November, 1919 



a Tj E A N I N G S IN BEE C U L T U K E 



HEADS OF GRAIN 



Uses Hood of You may sing of the 



Filter Cloth for flowers, the birds, and 



Protection. the trees; I will sing 



of her majesty. Queen 

 of the bees; you may drink to the bard, and 

 the bold cavalier; I will drink to her Lady- 

 ship, none is her peer. All her movements 

 are graceful, her carriage is proud, as she 

 glides thru the palace, or mounts to the 

 clouds. Oh, say, you can see, as she trum- 

 pets her call, every subject is loyal, responds 

 one and all. 



Oh, the hum of the bee is sweet music to 

 me — I could sing more of that if I wanted 

 to, but I don 't want to, not just now. What 

 I wanted to say was that it makes me laugh 

 to see the "professionals" specify and ar- 

 gufy about how to winter bees and how 

 they should be stacked up or grouped to- 

 gether and boxed up and packed in this or 

 that and buying lumber and sawing boards 

 and carrying straw, etc. 



I always winter on the summer stands. All 

 I do is make a ' ' hood ' ' out of old filter 

 cloths, which are practically rain-proof and 

 wind-proof. I make them so they will just 

 slip over the hive, and cover the hive with 

 one shallow super on. The empty suj^er I 

 fill with burlap. For weak swarms I cover 

 with burlap and building-paper for addition- 

 al protection, and put the hood on over 

 these. I never lose a swarm unless I neglect 

 to see that the bees have sufiicient food. 

 The hoods cost me less than five cents each, 

 and I could store a hundred in my trunk if 

 I wanted to, but I don 't want to. 



When I have a swarm that is troubled 

 with robbers, I slip over it the hood, which 



DIFFERENT FIELDS 



acts as a camouflage, and discourages 

 * ' porch climbers. ' ' I never use any tar 

 paper around my hives. My bees are nice, 

 clean bees and they don't like'the smell of 

 tar. I know they don 't, for I have been 

 ' ' eavesdropping ' ' on the little scamps for 

 about 30 years and know some things that 

 I never read in any of the ' ' all-about-bees- 

 and-more-too" books. J. F. Weybright. 

 Ft. Morgan, Colo. 



Entrance Accident- Beekeepers differ as 

 ally Closed. Colony to the proper size of 

 Apparently Ap- the winter entrance 



proved. where bees are winter- 



ed on their summer 

 stands. I have had an experience which 

 convinces me that if the colony is in good 

 condition it needs very little ventilation. 



Most of my bees are in ten-frame hives 

 and are run for extracted honey. I winter 

 on summer stands, use telescope covers, and 

 pack paper between hive bodies and covers. 

 Normal colonies are allowed a %-inch en- 

 trance the full width of the hive. 



Last fall I delayed packing the bees until 

 early in December, and I think you will 

 agree with me that vigorous hybrids are apt 

 to ofl'er very pointed objections to being 

 handled at that season. In order to avoid 

 argument while the packing was being done, 

 a piece of lath was shoved into the entrance 

 and left there until the bees quieted down. 

 On March 1.5 it was discovered that one 

 lath had not been removed and that for 

 more than three months the colony had not 

 had a flight and had practically no ventila- 



Apiary of W. A. Rowland, Weston, Ontario. 



