Tol. XYIII. 



FEB. 1, 1890. 



No. 3. 



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Z^t!^\fl'^i''^^lio^^^J.''.'''''''^'"'\A. I. ROOT, MEDINA, OHIO '''''■ ^^^■'^'^^^^ "" "" ^°""*"^^ 



IS IT ADVISABLE TO SHUT BEES IN 

 THE HIVES DURING WINTER? 



A V.AMTABI.E .ARTICLE FRO.M THE PEN (IF L. 

 ROOT. 



In your Lssue of Jan. 1st I notice a question ou p. 

 24, " Would it injure bees to keep them shut in the 

 hives in the winter time? " etc. I feel vet-y certain 

 that the reply to this question will tend to lead the 

 uninformed into trouble. My reply would be. Nev- 

 er allow the entrance to become closed in any way. 

 From long-continued and close observation I con- 

 clude that this is not only correct, but that it is 

 very essential that the hives be so arranged that 

 the bees may be certain of their freedom. Other 

 things being equal, I have found bees to winter 

 best indoors when the hives were removed from 

 the bottom-boards and set on two scantlings, or, 

 what has proven better, leave them on it, when it 

 contained a good-sized ventilator which was left 

 open, so that dead bees, or bees leaving the cluster 

 to die, would drop readily from the hive without a 

 possibility of clogging the entrance or causing oth- 

 er ill effects. 



While visiting my friend P. H. Elwood's winter- 

 ing-rooms, where his bees were wintering so per- 

 fectly, my attention has been called to the almost 

 universal way in which the bees were clustering 

 below the frames in the opening in the bottom of 

 the hive. 



When Julius Huffman was wintering his bees so 

 perfectly, they could be seen clustering on the out- 

 side of the hives. Mr. Ira Barber calls attention to 

 the same fact with his bees. It is not enough that 

 there be " plenty of space under the combs, that 

 dead bees may fall down out of the way." Capt. 

 Hetherington went to large expense in arranging 

 his large bee-house, to make the floor of slats, with 

 spaces between, so that, when bees left their clus- 



ter and the hives, they would fall below the floor, 

 where they could not in any way attract or affect 

 the bees remaining in the hives. 



During the past twenty years I have visited and 

 examined tEe winter repository of many hundreds 

 of bee-keepers, as well as the apiaries of many who 

 winter on their summer stands. These visits have 

 been made, usually, during the spring months, for 

 the purpose of purchasing bees, and I have observ- 

 ed closely to ascertain the conditions under which 

 bees have wintered most successfully. I have 

 found it most noticeable in numerous cases, that 

 hives would be found well stocked with honey, and 

 often brood, and crowded with dead bees which had 

 evidently been heated and worried until all were 

 dead, and all as a result of the entrance becoming 

 closed. Sometimes this would have been obviated 

 if the hole which is found in the front of some 

 hives up from the bottom had not been closed. I 

 think this a question of much importance, and one 

 that should command some attention. 



Stamford, Ct., Jan. 11. L. C. Root. 



Many thanks, friend R., for your kindly 

 caution. I fastened the bees in their hives 

 one or two winters, when they were kept in 

 a sawdust-packed house. The whole bot- 

 tom of the hive was covered with wire 

 cloth, and this was placed on a frame po as 

 to place it two iuches below the bottoms of 

 the hives. The hives were placed ou strips 

 so as to permit air to pass throutih this 

 whole large surface of wire cloth. The bees 

 wintered nicely, and I didn't have any dead 

 bees on the floor. This latter point was 

 principally the purpose of the experiment. 

 As a rule, I am, like yourself, opposed to 

 fastening the bees in their hives. Your sug- 

 gestion from Capt. Hetherington. of having 

 the floor made of slats, so that the dead 



