



" The early preparation consists in opening each hive 

 and seeing that each colony has a good queen, plenty of 

 bees, and, mo.st of all, plenty of stores." 



" How much do you calculate for stores ?" 



" I allow 25 to 30 pounds for each colony, which should 

 be in the hive from September 10 to 25." 



" But suppose some colonies do not have that much." 



" If there is not so much as this, feeding must be 

 resorted to ; and if we have to feed, it should be done in 

 September, surely, in order that the bees may cap it over 

 before cool or cold weather ; for unsealed stores often sour 

 and get thin during winter, thus causing disease. Multi- 

 tudes of bees are lost yearly, where feeding is put off till 



October and November, by being obliged to eat poor, thin 

 stores, this causing bee-diarrhea on account of the bees not 

 being able to hold their feces, because they can not evapo- 

 rate all the water out of their food, it being so thin." 



•' But suppose the bees are still getting honey from the 

 fields." 



" In places where fall flowers abound, so that the bees 

 are storing at this time of the year, of course they should 

 need no feeding if the apiarist manages rightly." 



" Do you think if one needed feeding all would ?" 

 " This is to be ascertained by looking them over, as 

 you see me doing. If I find some colonies are heavy with 

 stores while others are light, the light ones can be fed by 

 taking from the heavy ; and if there are some light in 

 stores after so equalizing, then we feed what still remain 

 without a sufficient supply." 



'• Having all fixed as to stores, etc., what next is to be 

 done? I wish to learn." 



"The next thing to do is to put on the quilt, where such 

 is used, and over this the sawdust cushion, or whatever 

 packing material is used, thus tucking them nice, snug and 

 warm for the winter." 



" Do you use common enameled cloths for quilts ?" 

 " I do not during- winter. Some so use, but the most of 

 our practical bee-keepers prefer some porous substance, like 

 woolen blankets, pieces of old carpet, or something- of that 

 kind. For colonies to be left on summer stands, I use chaff 

 hives, which chaff is left on in the hives both winter and 

 summer. Over the tops of the frames I prefer a quilt, as 

 just spoken of, and on top of the quilt a cushion two or 

 three inches thick, made of common factory cotton cloth, 

 filled with corkdust, if possible ; if not, then filled with 

 dry basswood sawdust. Such cushions seem to keep the 

 bees in better condition than anything else I am acquainted 

 with. The corkdust allows the moisture to pass up through 

 it and out at the top of the hive, while the basswood saw- 

 dust will absorb nearly its bulk in water, so that either 

 keeps all dry, warm, and nice." 



" Do you do anything else by way of preparation ?" 

 " When winter sets in, a board about S or 10 inches 

 wide should be set up slanting from the alighting-board to 

 the hive, in front of the entrance, so as to keep out snow 

 and cold winds, as well as to shade the front of the hive, 

 where the hives face south, as they should during winter, 

 so the bright rays of the sun shall not entice the bees out 

 when it is too cold for them to fly." 



" Do you winter all your bees outdoors ?" 

 " No. I prefer to winter a part of the bees in the cel- 

 lar, for I like the idea of ' mixed wintering,' as by this plan 

 no extreme loss is likely to occur ; for a winter which is 

 severe on the bees out of doors is generally good for cellar- 

 wintering." 



"At what time do you set the bees in the cellar?" 

 " Somewhere about the middle of November. At any 

 time between the 10th of Nouember and the 1st of Decem- 

 ber, when the hives are dry, and free from frost, I set them 

 in. If they have a flight along about this time I set them 

 in the next day, if it does not rain so the hives are wet ; 

 and I find that this can be done, even if the weather is 

 quite warm, much better than it can on a cold morning 

 when the hives come up from their stands with a jar from 

 having been frozen down." 



" Do you give each hive a seperate stand when in the 

 cellar, or set them on a plank which will hold several 

 hives? " 



"Neither. A cellar stand is made by nailing four 

 pieces of six-inch boards together so they shall be of the 

 right size for a hive to rest on. This raises the first hive 

 six inches off the cellar bottom, and away from the damp 

 air which is generally found right at the cellar bottom. 

 The first hive is set on this stand, when hives are piled on 

 top of the first till the floor is reached, so that each stand 

 holds from three to five hives, according to the depth of the 

 cellar. In this way the cellar is filled (if I have colonies 

 enough), except a passageway through the center to the 

 back end, through which I pass every two or three weeks to 

 see if all is right so far as temperature, mice, etc., are con- 

 cerned. Otherwise they are left undisturbed during the 

 winter." 



" At what temperature should the cellar be kept ?" 

 " Here practical bee-keepers differ ; but I'have had the 

 best success with a temperature of from 43 to 45 degrees, or 

 as near that as can be had. With a cellar in a bank, separ- 

 ate from any building, the keeping of the temperature at 

 this point is quite easy ; but with a cellar under a room or 

 building it is not so easily done, for the changes from the 

 outside have more effect on the jinterior of the cellar than 



