478 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



\e% c gi%e, f^ar%pii 



HOW TO WINTER BEES IN BOX HIVES. 



Ij^.LEASE accept thanks for the fine ABC book 

 wr^ which I received of you. It is just a splendid 

 «j bee-book. It is all any person needs to make 

 a successful apiarian. But, friend R., could youjnot 

 give us a little sketch now and then as to the best 

 method of handling bees in the old box-hive— espe- 

 cially about putting them up for winter? It would, 

 I think, interest a great many readers of Gleanings 

 to hear a little more of the best management of the 

 box-hive. There are plenty of bee-men who won't 

 use any other hive. 1 am going into winter quar- 

 ters with 15 box-hives that I expect to transfer, in 

 the spring, into the Langst oth frames, and would 

 like to know the best way to put them up for win- 

 ter. You say, packing straw around them is no pro- 

 tection at ail; and about ventilation, how much on 

 the top and how much for the bottom? Now, if you 

 think it worth while to give us a sketch on the sub- 

 ject, all right; if not, it will be all right any way. 



A. H. Duff. 

 Flat Kidge, O., Nov., 1879. 

 Why, my friend, I have been trying, al- 

 most ever since Gleanings started, to keep 

 up a box-nive department ; but as the box- 

 hive men seldom take a bee journal, it starves 

 out for want of material for it. My experi- 

 ence in wintering in box-hives last winter 

 was so poor, I do not know but that you will 

 regard me as poor authority. 1 had 15 or 20 

 that I had bought up, or taken for subscrip- 

 tions, and, as they were full of honey, I 

 thought 1 would let them winter in the good 

 old way. Now, these stocks came from all 

 over the country, from widely different local- 

 ities ; their stores, too, were of honey as 

 nicely capped, and as thick and nice, as any 

 one could ask for ; but almost every colony 

 died, and what didn't die had the spring 

 dwindling in the most approved form. After 

 we transferred, in April, the few that were 

 left, they were so disheartened and demoral- 

 ized they would hardly go out after pollen, 

 when other colonies in chaff hives were just 

 roaring with business. In the fall, we put 

 chaff cushions over the holes in the top, and 

 covered them with a box, but that seemed to 

 do but little good. With a winter such as 

 we had last, I can not but feel that box-hives 

 are rather precarious property — especially 

 where they are very large and roomy. If 

 the hive is small, so that the bees come pret- 

 ty nearly up to the walls all around, I 

 should set them in a large box, and pack chaff 

 all around them, bridging the entrance, so 

 they could fly when the weather permitted. 

 This arrangement, with a good roof over all, 

 would come very near the chaff hive. If the 

 box-hive is not small, I would saw off the 

 bottom, or cut down its dimensions in some 

 way, until the bees could pretty nearly fill it, 

 and allow the chaff to come up near enough 

 to be some protection. 



WINTERING BOX-HIVE COLONIES IN A CEL- 

 LAR. 



Should the winter prove a severe one, it 

 will, without doubt, be a great saving to car- 

 ry them in, providing you have a dark, dry, 

 frost-proof cellar. Should it, on the contra- 

 ry, prove an open winter, and your cellar is 

 not proof against warm days as well as frost, 

 your bees will get uneasy, come out of their 

 hives, and often prove more troublesome 



and do worse than if you left them on their 

 summer stands. You see, it is like this : 

 Should you try half in doors and the other 

 half out, one winter they will do best one 

 way, and the next the opposite way. From 

 this you will see why I advise beginners to 



i winter bees out of doors, in this latitude. A 

 great many times, bees in box-hives come 

 through the winter strong, without any pro- 

 tection ; but, of late years, this is rather the 

 exception than the rule. You will constant- 

 ly meet such cases, and they are often quot- 

 ed to show that bees do best when let alone. 

 Sometimes considerable apiaries winter well 



; without care, but, taking the country 



' through, this is very far from proving the 



[ rule. 



VENTILATING BOX-HIVES IN WINTER. 



If there are no holes in the top of the hive 

 \ or cracks where the breath of the bees can 

 escape, I should have some, by all means ; 

 ! but, instead of leaving them open for a draft 

 of air to pass through the hive, I would cov- 

 er them with a box of loose chaff, or a thick 

 chaff cushion. If you can pry the whole top 

 i of the hive off, it will be much better for 

 winter, as well as for box honey next sum- 

 i mer. Spread over the exposed combs a piece 

 of old bagging or burlap, and put over this a 

 ' box to hold (5 inches or more of chaff, and 

 then a rain-proof, cover that can not be blown 

 off by the winds. Close the bottom up as 

 i tight as you can, leaving only an entrance 

 | large enough to let out two or three bees at a 

 time, and then, when a day comes that bees 

 ; liy, see that none of these entrances are 

 i clogged with dead bees. If I were going to 

 \ carry the hives into the cellar, I would pack 

 ! them about in the same way I would to leave 

 them on their summer stands. Chaff pack- 

 ing, in connection with cellar wintering, has 

 J given some of the best results that have been 

 reported. This is for all kinds of hives. 

 When you set them out, they do not feel the 

 sudden change, as they do in unpacked hives. 



THE HONEY DEW AND WHERE IT IS 

 FOUND. 



A NEW THEORY AS TO ITS ORIGIN. 



MpHE theories as to honey dews seem to be va- 

 J>| rious; for nearly every one who finds it is 

 confirmed in his opinion, that the plant upon 

 which he found it is the rare producer of it. The 

 trees are numerous on the leaves of which it may 

 be found, among which are the papaw, cherry, 

 sugar, and oak. 



The dew is not a depo.-itc on the leaf which ac- 

 cumulates by atmospheric changes, as common 

 dews are deposited, but it is an exudation of the 

 leaf itself, which occurs in the latter part of summer 

 or the beginning of autumn. When the leaves are 

 near the time of ripening, they exude a gummy 

 saccharine substance, which dries and hardens dur- 

 ing the bright summer and autumn days. This is 

 moistened by the dews of night, and converted iuto 

 a thin nectar, which the bees readily take up and 

 carry to their homes, and make it into honey by 

 their own modus operandi. 



HONEY DEW NOT DETRIMENTAL TO THE BEES. 



Honey dew has always been welcomed by the bee- 

 keepers in this locality, and is considered a great 



