1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



943 



In a recent letter to the editor I suggested that 

 the readers would probably be pleased with a 

 change or a stoppage altogether of Rambles, 

 and allow the space to be filled with articles 

 from new writers who are coming to the front. 

 Then, again, it looks as though my travels 

 would not be so extensive as they have been. 

 I have a growing apiary which will hold me 

 down a good share of the year. So, with a few 

 more scratches of the pen, perhaps the long- 

 suffering readers would feel a relief to lind the 

 farewell scratch. 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE ART OF 

 WINTERING. 



THE SYMPOSIUM IN OUK ISSUE FOR NOVEMBER 

 15th reviewed and COMMENTED UPON 



By Dr. C. C. Miller. 



[It will be remembered that Dr. Miller was 

 to review and bring out the salient points in 

 the discussion from some of our prominent and 

 successful bee-keepers as recently given, and 

 present them in a new light before our readers. 

 This he has done, and the subject is now so 

 well digested that it will be easily assimilated 

 by all, I trust.— Ed.] 



At the close of the symposium oii wintering-, oc- 

 cupying ten pages of Gleanings for Nov. 15, the 

 editor begins his remarks by saying, "It is encour- 

 aging. . . ." Witliout quoting his remark any 

 further, 1 think those three words may be applied 

 to the whole of the symposium. Careful examina- 

 tion of the articles shows less conflict of opinion 

 than formerly prevailed. Some emphasize one point, 

 some another; but wliere a man is silent on any 

 given point it is probably because on that point he 

 is in accord with the majority. 



It's very cool of you, Mr. Editor, to give a com- 

 prehensive resume of the series, then say you want 

 me to give the solid meat. Figures of speech aside, 

 all I can do is to look the ground over and see what 

 there is to talk about. To this end I have taken a 

 piece of paper two feet square, written thereon a 

 number of the points mentioned, then put down 

 under each heading the views of the different 

 writers. The remarkable thing about it is to find, 

 as already intimated, so little clashing between 

 them. 



FURTHER DISCUSSION. 



Let me begin at the very last end, the last line of 

 the editorial comments, "the subject will be open 

 for further discussion if thought necessary." I 

 sincerely hope it will be thought necessary. Win- 

 tering has been so thoroughly discussed in the past 

 that it needed a rest. It's had the rest, and may 

 come up again with some degree of freshness. Its 

 very great importance for ail living north of a cer- 

 tain degree of latitude makes it worth while to dis- 

 cuss even very small points. 



Now, making a big jump back to the beginnmg, 

 there is found a change of opinion that has been 

 silently but surely taking place as to the time of 

 heginninu to get ready for winter. Some place the 

 date at about the middle of September, while others 

 say at the time of taking off surplus-arrangements. 

 Very likely the two agree, and those who say the 

 middle of Septem tier are in the habit of taking off 

 supers at that time. With others, who have no fall 

 flow, the date may be in August. 



AMOUNT OF STORES. 



Besides having winter stores in place early, em- 

 phasis is put upon the matter of having not only 

 enough, but an abundance of stores— not only 

 stores to last through the winter, but to last through 

 the critical time from the first flight in spring till 

 the main harvest begins. Here, however, there is 

 some conflict of opinion. B. Taylor is convinced 

 "that bees winter better with just enough always 

 accessible honey in their hives to feed them safely 

 until wa7'm weather." Whether his belief is correct 



or not, I feel pretty sure that in practice he gives 

 his bees more tliaii he thinks they will use before 

 warm weather, if by "warm weather" he means 

 the time of taking out uf cellar; for there is a dif- 

 ference of several pounds ill the amount ditterent 

 colonies use; and as lie doesn't know beforehand 

 which will be the heavy consumers, lie musi in his 

 winter prepaiaiious consider all heavy consumers. 

