412 



December, 1916. 



Amarican Hee Journal 



scientist, I am not in a position to de- 

 velop it with the assistance of scientific 

 arguments. 



During April, 1915, Mr. F. W. Pease, 

 one of the most intelligent and exten- 

 sive Iowa beekeepers, and myself went 

 through his yards, the first visit in the 

 opening of the then well promising 

 season. In spite of the darkest predic- 

 tions we found things going better 

 than we expected. A number of strong 

 colonies, the brood proportionate to 

 that number, the queens fairly busy, 

 and the honey, lastly, sufficient to sus- 

 tain them; until a fresh harvest. Mr. 

 Pease told me that he never had bees 

 in better condition in springtime. How 

 did he manage to get such good results ? 

 In July preceeding the extraction, we 

 saved three full sealed combs of the 

 best clover honey per colony (and this 

 practice was a very opportune one, 

 since the fall crop, unusually, was a 

 failure). In fall we traded these combs 

 with empty ones taken from the brood- 

 chamber, united the weak colonies, put 

 on queen-excluders, shallow supers 

 full of dry leaves, and lastly wrapped 

 the hives two by two with black tarred 

 paper. That is all. Each colony was 

 generously granted not less than 30 

 pounds of stores with the entrance }i 

 of an inch deep for the whole width of 

 the hives. 



The disposition of the combs in the 

 hives plays a very important role for 

 successful wintering. Suppose we in- 

 tend to wrap the colonies in pairs, as 

 in this case. We cannot put in combs 

 with honey scattered here and there. 

 The clusters move towards the warmer 

 part of the hive, and, of course, on that 

 side which is in touch with the next 

 hive, we must set the full combs, leav- 

 ing the lighter ones to fill the other 

 end. 



The advantages are obvious. Let us 

 keep track of the slow march; in 

 the middle of the winter the two clus- 

 ters will be changed into a big one, 

 divided only by the walls of the hives. 

 The combs which the cluster does not 

 cover serve as splendid insulators, as 

 the exhaustive experiments of G Bon- 

 nier assure us, so that under such an 

 arrangement as we can readily under- 

 stand, the production of heat will 

 scarcely require half of the energies of 

 the bees and no danger of starvation 

 will be feared. 



In April of this year, too, Mr. Pease 

 assured me that the bees were getting 

 along well. Hence, after such reliable 

 and steady results we are led to freely 

 recognize the requirements standing 

 on steady and positive foundations, the 

 rigid rules of hygiene graciously cou- 

 pled with a fair economy. If such a 

 management proved a positive success 

 in Allamakee county, in the northeast 

 corner of Iowa, why can it not prove 

 equally successful all over the country ? 

 I feel unable to give the question a 

 congruous answer. I do not wish, 

 however, to be misunderstood. I am 

 not trying to demonstrate that the 

 double-walled hives, the quadruple 

 cases, the tenement hives, the cellars, 

 etc., cannot be a success for wintering. 

 The more the better. But are they 

 really and strictly necessary? 



No one will find unworthy of praise, 

 deep admiration and strong encourage- 

 ment the accurate studies, the subtile 

 and patient search, the diligent experi- 



ments on that matter. Both science 

 and practical culture certainly make 

 valuable gain by them. However, I feel 

 justified with the comfort of positive 

 facts and stringent logic, in saying 

 that it is practically realizable to winter 

 bees even without those expensive im- 

 plements. 



In reading through the interesting 

 beekeeping literature, there arises in 

 my mind the belief, possibly wrong, 

 that too much is said about winter 

 protection and too little, indeed, about 

 adequate ventilation as condition sine 

 qua non. Inadequate ventilation is a 

 double threat to the health and welfare 

 of the bees, and the stronger the col- 

 ony the greater the danger. The slow 

 and continuous reabsorption of the 

 carbonic acid may cause even the death 

 of the colony, besides inevitably bring- 

 ing it to a pitiful condition. 



Given the very hygroscopic nature 

 of the honey, the best stores, when no 

 escape is left to the watery vapor, are 

 liable to become the poorest, hence 

 dysentery and dwindling. Therefore, 

 I suggest that a good share of the 



The short entrance clogged with 

 dead bees should speak to his intelli- 

 gence clearing up the embarrassing 

 puzzle. We should find the root of 

 the trouble in the failure on his part to 

 make easy the removal of the vicious 

 air within the brood-chamber. 



Apropos, this argument recalls to 

 my mind the conflicting reports as to 

 whether the aster honey was good for 

 wintering. Now it seems a settled 

 question that such honey is fortunately 

 no longer considered dangerous. Why 

 were those reports conflicting ? Did 

 the soil influence, according to the dif- 

 ferent localities, that kind of honey ? 

 Maybe and maybe not, but I am rather 

 inclined to believe that the bees of the 

 reporters were under unlike conditions 

 in respect to the enunciated sound 

 principles of hygiene. 



Finally, with a sense of confidence 

 we can axiomatically state that abun- 

 dant good stores, strong number of 

 bees, and young bees especially, pure 

 and dry ambient, soundly linked to- 

 gether, are the essentials for winter 

 protection. New York City. 



HONEY HOUSE OF M. C. SILSBEE AT HARKINVILLE. N. Y. 



Notice winter bee-cellar under the house, and convenient proximity of apiary to 



minimize moving costs in cellaring. 



heavy losses should be charged rather 

 to either or both of these causes than 

 to severe temperatures. Some disap- 

 pointed beekeeper says within himself: 

 " Perhaps I left the entrances too large 

 and the bees froze in spite of the four 

 inches of packing. Next fall I will be 

 more careful." 



The next fall, taught by the past ex- 

 perience, he still reduces the entrances 

 so that, in his opinion, the wind and 

 the snow cannot endanger the bees, 

 and provides perhaps a supplementary 

 packing; instead of four inches mak- 

 ing it ten inches. In the following 

 spring, with the support of honest con- 

 science, he pays the first visit to his 

 bees. Alas! what a sad surprise. The 

 bees are in worse condition than 

 ever. But what looks stranger to him 

 is the apparently inexplicable fact that 

 the weaker colonies last fall are those 

 which have managed themselves better 

 through the winter, while the stronger 

 ones manifestly show signs of the most 

 discouraging depletion. 



A Handy Bee House 



BY M. C. SILSBEE. 



MY bee-house is 24 feet by 40 feet 

 north and south, the cellar being 

 of the same dimensions. I have 

 a partition through the cellar which 

 shuts off the wintering cellar from the 

 tank room ; the wintering room is 24x30 

 feet, and the tank room 24x10. The out- 

 side door of the cellar is 4 feet wide, 

 making a roomy entrance. 



Above, my extracting room, is 24x30 

 feet with a 'iyi. foot door in the end of 

 the building. The balance of the ground 

 floor is made into a storage room. It 

 is here also that I crate and clean such 

 comb honey as I produce. 



The floor is a double one of hard 

 pine with building paper between with 

 four trap doors 14x20 inches to aid in 

 winter ventilation of the bees. 



The cellar has a cement floor, and 

 the walls are laid in cement and stone 



