2\ii 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



spaces entirely surrounded with honey, or, 

 rather, cells of honey. 



I use the extra-thin foundation. With the 

 thin it is possible that my experience with 

 the bottom startermight be more satisfactory. 

 But I must use the extra-thin, for 1 will not 

 have gummy sppta in my section honey. 



Even with separators the sheet of founda- 

 tion with free lateral edg s often brings poor 

 results. The sheet takes on a twist, and the 

 cells on one side and. one edge will be shal- 

 low, while backing up to them are cells of 

 double depth. This means slow finishing in 

 that super. 



With all these facts in mind I am feeling 

 the need, more and more, of sheets fastened 

 to the sides of the section. I have for over a 

 score of vears allowed my foundation to hang 

 free, and have had no experience whatsoever 

 with the firmly fastened sheet. All logic 

 points to success through such fastening, and 

 the coming season will see the plan largely 

 tried in my apiary. 



Only one possible fault, aside from the ex- 

 tra work, occurs to me. Jf the foundation 

 stretches, will there not be irregular cells 

 brought about by the sides? Let a man put 

 his hands into his trowsers- pockets and lift. 

 The appearance which those trowsers will 

 assume suggests the wrinkle-sided result 

 that might follow the use of full sheets of 

 foundation fastened at the sides. 



It will be obvious, from what can be read 

 between the lines, that I have no use for a 

 full sheet fastened at the bottom. I would 

 leave a scant quarter of an inch there for the 

 possible sag of hot weather. 



Finally, after all is said, the very best sec- 

 tion honey of all can be produced with only 

 a wee small starter at the top. 



Norwich, Conn., Jan. 20. 



PAPER AVINTER CASES. 



Some Interesting Experiments Going to 



Show that their Use is, after All. 



False Economy. 



BY J. L. BYEK. 



Considerable prominence has been given 

 in Gleanings in reference to what I said re- 

 garding paper winter cases in the November 

 issue of the American Bee Journal. As the 

 editors of this journal have given prominence 

 to the paper idea, it is only proper that I 

 give my reasons for reaching such positive 

 conclusions as quoted by Dr. Miller on page 

 1554 of Gleanings, 1907. Bare statements 

 without any thing to substantiate them are 

 of little value, and apt to impress the read- 

 ers with the idea that prejudice may have 

 some bearing upon the case at issue. 



In the spring of 1903, 30 colonies of bees 

 were bought and put in the home apiary of 

 110 colonies, making a total of 130, which, 

 by natural increase, came up to 160 when the 

 bees were gotten ready for winter. As the 

 yard was very much crowded, the 20 colonies 

 were placed here and there all over the api- 



ary, wherever room could he made; so, as a 

 natural sequence, they were protected more 

 or less by the position they occupied be- 

 tween large packed hives on each side of 

 them. 



The hives were eight-frame, L. length, but 

 exactly one-half deeper than the standard 

 Langstroth— a hive, by the way, with a good 

 many admitted disadvantages, yet withal a 

 splendid one for outdoor wintering. AU the 

 rest of the colonies were in hives of the 

 same dimensions, only the majority of them 

 were of the ten and twelve frame size. All 

 were permanently packed with paper on the 

 outside of the inner case, and four inches of 

 sawdust between this and outer cases. The 

 outer cases projected six inches higher than 

 inner, making space for a cushion of dry 

 sawdust over the frames. 



In the fall, having no suitable cellar, the 

 problem confronted us as to what to do with 

 those twenty single-walled hives. Owing to 

 the crowded condition of the yard, tenement 

 cases were out of the question, and I dis- 

 liked the idea of making a single case for 

 each individual hive. Just at this time I 

 read about the tarred-paper plan, and at 

 once the problem of wintering those twenty 

 colonies was solved (?). An empty super, 

 the same depth as the hive-body, was placed 

 over each colony, with about ten inches of 

 dry chaff packed snugly on top of the quilt 

 over the frames. The tarred paper was then 

 wrapped neatly around the full size of the 

 hive, super and all, and tacked securely with 

 cleats. As suggested, the paper was allowed 

 to go below the bottom of the hives, a por- 

 tion of the paper then being cut ouc for the 

 entrance. 



Perhaps the readers will be more assured 

 of a good job having been done when I sav 

 that Mrs. Byer helped to do the "papering," 

 as I have often noticed, when any work that 

 requii'es neatness and precision is to be done, 

 it is much better if there is a "woman in the 

 case." 



Now as to results: As will be remembered, 

 the winter of 1903 was a very severe one: in 

 fact, January and February were almost 

 record-breakers. To be brief, the 140 col- 

 onies in the packed hives wintered well — 

 so well that we were surprised, as we ex- 

 pected to lose very heavily after the bees 

 passed through such a severe winter. About 

 ten per cent would cover the winter loss in 

 addition to eight or nine colonies that died 

 in the spring from queenlessness and other 

 causes. 



As to the twenty colonies in the "paper- 

 ed " hives, by Feb. 1 I saw it was all up with 

 them— six or seven being dead at that early 

 date. The frost formed in coats on the in- 

 side of the hives; and whenever the weather 

 became a little mild, the moisture would run 

 in streams out of the entrances. 



As to the size of the entrances, I foi-got to say 

 that some were left 5 inches by |, and the rest 

 much smaller. However, it became impera- 

 tive to enlarge the small entrances, as this 

 moisture referred to congealed to such an 

 extent as to close completely the entrances 



