THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



271 



what pdllcn there is in normal honey. 

 is unable to adequately feed its hrood 

 and regain its colony activities in the 

 late winter and early siiring months be- 

 fore new ]iollen is availalde. Honey 

 contains enough pollen for the replac- 

 ing of waste tissues in the adult bees, 

 but the growing and developing larvae 

 must have pollen in abundance in order 

 to live and thrive. In fact, the bees 

 will not start much brood unless pollen 

 or its equivalent is available for the 

 feeding of their young. 



We believe that if these few essen- 

 tials of winter practice be kept steadily 

 in mind, successful wintering will be- 

 come more and more sure, and that 

 nuich will lie contributed to the ulti- 

 mate productiveness of each succeeding 



sunnner's achievements in the honey 

 harvest. 



Los Angeles, California. 



(The al)ove article is not only worthy 

 of a careful reading, but a careful study 

 as well. Too much "guess work" is 

 done in our preparation of bees for 

 winter. Mr. Benton lays particular 

 stress upon the importance of late 

 breeding, which is a point well to con- 

 sider. Another important point in pre- 

 paring bees for out-door wintering, is 

 to be sure and leave a space between 

 the packing and the coz'er. Be sure that 

 the packing does not come up right 

 against the cover. I can well remember 

 one winter when I did not understand 

 this point, and allowed the packing to 

 come up tight against the cover, and 

 the next spring found me with a great 

 many "very tame bees.") 



A Cheap, Novel and Effedive Way of Preparing 

 Bees for Out-Door Wintering. 



J. A. SPROAT. 



SEVERAL bee-keepers have repeat- 

 edly said that bees could not be 

 successfully wintered out of doors 

 where it did not warm up enough to 

 give them a fly every two or three 

 weeks. I have kept bees twenty-two 

 years, at one time wintering all in the 

 cellar, but have gone back to the old 

 method of out-door wintering. I sel- 

 dom lose my colonies unless through 

 some fault of my own. 



The boxes I use for winter cases are 

 made from shoe boxes that I get for 

 ten cents each. It takes about four of 

 them to make one wintering case. These 

 cases are eight inches longer than the 

 combined width of five hives, and seven 

 inches wider. I have my cases face the 

 south, and put but three inches of pack- 

 ing on that side, so that the heat of 

 the sun will help raise the inside tem- 

 perature on warm days. I consider this 

 important as it enables the bees to 



move their stores to the cluster. It is 

 very seldom that I find a colony that 

 has changed its brood-nest. 



There is a space for four inches of 

 packing in the rear, and the same 

 amount on each end. If the box should 

 be a little wide, T make the packing in 

 the rear a little thicker, as I am par- 

 ticular to keep the front packing down 

 to the three inches. 



The bottom is made by nailing four 

 pieces of J/S in. strips across two 2x3 

 scantlings, and then nailing on the boards 

 for the bottom. These boards may be 

 anywhere from a half to an inch thick. 



The sides, ends and cover are all 

 hooked together with hooks made from 

 heavy fence wire, using medium sized 

 fence staples to fasten with. 



P.VCKING. 



In packing for winter a bottom board 

 is placed behind a row of five hives. 

 Two bricks or blocks are placed at each 



