1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



15 



" The rest of the winter we had very lit- 

 tle snow; and when spring- fairly opened I 

 found I had only 29 weak colonies out of the 

 50 left out in the fall." 



" This was a big- loss." 



" Yes. But I thoug-ht that, had the snow 

 remained on all winter, the loss would not 

 have occurred, so I was anxious for the next 

 winter to come that I migfht try it over 

 ag-ain. The next winter settled the matter, 

 for this time we had snow to keep the hives 

 covered from December to April. But in 

 February there came a wann day and I 

 shoveled out a part of the hives, those not 

 drifted under too deep, and 1 found the 

 bees in these colonies so loaded with excre- 

 ment that many of them were unable to fly, 

 while the inside of the hive smelled badly 

 from its being- soiled by bees which could 

 not hold their feces any longer. Brood- 

 rearing- had also commenced to an extent 

 tisuall3' found the latter part of April, and 

 the vitality of the colonies seemed very 

 much worn, while the greater part of the 

 honey which they went into winter with 

 was consumed. When the working season 

 arrived I found that the larger part of the 

 colonies were dead, and I was left with a 

 few weak colonies, combs foul with excre- 

 ment, and nearly destitute of honey, so I 

 had nearly a total loss except the hives and 

 combs." 



'"Did you try it again?" 



"No, not by the sweeping-up plan; but I 

 have many times had colonies drift under 

 when we had deep snows; and nearly al- 

 ways, where a colony was drifted under so 

 that the snow kept about the hive for six 

 weeks to twQ months, there was more or 

 less injury done. One year I had snow ten 

 feet deep over a part of the hives, so that I 

 lost track of several of them altogether, the 

 wind bringing the snow from a peculiar di- 

 rection, over and around a knoll. Of these 

 colonies, not a single one was alive on the 

 first day of the next May." 



" This certainly has a bad look from your 

 experience. How do you account for these 

 losses?" 



"The difficulty seems to be that, as soon 

 as the hives are covered with snow, the 

 pure air is cut olT to a certain extent, which, 

 combined with the warmth from the ground, 

 and the snow not allowing that, and the 

 warmth from the bees, to escape, makes the 

 conditions so unusual that the bees become 

 uneasy, break the cluster, go to breeding, 

 consume an undue amount of stores, and 

 die of diarrhea and exhausted vitality be- 

 fore any of the brood, or brood of sufficient 

 extent, emerges from the cells to take the 

 place of the old bees which are premtiture- 

 ly dying oft" under these conditions Youiig 

 bees brought on the stage of action under 

 such conditions do not seem to have the 

 strength and vitality of those which emerge 

 from the cells during September and Octo- 

 ber." 



"Then you would not advise leaving bees 

 where they are liable to be drifted under 

 snow durin"- winter ?" 



"No, not till I know what the result 

 would be in my locality. Why I say this 

 is, that some saj' they are successful in 

 thus wintering, and I am bound to believe 

 them. To know this result, without any 

 great loss, I would try two or three colonies 

 for a winter or two. If they winter well, you 

 can safely try more; and when you are 

 sure of the ground you are treading upon, 

 then you can risk the whole apiary or re- 

 ject the plan as the case may be. This is 

 the only safe way to venture into any thing 

 we are not conversant with." 



Renewals are coming in at a heavy rate, 

 as well as new names. For all this we 

 feel thankful. Our readers have noticed, 

 perhaps, that we have been giving extra 

 pages for several months, and from present 

 indications we shall have to continue doing 

 so for many months to come. 



We have just been passing through an 

 exceptionally cold snap of weather, the 

 mercury playing down nearly to zero, and 

 some of the tiine considerably below. For 

 December it was the coldest on record for 

 many 3'ears. It is now, the 28th, very 

 warm, and muddy and sloppy. There was 

 a peculiar satisfaction during the cold 

 weather in thinking that we had so many 

 of our bees indoors. 



K. R. root's line of TRAVELS AND THK 



scope of their inquiry among the, 

 bee-men of the west. 



Some are now asking how long the 

 write-up of my travels in the great West 

 will last, as they desire to make their re- 

 newals cover the entire period. The series, 

 fully illustrated, will continue throughout 

 the current j'ear; and for the benefit of 

 some who would like to know 7c'/iaf territory 

 they will take in. I will at this time give a 

 brief outline of my itinerary. There will be 

 one or two more articles on Arizona. Then 

 we will skip over into Southern California. 

 Two or three articles will cover the south- 

 ern part of the State; two or three the 

 Northern and Central parts; one or two in 

 Oregon; two in Idaho; two or three in 

 Utah; three or four in Western Colorado; 

 two in the Eastern part of the State; then 

 we will jump over into Iowa. Besides 

 these, there will be special articles on the 

 growing of alfalfa, irrigation of alfalfa, 

 and irrigation in general. Then I will 

 have something to say on reclaimed lands 

 that again went back to deserts; of alkali 

 lands and bad lands; of land speculators 

 and their victims. My route throughout 

 the West was aimed to take in some of the 

 best bee country in the world — certainly in 



