December, 1908. 



American Hee Journal 



may be normal, but if tbe bee is com- 

 pelled to discharge them in the hive, 

 the result is disastrous, as in real diar- 

 rhea, and the conditions become the 

 same. 



Unripe honey, harvested late and re- 

 maining unsealed when the bees are put 

 into the cellar is one of the principal 

 causes of positive diarrhea, other con- 

 ditions being satisfactory. Honey con- 

 taining many floating grains of pollen 

 is also a predisposing cause. That is 

 why so many bee-keepers whose bees 

 have suffered from either or both of 

 these causes find it advisable to remove 

 the honey of the late harvest and re- 

 place it with sugar syrup. But this task 

 requires so many manipulations that I 

 hesitate to recommend it, unless the 

 honey is known to be entirely unfit for 

 wintering, as in the case of fruit-juices, 

 or when a great proportion of the honey 

 has remained unsealed. This is a very 

 exceptional occurrence. I have seen it 

 only two or three times in my experi- 

 ence. At one time, during a damp win- 

 ter, the unsealed honey gathered so 

 much moisture, even out of the cellar, 

 in colonies wintered on the summer 

 stands, that the cells overflowed, and 

 the honey ran out on the alighting- 

 board. The loss of bees was tremen- 

 dous, both out-of-doors and in the cel- 

 lar. When the bees are confined to a 

 dry cellar the danger from this source 

 is much lessened. That is why a cellar 

 which has been partitioned off and in 

 which a hot air or steam furnace is 

 used to heat the house proves safe, 

 provided the room in which the bees 

 are kept is ventilated sufficiently to keep 

 it cool. The draft which passes through 

 to nourish the fire is a moisture drain. 



A damp cellar, from which the mois- 

 ture cannot be expelled is dangerous 

 to the bees, if their honey is not of 

 the best. Basswood honey, which so 

 often is unripe when sealed, becomes a 

 danger, as is the late fall honey, while 

 good white clover honey seems to be as 

 good winter food as the best of syrup. 

 Of course the cheap syrups are out of 

 the question. 



When the cellar is damp, the bee- 

 keeper often finds that the hives which 

 are at the bottom of the pile are the 

 worst oflF. We have often practised 

 placing them on trestles, 2 or 3 feet 

 from the ground. The temperature is 

 also lower near the floor than above, 

 and moisture and cold make an unfor- 

 tunate combination. 



Ventilation is a matter of importance. 

 The lack of it helps the retaining of 

 moisture and increases the possibility 

 of diarrhea. Dr. Miller knows this and 

 urges abundant ventilation. His hives 

 are raised from the alighting-board some 

 two inches, and in addition he does hot 

 hesitate to open the door of his bee- 

 cellar wide for increased ventilation 

 whenever the weather permits it. 



We have not practiced cellar-wintering 

 for some years, except in cases of short 

 crops or very weak colonies, but when- 

 ever we do, we leave oflf the alight- 

 ing-board entirely and pile the hives on 

 top of each other without cap or bot- 

 tom, and with only a straw mat be- 

 tween the different colonies. A couple of 

 cleats set crosswise are used to keep 

 the hives raised sufficiently. We would 

 not insist on others following this 



method, but I believe it is advisable to 

 give more air than in outdoor winter- 

 ing. 



If the bees are taken in as soon a^ 

 the weather turns decidedly cold, short- 

 ly after a flight; if their honey is sound 

 and ripe, not much of it being un- 

 sealed ; if the cellar is well ventilated 

 and may be easily kept at 40 to 43 

 degrees, rarely exceeding 50; if the 

 hives are given plenty of ventilation 

 while kept as much as possible in dark- 

 ness, there will be very little danger 

 of diarrhea or overloading of excre- 

 ments and a confinement of 4 or 5 

 months is not to be feared. That is 

 my experience, which I think will be 

 backed by that of most of those who 

 make cellar-wintering a practice. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Preparing Bees for Moving 



BY CHAS. TROUT. 



In Northern California, Nevada, and a 

 few other Western States, are many bee- 

 keepers who move their apiaries from 

 one honey-flow to another. Thus they 

 extract several tons more than the regu- 

 lar apiarists. 



