fS7t. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



10) 



majority pass in, the rest will all follow in due 

 time, like a flock of sheep. We would locate 

 the old hive while transferring, just back of 

 the new one, but so close to it that the young 

 bias will crawl readily to the entrance on 

 hearing the hum of their companions. Use 

 plenty of smoke in commencing, and you will 

 tind them as peaceable as flies when their old 

 hive is removed from its stand. 



OUT-BOOK WINTERING IN THE 



"LONG HIVES." 



1 p|KIEND NOVICE: Several of my friends having 

 In asked my opinion in regard to wintering bees 

 ■•=* out of doors, in New Idea Hives, I will now en- 

 deavor to answer them. 



That they can sometimes be successfully wintered 

 3n that way, I have no doubt, as in certain seasons 

 they seem "to winter well under all circumstances, and 

 in almost all conditions. I should hesitate about 

 advising any one to try wintering many in that way 

 until the system has been more thoroughly tested. 

 That some" have been successful in wintering their 

 bees in that way one or two winters, does not prove 

 that they will always be equally so. The winter of 

 '71 and 72. one of my friends wintered his 25 swarms 

 on the summer stand and did not lose any, although 

 that was one of those "blue" winters for bees. He 

 tried the same way the next winter and lost about 

 half of his stock, and the rest were so reduced as to 

 yield but a small return the next season. Such may 

 possibly be the luck of those who try out door winter- 

 ing in New Idea hives. 



It has been asserted that strong stocks wintered 

 out of doors in the "New Idea" Hive, consume no 

 more honey in proportion to the number of bees than 

 they do in cellar or special depository. Such may be 

 the case in some localities, but all my experience and 

 observation, in regard to wintering strong stocks out 

 of doors, have been different. 



My father has kept his bees for over 25 years in a 

 bouse built on purpose. It is boarded up outside with 

 half inch, and ceiled up inside with matched inch 

 lumber, with six inch dead air space. It is divided 

 into rooms two feet square and they are about seven 

 feet high. The bees never swarm, become very strong 

 during the summer, and generally gather a large 

 amount of honey, but owing to their numbers, and 

 exposure, it frequently takes all or nearly all they 

 collect to carry them "through the winter. He never 

 gets as much "honey from one of his swarms, as I do 

 from the most of mine. If he could put them in some 



ventilation. That is all the difference required in the 

 treatment in wintering, and the saving in honey will 

 more than repay all the trouble, even if it takes two 

 men to carry them in. 



In the. fall of '72 1 bad a number of two story hives 

 on which I hail used the extractor, and as the Queen 

 had been breeding in both stories, the hives were full 

 of bees almost to overflowing, on the approach of 

 winter I put them all in the lower story, gave them 

 plenty of upward ventilation, put them in the bouse 

 with the rest, and they wintered as well as any stocks 

 in the Apiary. Last fall when I put the bees from 

 double width hives in single hives, 1 neglected to give 

 them the proper amount of ventilation, and conse- 

 quently more of the bees died, and they consumed 

 more honey than the ordinary stocks, but in other 

 respects they came through in good condition. 



James Bolin, WestLodi, O. 



LETTER TO "NOVICE." 



IqaJItlENI) NOVICE :-As you request, I will make 

 Jgfir you a report of my Apiary for 1874 up to this 

 ^i date (Aug. 5th). I began the season with 48 col- 

 onies, 31 of my own wintering (all Italians) and 17 of 

 blacks bought this spring in box and Quinby hives. 

