1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



103 



straw, and over all a foot of soil. Arrange- 

 meuts were made for taking the temperature 

 •during the winter. The mercury showed 38 

 to 39 degrees F. The loss of stores during the 

 four years was 11 lbs. 4 '4 ounces. 



Experiment No. 5. Two colonies were pre- 

 pared for the house-apiary, having chaff cush- 

 ions on top with a space of two inches between 

 the hive-body and the bottom-board. The 

 hives were removed a foot from the wall, and 

 covered above and all around with a double 

 thickness of sacking, and outside of this was 

 a foot of cut straw. The average loss of win- 

 ter stores was 15 lbs. 15 ounces for a period of 

 four years. 



Experiment No. 6. Two colonies were put 

 into a cellar with the bottoms of the hives left 

 just as they were brought in from the bee- 

 yard. The covers were removed, and nothing 

 was left on except the quilts sealed down with 

 propolis. The entrances were left wide open. 

 During the entire winter the bees remained 

 perfectly dry. The average loss of stores was 

 11 lbs. 1% ounces for four years. 



Experiment No. 7. Two colonies were put 

 into the cellar, covers were removed, and chaff 

 cushions put on top. The front of the hive 

 was tilted up with a three inch block placed 

 between the bottom board and brood-chamber, 

 making an entrance 3 in. across the whole 

 front. The bees thus prepared wintered the 

 best of any, showed no uneasiness of any kind 

 during the whole winter, and came out in the 

 spring in excellent condition. The average 

 loss during a period of four years was 10 lbs. 

 S}i ounces. 



Experiment No. 8. Two colonies were left 

 on their summer stands with extra packing 

 all around their sides and on top. The cover 

 was removed, and replaced by chaff cushions. 

 No flying took place from Nov. VI till April 7. 

 On the 15th of April the hives were taken out 

 of the packing-case, and found to be deserted. 

 The frames were dry and clean, and had an 

 abundance of sealed stores. The average loss 

 in weight, including live bees during six 

 years of trial, was 19 lbs. 1^^ ounces. During 

 only two seasons did the bees come out in 

 fair condition. 



Prof. Fixter's conclusion was that, in the 

 locality where he tried the experiments, where 

 the temperature would go below 15 below 

 zero, outdoor wintering was wasteful and ex- 

 pensive, both in stores and bees, and he would 

 recommend wintering in the cellar. The av- 

 erage loss from good indoor cellar wintering 

 in stores was about 11 lbs., while the average 

 loss of the outdoor-wintered colonies, even 

 when they*'came through alive, was almost 

 twice as much, or 19 lbs. The experiment in 

 the root-cellar showed that, while bees can 

 winter in a room or repository subject to fre- 

 quent disturbance, yet they will do much bet- 

 ter in a quiet cellar. 



At the conclusion of the professor's interest- 

 ing address a lively discussion followed. 

 While the majority seemed to favor indoor 

 wintering, some among this number, promi- 

 nently among whom was Mr. Darling, took 

 the ground that it is a bad practice to leave 

 the bees in the cellar too long. Mr. J. B. 



Hall, a bee-keeper of large experience, and 

 whose opinion is valued most highly by the 

 Ontario Bee-keepers' Association, winters both 

 indoors and outdoors. He seemed to feel that, 

 although outdoor-wintered bees consumed 

 more stores, yet they were enough stronger to 

 make up for the extra consumption of food. 

 Had it not been for Mr. Hall I should have 

 drawn the conclusion that for Canada, at least, 

 indoor wintering was the only method. But 

 when Mr. Hall said he wintered half of his 

 bees one way and half the other, the infer- 

 ence was that what was gained in one case 

 was offset by greater strength and vigor of 

 bees in the other. 



There is one thing certain : Indoor winter- 

 ing, where it is very cold, causes a very much 

 smaller consumption of stores than outdoors. 

 Now, then, is it true that outdoor-wintered 

 bees are always stronger in spite of the extra 

 consumption of stores ? 



SPRAYING FRUIT WHILE IN BLOOM ; VALUA- 



BLK EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED AT THE 



GENEVA EXPERIMENT STATION, N. Y. 



At the convention of the New York State 

 Association of Bee-keepers' Societies, held in 

 Geneva on the 9th of January, we had the very 

 great pleasure of listening to an address by 

 Prof. S. A. Beach, of the Geneva Experiment 

 Station, detailing a very interesting series of 

 experiments that were instituted to determine 

 the advantage, if any, of spraying trees while 

 in full bloo>n. These investigations had been 

 requested by a certain class who believed that 

 spraying during the time that the trees are in 

 full flower was essential to the best develop- 

 ment, growth, and maturing of the fruit. 

 Prof. Beach called attention to the fact that 

 a certain manufacturer of spraying-outfits, 

 had sent circulars broadcast over the country, 

 advocating and urging the administering of 

 poisonous mixtures during the time that bees 

 work on trees. Then there were also some 

 among the fruit-growers of New York who ad- 

 vocated spraying at such times, but who could 

 not carry into effect such practice because a 

 law had been enacted in 1898, making it a 

 misdemeanor for any one to spray during the 

 time the trees were in bloom. Some of the 

 fruit-growers (not all) sought on several occa- 

 sions to have this law repealed ; but being 

 failed they finally secured the passage of an 

 amendment which provided that trees might 

 be sprayed during blooming-time for experi- 

 mental purposes. The object of this amend- 

 ment (and it appears the bee-keepers did not 

 object to it) was to determine whether there 

 was any advantage in spraying when the trees 

 were in full bloom, irrespective of any damage 

 that might accrue to the bee keeper. As a re- 

 sult of this amendment a series of experiments 

 was begun at Geneva, and also at Cornell. 



In the conducting of the experiments, Prof. 

 Beach stated that several questions were kept 

 in mind : What was the effect of spraying 

 while the trees were in bloom ? did the spray- 

 ing at such times affect the blossoms? did it 

 kill the pollen ? and if not, did it affect the 

 setting or the development of the fruit ? what 

 part did the bees play in the matter ? 