A few summers ago I took charge of 6 

 apiaries of about 200 colonies each. 



Hive Ready for Moving. 



owned by C. I. Graham, and ran them 

 for extracted honey, in the northern 

 part of the State. Mr. Graham owns 

 about 3000 colonies located in Califor- 

 nia, Nevada, and Utah. He practises 

 moving. Often have I driven 20 to 30 

 miles a night with a load of bees. Some- 

 times it would take all night and we 

 arrived at our destination half-frozen, 

 tired, sleepy, and then have to unload. 

 You say there is no need of this, take 

 more time; but the large specialist is 

 usually in a sweat to get them moved. 



We moved our bees with 6 mules, 2 

 wagons, and 3 men. We handled about 

 70 colonies at a time. The hives were 

 prepared with a crate beneath the brood- 

 chamber and a screen on top. Then the 

 hive was made secure by 4 slats, 2 on 

 each side of the hive. This was Mr. 

 Graham's method. In the accompany- 

 ing photo you can easily see the method 

 of crating each hive. Thus the entire 

 apiary is prepared. At sunset when the 

 bees have stopped flying, the entrances 

 are closed and the wagons loaded. Dur- 



ing the night the bees are moved from 

 where they might have starved to where 

 they can then make several extractings. 



H. T. Chrisman, of Fresno Co., Cal., 

 practises moving a little diflferently. He 

 uses a screen on top and wire netting 

 over the entrance. One super is used 

 on the hive at all times. These are fas- 

 tened in the moving season to the brood- 

 chamber by a slat on the front and back 

 of the hive. The bottom-boards are 

 fastened by a staple. This is a good 

 method for general purposes. For dis- 

 tances less than 50 miles it surpasses 

 Mr. Graham's method, which is more 

 desirable for long distances, such as 

 moving from one State to another. 



Redlands, Calif. 



Preparing for Next Season 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



The successful apiarist, the one who 

 loves his bees and all that pertains to 

 them, so that he or slie sees only "fun" 

 in an apicultural calling, has little time 

 to waste, and if any have started into 

 the business on the supposition that "bees 

 work for nothing and board themselves," 

 it will be just as well for them to get out 

 of it, for very little success can be at- 

 tained along that line. 



As soon as the bees are properly pre- 

 pared for winter, which should be ac- 

 complished as early as October 31st, we 

 are ready to commence our plans and 

 work for next season, and so we com- 

 mence operations at once, remembering 

 the proverb of the ancient wise man who 

 says in the good book, "Seest thou a 

 man diligent in business, he shall stand 

 before kings." 



The first work is to get around the 

 supers and sections, which have been in 

 use the past season, and get them in 

 readiness for the next harvest, by scrap- 

 ing off' all the propolis adhering to the 

 separators or where it will come in con- 

 tact with any opening and closing of the 

 sections together, as well as any burr or 

 brace combs which may be attached to 

 them in any place. All of these bits of 

 comb should be saved, as they are "rich" 

 in wax, and to save them best, the wax- 

 extractor should be close at hand, and 

 all waste pieces of comb put into it dur- 

 ing the whole season. As often as it is 

 full, get the wax out, and have it ready 

 to fill again. 



All sections which are partly filled 

 with honey, should have the honey ex- 

 tracted from them (unless you think you 

 will need it to feed in the spring), as the 

 honey will not correspond in color with 

 that which the bees will put in to finish 

 out the sections the next season. To ex- 

 tract this nicely, fix a shelf close to the 

 ceiling of your room, put the sections 

 thereon, and by keeping the room so that 

 it is comfortable for you to work, the 

 mercury will stand at from 85 to 90 de- 

 grees where the honey is, when by 2 

 o'clock in the afternoon the whole will 

 be warmed through, so that it can be ex- 

 tracted as easily as in summer. These 

 partly-filled sections, if extracted without 

 any special pains about warming, would 

 be ruined, and the apiarist's prospect of 

 a good yield of section honey the next 

 season materially lessened, for, these 