 The Quinby hives have been more trouble, and less 

 profit to me than the boxes. 1 have increased to 

 about 70 colonies I guess, but shall cut down to 50 of 

 my choicest Queens before going into winter quarters* 

 I have taken, up to this date, I think some over 4500 

 lbs. of ext'd honey, and 500 lbs. of oomb now off, and 

 almost ready to come off. About 700 lbs. is from fruit 

 and Whitewood blossoms, and the rest all Basswood, 

 and the heaviest and brightest 1 ever saw. This has 

 been a poor season with us. The drouth has been so 

 severe in this immediate vicinity, that corn is not !>j 

 of a crop, and potatoes nearly as bad. We shall lose 

 the Buck wheat crop for honey at least, though it 

 yields an abundance of pollen. I shall look for 20CO 

 lbs. of honey yet from Bone Set and Golden rod. I 

 mean ext'd of course, or 150 lbs. of comb if you think 

 I had better "go for comb honey." I could have had 

 all my 500 lbs. off now, if I had let the forty Jive hun- 

 dred, slip from me. I have used 22 of the "New Idea" 

 one story hives, with from 20 to 30 combs about 10x13 

 and have come to the conclusion that combs and not 

 Queens are the basis of an apiary, and that I prefer 

 the two story hive for the extractor, as well as comb 

 honey in frames or boxes. 1 can get more honey from 

 30 combs and two or three Queens, than from 30 combs 

 ami one Queen. The three Queens don't have to be 

 horse whipped three times a day, and live much longer 

 than the "long idea" Queen. 1 have the lumber dry- 

 ing for 30 double story hives, and have 32 "New Idea" 

 hives for sale, at less than cost. Combs cost, well say 



moderately warm-place, it would no doubt save a J from 50 cts. to $1.00 each, and Queens 10 cts. each oV 

 large proportion of the honey they consume during , tes . s . James Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich, 



the winter, but with the thermometer at from 20° to T . . , , 



30° below zero, the ground freezing to a depth of 2 or 3 ln answer to a query as to wherein the long 



spells of weather during the winter, yet large mini 

 hers of them perish every winter, and by spring they 

 are no better than my common swarms wintered in 

 my bee house, whilst they consume at least two or 

 'hree times as much honev. Now, I cannot see why 

 •New Idea Hives, with one fourth inch air space, will 

 give any better protection than father's house, with 

 six inch air space. The large number of bees will 

 generate considerable heat, but they will produce no 

 more than they will in the house. 



But while I would not advise any one to risk trying 

 to winter many of their bees out of doors in New Idea, 

 <>r in fact any other kind of hives, in preference to 

 putting them in some warm place, before they have 

 tested the matter, yet I would not wish to discourage 

 any one from making such hives, for so far as I have 

 tested them, they give good satisfaction, for summer 

 use. This is more especially the case where the ex 



strung out horizontally, but not so with two stories ; 

 they will then store in upper set ot combs almost en- 

 tirely. J. H. 



We have not observed the trouble mentioned 

 above, but our experience has been limited to 

 one hive only. We want further reports on 

 the matter. Friend Whitson who writes the 

 following, seems to have succeeded with them. 

 It was written when acknowledging the re- 

 ceipt of a double wall, four foot hive that we 

 had made for him : 



I have just got my bee house done, ami filled the 

 walls with dirt, but 1 would be glad to never put a bee 

 in it it I knew they were as safe out-doors. Some- 

 thing that will wait a week while we cut hay and then 



tractor is used, for they are certainly handier than the ' s .taml out-doors at 20° below zero, while we sit by the 

 two storv hives for that purpose. And aside from the I nre ' is what we careless ones must have if we ever 

 inconvenience in handling them, and the space they make it pay. Yes. I must tell you that my bees were 



spa 

 occupy, I can see no reason why bees in them cannot 

 be wintered in-doors as well" as those in common 

 hives. And if we can winter strong stocks in them 

 more economically in-doors than out, their size should 

 not keep them out. A horse takes up more room in 

 ■t stable than a pig or chicken, vet few object to sta- 

 bling him on that account. As the swarms are strong- 

 er, the temperature of the room in which they are 

 wintered must be kept lower than it should for com- 

 mon stocks, and they must have plenty of upward 



so nearly played out last spring, that I only transfer- 

 red one to the Standard; that one gave me 100 lbs. 

 honey in 20 days and 20 lbs. since, and no one of the 

 rest did more than half as much. 



J. J. Whitson, Valley Mills, Ind. 

 A. A. Rice, of Seville, this Co., has used sev- 

 eral of the 4 loot hives this season and says he 

 gets three times as much honey from them as 

 from the 10 frame hives. 



