were vei'v 



DECEMBER 1.1, 1915 



with the opening in the rim 

 down and to the front of the 

 hive. Tlien a snper with a 

 doth tacked on the bottom, and 

 filled with packing, was ])laced 

 over the escajie-board, and over 

 all the Iiive-cover. Then a little 

 straw was placed in front of 

 the hives to keep the dirt out 

 of the entrances and the hives 

 banked np all aronnd with dirt, 

 the only opening being the 

 small notch sawn in the rim of 

 the escape-board at the toji. 

 When taken out of packing. 

 April 25, five colonies were 

 dead. May 6 a second inspec- 

 tion sliowed twenty-four dead, 

 or 27^,2 pel" ("P'lt loss. Five 

 weak. 



Sixty colonies were packed in quadruple 

 winter cases as described by ]\Ir. Holter- 

 niann, packed with planer shavings and 

 sawdust. See Fig. 2, right foreground. 



These wintered well, and on April 25 

 only one was dead, and this T }nit in queen- 

 less as a test ; but on May 6 I found a total 

 of 11 dead, or 18 per cent; very weak. two. 

 In general these colonies seemed to be 

 stronger than the rest in this yard. 



One hundred and eighty-six colonies were 

 placed in double rows, back to back, facing 

 east and west. See Figs. 3 and 4. The 

 hives were about four inches apart in the 

 row. and the rows about the same distance 

 apart. I next packed fine chaffy straw 

 between the hives, and covered all over with 

 about two feet of straw stacked so as to 

 shed the rain. Hive-covers were left on. 



Of this lot six colonies were dead when 

 unpacked on ^lay 6. At the second inspec- 

 tion T found 31 more, or a total of 37 dead, 

 or 20 per cent. Eight were very weak. 



WIkmi the hoes at tliis vard were uii- 



1017 



Fig. 1. — Ander.'-uii'.s lioine bee-cellar, looking in the doorway. 



packed, only 12 colonies were dead. A 

 spell of beautiful warm weather made me 

 think the proper time had come; but cold 

 stormy weather set in, and on May 6 a 

 total of 72 dead colonies was found, and 15 

 very weak. 



It will be seen that at the time of un- 

 packing my losses were i^raetieally nothing ; 

 but ten daj's' stoitny weather produced 

 eonsidei'able havoc. The cellared bees win- 

 tered best of all ; next, the bees in the quad- 

 rujile winter eases; then those packed in 

 straw, with those heeled in bringing up the 

 rear, showing 27^2 ot loss in the spring 

 storm. 



In my field notes I find the following 

 under date of May 6, 1915 : " I shall not 

 practice heeling in (banking up with dirt) 

 any more ; loss too heavy ; bottoms wet and 

 sogg}^; combs more or less moldy." 



" The bunch of bees bought of last 



year were very strong; only 2 gone out 

 of 53, and one of these was queenless. 

 I recall now that on account of being 

 very busy I did not get these bees until 

 late, io take them out of packing Ma}^ 14. 





^M^ 



Fia. 'wJ. — .Vnderson's north yard, showing beces packed for winter. 



