1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE 



985 



dertook to dig- them out; aDd after working- a 

 while I struck the corner of a hive about three feet 

 below the surface of the snow. I continued to 

 work away until I had dug a sort of well in the snow 

 in front of the hive. As it was pretty hard work, 

 and as I thought ray time was .'worth more in my 

 harness-shop than it would costjto hire it done, and 

 thinking it must be done or the bees would smother, 

 I secured a man to do the shoveling, and returned to 

 the shop. In about an hour the man came in to ask 

 what he should do with the snow shoveled out. I 

 returned with him, to find that only two hives had 

 come to light. I also found that, owing- to the snow 

 being packed so hard, the man had broken my shov- 

 el, and borrowed another of a neighbor. I finally 

 scratched my head, and commenced to think and 

 reason, and came to the conclusion that, as there 

 was only about one foot of the top of this snow that 

 was so hard, while the remainder was comparative- 

 ly light, I decided that there would be air enough 

 circulating through it to answer the requirements 



being buried under snow too long at a time; but I 

 do not object to their being well banked, except in 

 front; yet 1 do not think that much snow around 

 our double-wall (or chaff) hives is very much bene- 

 fit after all. I once thought it was, and 1 have 

 banked it around them; but I do not do so now, as I 

 find that the bees in the hives wholly exposed— 

 which are in the same apiary with those drifted un- 

 der—winter as well as any; therefore I have come 

 to the conclusion that deep snows are really no 

 great benefit, nor, if watched, any great damage to 

 the bees. If I could have just the proper amount 

 of snow around the hives all winter I would not ob- 

 ject, providing it be removed as soon as there 

 comes a thaw; but to have the hives completely 

 covered for a long time is, I think, detrimental to 

 the bees, as it causes too early breeding, if the 

 weather is mild. 



After my bees are all packed and fixed for winter 

 —which I usually do the last week in October or 

 first of November— I leave them entirely undis- 



A. E. MANUM'S HOME APIARY IN WINTER. 



of the bees. I therefore discharged the man, and 

 left the bees to their fate. 



In about three weeks from this time we had a 

 thaw, so that bees not so protected by snow had a 

 good fly. 1 left these for experiment. In March 

 the south winds so melted the snow that I was able 

 to clear the entrance of all the hives, when the bees 

 had a good fly, and I found, upon examination, that 

 every colony was alive and in good condition. But, 

 mind you, that, if my entrances had been at the 

 side of the hives, as in most hives in use, and not 

 underneath, as they are in my hives, I believe the 

 result would not have been so satisfactory, as it is 

 impossible for my entrances to become clogged by 

 ice, as is often the case with side entrances. Since 

 then I do not worry when my home apiary is buried 

 in snow, because I am near by to shovel out when 

 there comes a warm spell; but not so with my out- 

 apiaries, as I have lost bees in outapiaries by their 



turbed until there comes warm weather enough for 

 the bees to fly. Then I shovel away the snow from 

 the entrance, and pull the slides to see that the en- 

 trances are all clear, and at once return them, as 

 the notch in the slides g-ives the bees all the en- 

 trance they need in winter and early spring, it be- 

 ing 2 inches long by | wide. 



Since I have used the Bristol hive there have 

 been two winters when the bees were unable to fly 

 from November till April; hence not a track was 

 made in the snow in any of my apiaries. 



I will add, that my bees never wintered better 

 than they did the two past winters; however, I al- 

 ways feel better when they can have at least one 

 good cleansing flight in January. 



Were I using hives with the entrance unprotect- 

 ed, as most chaff hives are made, I would either 

 lean a short board against the hive over the en- 

 trance to protect the entrance from 1 cing clogged 