 If he gives all enougli so tliat he feels »u/e they will 

 have enough until Hi sr, spring flight, some of them 

 will have euougli tu cany them ihrougli uniil 

 the harvest. Whether it. is best lo have such an 

 abundance in the hive that no colony \\ill need any 

 looking after until the main harvest, is one of the 

 things that may well belong to that " f urilier dis- 

 cussion." Whether my own theory agrees with his 

 or not, my practice agrees at least so far that it is 

 with me a very comfortable thing to know that I 

 have some extra combs of honey ready to be given 

 to any colony that may ask for it l)efore the harvest. 

 As to the manner of ascertaining the amount of 

 stores, not much is said— the little that is said in- 

 clining to the opinion that the colonies are weighed 

 " with the eyes," as J. E. Crune expresses it 

 —that is, by looking in the hive at the frames. 

 Considering the uncertainty of this, unless every 

 frame is carefully inspected, and that even then it's 

 a hard matter to come within several pounds of 

 the exact weight, i can not help thinking that most 

 would prefer to weigh their hives if they knew how 

 easy a thing it is. With a spring balance properly 

 rigged you can weigh the hives with less time and 

 labor than you can take out and inspect the frames. 

 And then there's a comfortable feeling in the 

 thought that you Know, and that there's no guess 

 about it. True, you'll not know to a certainty just 

 how much honey there is in the hive, but you will 

 know for a certainty the total weight, and from 

 that vou can make a safer guess as to the amount 

 of stores than in any other way. 



KIND OF STORES FOR WINTER. 



As to character of stores, I think no one says 

 sugar is bad; and when feeding must be done in 

 any other way than by giving filled combs, sugar 

 comes first. Of course, sugar or any thing else may 

 be fed so as to do mischief; as, for example, if a 

 very thin syrup be fed very late. C. A. Hatch puts 

 down wild-bergamot honey as "the very best 

 stores," but not many have that. He admits, how- 

 ever, that "sugar stores are all right for winter if 

 fed early, and good sugar is used." But who in this 

 country can tell any thing about what is good sugar ? 

 In foreign bee-journals, sugar of the right kind for 

 bee-food is constantly advertised; but there is a 

 lack of enterprise, intelligence, or something, among 

 furnishers of supplies in this country. Although 

 B. Taylor thinks honey-dew sometimes good for 

 winter stores, it is no doubt a safe food to leave out 

 of a hive, or to replace with sugar. 



BEST AGE OF BEES FOR WINTERING. 



The former divergence of opinion as to the best 

 age of bees to winter well seems to exist no longer, 

 young bees being preferred. The younger the bet- 

 ter, only so they have had one flight before going 

 into winter quarters. As tending toward this, H. 

 K. Boardman recommends young queens, they lay- 

 ing later in the fall, with the additional advantage 

 ot commencing earlier in the spring. Sometimes, 

 however, bees breed too earlj-. B. Taylor, like the 

 reckless youth he is, butts whack against orthodox 

 teaching, by broadly hinting that bees live just as 

 long when busy as when idle; and this in the face 

 of his own statement that most of the bees in a hive 

 May 1 must be seven months old, whereas he will 

 hardly vary much from the general belief that a 

 worker in the busy season lasts only about six 

 weeks. Bro. Taylor, if you don't want to be gibbet- 

 ed it will be in order for you to explain or recant. 

 In any case, it looks entirely reasonable to believe 

 that in winter there will be fewer deaths from old 

 age among young bees than among old. 



AMOUNT OF ROO.M IN THE HIVE. 



Much weight is given to the matter of having no 

 more room in the hive than necessary, as against 

 the strange teaching of a late wi'iter in GliE.\nings, 

 who claimed that bees were warmer in a large than 

 in a small hive. The generally received opinion is 

 that small colonies consume more in proportion to 

 their size than large ones— an opinion that is per- 

 haps tenable, as suggested by J. E. Crane, only 

 when large and small have the same amount of 

 room. In this connection it may not be out of 



