A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to the Interests of Honey Producers 

 f LOO a fear 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON, Editor and Publisher. 



VOL. XXIII. 



FLINT. MICHIGAN, DECEMBER 1, 1910. 



NO. 12 



Story of the Season. Protection; Feeding; and 

 Securing the Harvest. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



nAST winter I had 40 colonies in 

 a side-hill cellar here at Flint. 

 They wintered perfectly. In the 

 spring it seemed as though they had 

 simply been set into the cellar over night. 

 About the middle of March the weather 

 turned warm, and, for several days, 

 bees in the open air flew freely. On the 

 18th of March my 40 colonies were set 

 oat upon their summer stands. In three 

 days they were gathering pollen. 



WHEN TO GIVE SPRING PROTECTION. 



When bees are first set out in the 

 spring they need no protection. They 

 have little or no brood, and can protect 

 themselves by clustering. If the weather 

 continues warm for two or three weeks, 

 the combs fill up with brood; then, if 

 there comes cold weather, the bees will, 

 of course, cluster, when all brood outside 

 of the cluster will perish. If the weather 

 turns cold soon after the bees are set 

 out, there is no need of giving the bees 

 any extra protection; but if it continues 

 warm, early in the season, then it is a 

 safe thing to give extra protection 



against the "squaw winter" that may 

 come. 



SIMPLE AND INEXPENSIVE PACKING. 



As the weather did continue warm 

 last spring, at the end of two weeks I 

 went at it and gave my bees extra pro- 

 tection. This was done in a very simple 

 and cheap manner. On top of each 

 hive, next to the tops of frames, was 

 spread a piece of heavy rag carpet. On 

 top of the carpet was set a shallow super 

 having a piece of wire cloth, the size of 

 the super, tacked to its lower edges. 

 The super was filled half full of sawdust 

 and planer shavings, and the cover to 

 the hive placed on top of the super. This 

 gave the top of the hive, the most im- 

 portant part, most thorough protection. 



To protect the sides of the hive, a strip 

 of tarred felt, about 15 inches wide was 

 wrapped around the hive. It was long 

 enough to go around the hive, and lap 

 eight or ten inches. It reached to the 

 ground, and lapped two or three inches 

 up on the sides of the super. 



The tarred felt was kept in place by 



