3-56 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



have been in the spring months, after the 

 bees have been removed from their winter 

 quarters. I shall have more to say on this, 

 a little further along. 



PREPARING STOCKS FOR THEIR WINTER 

 QUARTERS. • 



We used to think, where bees were housed 

 from Nov. until April, that we need only 

 carry in the body of the hive, omitting cov- 

 er and bottom boards, and in short every- 

 thing but j ust the combs necessary to carry 

 the bees and their stores, with enough of 

 the hive to move them handily. Now, al- 

 though I have wintered bees finely, having 

 nothing over the frames at all while in the 

 cellar or bee house, I would, taking all re- 

 sults into consideration, pack them in chaff 

 to be carried into the cellar, much the same 

 as I would to winter them on their summer 

 stands. Then, when carried out in the 

 spring, they are proof against cold winds 

 and cold nights, which almost always ensue. 

 For the same reason, I would advise the 

 chaff covering even in the southern states, 

 that the bees might be spared the chilling 

 spells that are so much of a hindrance to 

 brood rearing, even though the weather is 

 not down to a freezing point. Bees with 

 warm walls all about them are in a much 

 better condition to go on with brood rearing, 

 than where the cluster touches cold, damp 

 boards, and where cracks and crevices per- 

 mit the warm air of the hive to pass out as 

 fast as the bees can generate it. With a 

 well made chaff hive and a good colony of 

 bees, I can keep brood rearing going on by 

 the use of the flour candy, right in the depth 

 of winter, with the hive standing out-doors 

 at that. In 1877, 1 hived a fourth swarm, 

 late in the fall, in a chaff hive, and, as an 

 experiment, built them up during the win- 

 ter, until they were so strong in the spring 

 that a customer chose them in preference to 

 any other hive in the apiary, and paid me 

 $15.00 cash for them, which gave me an ex- 

 cellent profit on all the time, sugar, etc., 

 that was invested in the experiment. I 

 would bundle them up in chaff or chaff 

 cushions, no matter where they are to be 

 wintered. The experiments I first made in 

 this direction with the house apiary also il- 

 lustrate this subject. 



TIME OF PUTTING THE BEES INTO TIIE 

 CELLAR. 



If they are packed and put away before 

 the first frost comes, all the better; and 

 please be sure to put them in-doors during 

 some dry day, that the hives and combs may 

 be entirely free from dampness. You will 



have warm days after the first frost, I am 

 well aware, and unless your cellar is as dark 

 as the deepest midnight, and cool enough to 

 prevent the bees from getting uneasy, you 

 will have trouble about keeping them in 

 their hives. This is one great reason why I 

 object to cellar wintering. Some bee-keep- 

 ers advise taking them out for a fly during 

 the winter, when we have a warm spell; 

 others object to moving them at all, and per- 

 haps both are right. Sometimes, carrying 

 them out does good, and, at other times, it 

 seems to do harm. If you have them in 

 chaff hives or a house apiary, they can go 

 out whenever they please, and this plan 

 pleases me much better. I do not like to be 

 confined myself, and do not like to be 

 obliged to confine any of God's creatures, 

 when it can be avoided. I have sometimes 

 had bees remain quiet and contented in the 

 bee house, and in the cellar, four months, 

 without trouble, and, at other seasons, they 

 would not be quiet one month. At present, 

 I do not know why bees winter well at one 

 time, and at another, do not, when all the 

 circumstances, so far as we can see, are 

 the same. 



SHALL BEES BE CONFINED TO THEIR HIVES 

 WHEN PUT IN-DOORS. 



If the bees are fastened in their hives with 

 wire cloth, in such a way that the dead ones, 

 in falling down, will not close and clog the 

 entrance, I do not know that it makes any 

 difference whether they are fastened in or 

 not. In the one case, they will die against 

 the wire cloth, and, in tire other, they will 

 get out on the floor and die. It is so untidy 

 and disagreeable to have bees around on the 

 floor, on the shelves, and all over the room, 

 that I think I should fasten them in ; I have 

 done it two seasons, and did not consider 

 the quantity found dead in the hives great- 

 er than we usually find on the floors. It 

 has been recommended that an extra space 

 be given below the frames, for the dead 

 bees, that they may not clog up the en- 

 trance. With the Simplicity hives, this can 

 be readily furnished by turning the bottom 

 board hollowing side up, putting wire cloth 

 over the openings at both the front and back 

 end, and fastening the bottom board in 

 place. 



BEST TEMPERATURE FOR A CELLAR OR 

 BEE HOUSE. 



The general agreement has been on about 

 40° ; but some of the York State bee-keepers 

 claim they can succeed by keeping them as 

 warm as 50°. My experiments seem to in- 

 dicate that such a temperature, in confine- 

 ment, would induce dysentery; but a system- 

 atic ventilation in connection with this tem- 

 perature may answer better than the 40°. 



