1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



413 



object," and "Usually it is not practica- 

 ble to tier up more than three high. " Per- 

 haps each one is right for his own locality. 

 While it might be dangerous for a begin- 

 ner in this locality to tier up, it would very 

 often be more dangerous not to tier up; and 

 if I should be limited to three supers in a 

 good season I'd lose honey. [A plan of 

 tiering up that would be perfectly practica- 

 ble in Colorado might not be so in other lo- 

 calities. When one tiers up to any great 

 extent he must figure pretty closely on the 

 duration of the honey-flow. If one has, 

 sa3% three or four supers in various stages 

 of completion, some half filled and some 

 nearl}' filled, and the honey-flow suddenly 

 stops, he is in a rather bad way. Obvious- 

 ly' it would have been better for him to give 

 the bees fewer supers, and made them com- 

 plete what combs they had, rather than to 

 start on a fresh batch, thus dividing their 

 time and labor. But, very fortunately, in 

 Colorado the bee-keeper, especially in alfal- 

 fa localities, can determine almost to a day 

 when his honey-flow will be shut off. When 

 alfalfa gets into bloom he knows when the 

 mower will begin work, and he knows al- 

 most exactly when every head of alfalfa in 

 his locality will be cut. He can, therefore, 

 plan ahead and tier up as long as there are 

 several days ahead of a good strong honey- 

 flow. If he knows, for instance, there are 

 just ten days more, he will probably put on 

 no more supers, but compel the bees to fin- 

 ish up the work begun; and that finishing- 

 vip will take place just about as the honey 

 stops. Nowhere in the world but in the al- 

 falfa regions can one so exactly gauge the 

 length of the honey-flow. As alfalfa is 

 grown in Arizona, California, Utah, Idaho, 

 and Colorado, as well as some other of the 

 Western States, the bee-keeper in any of 

 those localities can tier up much more ex- 

 cessively than we who are of the East or 

 South.— Ed.] 



I'm afraid, just a little, Mr. Editor, that 

 you may swing too far on the side of cellar 

 wintering. Notwithstanding my failure at 

 outdoor wintering, I have a suspicion that, 

 if I knew enough, I might succeed even in 

 this windy region; and I also have a sus- 

 picion that bees wintered out are hardier. 

 Why they should be hardier I don't know, 

 unless it be on account of purer air and the 

 chance to fly whenever it is warm enough. 

 Yet if you can manage to have a constant 

 supply of pure air in the cellar, and if it 

 will do to take them out on a warm day and 

 then return them, it is possible they may be 

 as hardy as those wintered out. For I sus- 

 pect that severe cold weakens rather than 

 strengthens. [I am satisfied that our home- 

 apiary locality has been almost ideal for 

 outdoor wintering. Those closely inter- 

 twined evergreens that outskirt the yard 

 have been giving a greater protection than 

 one would suppose, and the results have 

 been better than that secured on the aver- 

 age for outdoor bees. At our out-yard there 

 were no windbreaks, and the north wind 

 had a clean sweep. Here we tried our reg- 



ular chaff hives and strong colonies. Al- 

 though the bees did not die outright at this 

 yard, the colonies were so depleted that it 

 seemed best to bring them home and winter 

 them in the evergreen inclosure. So I doubt 

 very much whether, without the evergreens, 

 a high board fence, or windbreak of some 

 sort, we would have been able to secure 

 such results as we have obtained from year 

 to year. I am now satisfied of one thing: 

 That outdoor-wintered bees should have a 

 good windbreak around the bee-yard. It 

 may be a barn, a high board fence, or a 

 row of out-buildings. But it should be 

 something. 



But in spite of the ideal conditions at our 

 home yard, Mr. Wardell says our cellar- 

 wintered bees are in the lead; and this, too, 

 in additon to the fact that the indoor bees 

 consumed very much less stores. 



But I shall not go so far as to advocate 

 indoor wintering for every one. The lati- 

 tude, the general climate, the kind of cellar 

 that one can aft'ord or has — all these are 

 determining factors, and should be careful- 

 ly considered. In a mild locality, or where 

 one has naturally good windbreaks, has no 

 bee-cellar, or at least a very poor one, I 

 would recommend the outdoor plan; and in 

 almost any locality a poor bee-cellar — one 

 that is too small — would be much worse 

 than good outdoor wintering on summer 

 stands. — Ed.] 





y.: 



KJ-A'> 



'^OMOU/l NEIGHBORS FIELDS. 



Mourn for the score of thousands, burned 



Beneath old Vulcan's blast ; 

 Saint Pierre is sunk in one dread heap, 



In one cremation vast. 



"The Dissected Bee" is the title of anew 

 book that has just been published in Milan, 

 Italy, and written by Mr. Allesandro Be- 

 nussi-Bossi. As an illustrated volume on 

 the anatomy of the bee it is quite unique. 

 There are 89 pictures in it, each showing 

 the field of view as seen in a large micro- 

 scope. Let the reader imagine that he is 

 looking at a bright disk four inches in di- 

 ameter, and that on this surface there is seen 

 the compound eye of a bee, or a foot or a 

 wing, or some other part. This view is 

 then photographed and reproduced in half 

 tone, giving the reader a very good repre- 

 sentation of a bee as viewed by the micro- 

 scopist. The pictures are described in 

 Italian, French, and English. It is a great 

 pity that the wording of the latter language 

 was not the work of Dr. Miller, Mr. Da- 

 dant, or Prof. Cook; for as it is, it is cer- 

 tainly the strangest attempt in that line I 

 have ever seen; and when we add to the 

 wording the further attack of the Italian 

 printers on what ought to be good English 

 typography our regret is the deeper. But 

 laying all that aside the author has given 



