1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



371 



their recipe does make a sort of syrup; but 

 the idea that no one can tell the difference 

 between this and g-enuine honej' is pure 

 humbug'. It must have been a wonderful 

 chemist indeed who was unable (in his lab- 

 oratory) to decide the stuff was manufac- 

 tured instead of being- pure bees' honey. 

 Now, do not any of you waste money in 

 buying recipes. Just send the advertise- 

 ment to us and we will send the 25 cents, 

 and then you can all have it free. See? 



A. I. R. 



WINTERING OUTDOORS AT MEDINA. 



As I reported in our last issue, the bees 

 at both our cellars came out in good condi- 

 tion ; but those under the machine-shop, 

 that had fresh air all night during the 

 entire winter except during the coldest 

 weather, were in much better condition 

 than those in the outdoor cellar that did 

 not have such supplies of fresh air. The 

 out-cellar was built on the plan recom- 

 mended by Mr. Bingham — a square cistern, 

 as it were, clear under ground; but unfor- 

 tunately it did not have the large ventila- 

 tor recommended by him. 



There was in this cellar some dysentery, 

 and a good many dead bees on the cellar 

 bottom — about the usual number. There 

 was no dysentery in the home cellar except 

 in one corner that did not get the usual cir- 

 culation of air. The strange thing about it 

 was there were three colonies in this cor- 

 ner, and every one of them had dysentery, 

 while those bees that were right in line 

 with the opening at the north end and the 

 one at the south end, and which could g-et a 

 strong current of air, were free from dis- 

 ease, and perfectly healthy. Our home 

 cellar smelled as sweet as almost any liv- 

 ing-room, and was just about as dr\^ Two 

 or three times during the winter, however, 

 Mr. Warden sprinkled water at the en- 

 trances, and he says the bees came out and 

 drank. In Mr. Doolittle's ce lar the mois- 

 ture given off by the bees condensed, and 

 this the bees used over again. In a dry 

 cellar such as we have in Medina it would 

 seem that, if the bees need moisture (and I 

 believe they do), fresh water right from 

 the well would certainly be more whole- 

 some than the condensed breath of the bees. 



EARLY OR ].ATE SETTING OUT. 



I mentioned in our last issue that we set 

 out all the bees from both cellars along 

 from the 20th to the last of March, and ^-.w^ 

 them one or two daj-s of flight. The loca- 

 tion of each hive was marked so that, when 

 the bees were set out again, each colony 

 would go back to its own stand. This may 

 not have been a necessary precaution, but 

 we felt that it was wise to err on the safe 

 side. All the bees were kept in the cellar 

 till along the first week in April. About 

 100 colonies or nuclei were set out of the 

 home cellar, and left out. The rest were 

 confined till about the 20th of April, when 

 they were put out. But in this case Mr. 

 Warden thinks the first lot of bees are in 



better condition than the second lot. The 

 former have brood in all stages, while the 

 latter have nothing but eggs, and it looks 

 now as if the first bees had about two 

 weeks' start over the others in brood. This 

 seems to contradict my footnote on page 186 

 of this year, wherein I said I believed it 

 was the best policy to keep the bees in 

 until the first of May. A year ago, about 

 this time, we set out some bees early, and 

 some not till May. We thought the last lot 

 of bees had the advantage over the others, 

 because there was a storm on the 20th of 

 April, and the snow lasted for several 

 days, with a good deal of cold weather. 



It is hard to tell just when to set bees 

 out ; but obviouslj' it would have been bet- 

 ter this year if all the bees had been set 

 out about the first of April. Last year, 

 the latter part of the month would not have 

 been too late. 



We have determined that we will do this: 

 Next year we will set the bees out the first 

 of April if the weather is suitable; and if 

 it should turn cold we will put them back 

 in the cellar and keep them there till it 

 moderates again. And that reminds ine 

 that all our bees which we set out early, 

 and put back, started brood-rearing; where 

 it had progressed to a point beyond the 

 &^^ stage it continued on, was capped over, 

 and hatched out a fine lot of bees. So here 

 is one more point in favor of giving the bees 

 a week's flight in the latter part of Febru- 

 ary or early in March; for in our locality 

 we are liable to have during these months 

 a whole week of nice weather. This would 

 give the bees quite a start in brood-rear- 

 ing; then if the weather turns cold put them 

 back, and the brood will be taken care of, 

 and mature and hatch into bees. 



As a rule there will be very little bro<"d 

 in a good bee-cellar. When the conditions 

 of temperature and atmosphere are right, 

 the bees should go into a quiet sleep and 

 stay there. 



I have already spoken, in answer to Dr. 

 Miller, in Straws, this issue, of the advan- 

 tages of giving the bees an early cleansing 

 flight, and setting them back again. This 

 of itself is a very important matter. While 

 it entails some little labor, yet it does not 

 mean more than the loss of two or three 

 hours' time for 100 colonies. 



THE RESULTS OF OUTDOOR WINTERING. 



Our outdoor colonies did well; but they 

 were the strongest and best we had in the 

 whole yard last fall; and the loss out of the 

 whole 300 that were outdoors was only two 

 colonies; but the results were more remark- 

 able with the bees under the machine-shop, 

 because the greater part of them were 

 nuclei. Some of them were very weak, and 

 it was so late that we did not know whether 

 all had even virgin queens or any queens 

 at all. Our queen-rearing operations were 

 conducted clear up till November. We did 

 not, as usual, unite or double up, but kept 

 the nuclei just as they had been used, and 

 put them into the cellar just as they were. 



