io6 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



colonies strong at the beginning of the 

 honey flow, he will meet with only dis- 

 appointment and failure, hence the whole 

 svstem of spring management should be 

 directed to the production of strong col- 

 onies early in the season. To secure 

 the strongest colonies, two things are nec- 

 essary; namely, ])lenty of heat and plenty 

 of food. The food supply has been ver\- 

 ably discussed many times, as has also 

 the question of securing sufficient heat 

 to enable the bees to do their best in rear 

 ing the largest possible amount of brood 

 early in the season. Various kinds of 

 of packing have been suggested, all of 

 which have their merits. 



^Vithout entering into a discussion of 

 the merits and demerits of chaff, sawdust 

 planer shavings, etc., any of which are 

 often unavailable, and all of which re- 

 quire some time and skill for successful 

 use, I wish to say that enough materials 

 for proper spring protection of fifty colo- 

 nies can be carried on an ordinary wheel- 

 barrow. All that is necessary is a roll of 

 good water-proof building-paper (not 

 tarred), two or three bunches of lath, two 

 pounds of common shingle nails, a knife, 

 a saw, and a hammer. As this plan of 

 spring protection is probably new to 

 manv of your readers, detailed directions 

 as to how it should be done may not be 

 out of place. 



The paper should be cut into strips 

 wide enough to reach from the lower 

 edge of the bottom board to the cleat sup- 

 porting the cover, or if the plain flat 

 board cover is used, to the upper edge of 

 the hive body. It should be of sufficient 

 length to reach clear around the hive 

 and make a generous lap at the front end. 

 The laths should be cut into pieces of the 

 length and width of the hive: eight pieces 

 will be required for each hive. Two 

 nails will be needed to nail each piece to 

 the hive. All the material can be pre- 

 pared in the work -shop, so that it will be 

 but little work to prepare each hive. 

 When all is ready, wrap one of the paper 

 strips about the hive, even with the lower 

 edge of the bottom board, tack the lath to 



lower and upper edges of the hive, bring 

 the ends of the paper into proper position 

 at one end of the hive, fasten them with 

 the strips, and the work is done. For the 

 entrance cut a hole in the paper of the 

 proper size. It is a good plan to cut the 

 lower lath for the front end of the hive 

 into two pieces, and use them for entrance 

 blocks. If the paper is lapped under 

 them, it makes the entrance very warm 

 and snug. For top protection, cut another 

 paper large enough to cover the top of the 

 brood chamber and allow sufficient to lap 

 it about an inch on each side. Place 

 this under the cover, and you have your 

 colony packed in a manner that is simply 

 draft proof, and if the bees are given a 

 liberal food supph-, the process of brood 

 rearing will go on very rapidly. The de- 

 tails of packing are adapted to an eight- 

 frame single-wall hive with a telescoping 

 cap, but any bee-keeper can adapt the 

 details to fit his own hive. The object of 

 protection is to conserve the heat genera- 

 ted by the colony, and this method ac- 

 complished it with a medium expenditure 

 of labor and capital. There are three ad- 

 vantages in this methol of protection; 

 namel}', low cost, cleanliness, and the 

 portability of the hive is not affected. 

 After the weather begins to get warm the 

 top packing can be despensed with, and 

 the side packing is no hindrance to the 

 adjustment of the surplus receptacles. 

 When through with the packing, it can 

 be very quickly removed from the hives, 

 piled up and burned, when it is out of the 

 way forever, or if it is thought desirable 

 to preserve it for future use, it can be 

 stored away in a very small space. In 

 my own experience, I have found it 

 cheaper to burn up the whole lot, and 

 get a new supply each year. 



The best paper that I have used for this 

 purpose has been an oiled paper which 

 cost about a cent and a half a pound, the 

 bees disturbed the covering pieces but 

 very little, and where colonies were weak, 

 I used it for division boards with very 

 satisfactory results; onesi>ecial advantage 

 of paj^er for ihe last named use is that it 



