1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



293 



when the weather turned colder. Out of 

 the lot, only three survived, and they were 

 reduced to mere nuclei. 



You may say this was an extreme case, 

 and not likely to be repeated for some time. 

 Admitted that such is the case, yet one ex- 

 perience like this ivould pay J or the extra cost 

 of winter cases for years to_ come. I admit 

 that, even in our latitude, some seasons, bees 

 will winter fairly well in h ves pi'otected by 

 paper if some dry packing is placed on top 

 of the brood-nest: but that is no argument 

 in their favor, as the bees will in the same 

 seasons winter in single-walled hives without 

 the paper. It is a well-known fact that 

 strong colonies will often winter fairly well 

 under abnormal conditions; but rest assured 

 that, under such conditions, an abnormal 

 amount of stores is always consumed. 



For eight consecutive years one of these 

 big twelve-frame hives referred to, with only 

 the single walls, wintered well with no pro- 

 tection save a super full of chaff on top of 

 the hive. About two inches from the top of 

 the brood -nest a loose knot about an inch in 

 diameter had fallen out, and it was possible 

 at any time during the winter to see the 

 cluster of bees through this knot-hole. No 

 doubt Mr. Holtermann and others will re- 

 member this incident, as the hive was shown 

 them during a bee-keepers' meeting at my 

 father's place. With all this exposure they 

 wintered well enough to average over 100 

 pounds of extracted honey per year for the 

 eight years; but every winter fully a third 

 more honey was consumed than in colonies 

 protected properly. Just so with the paper- 

 ed hives. I feel convinced that, in every 

 case, the saving in packing-material will be 

 more than balanced by increased consump- 

 tion of stores. 



You say, Mr. Editor, p. 1554, that you can 

 see no difference theoretically between paper 

 and other packing-material, and so far as 

 your top protection described on page 93 is 

 concerned I agree with you; but when side 

 and end protection is considered, the paper 

 is no comparison to a few inches of sawdust 

 for resisting frost. 



While on the farm we had a large cellar 

 that would hold 4000 Cushels of roots, built 

 as an annex to the stock- barn. While the 

 walls of this cellar were mostly underground, 

 over the top was simply a door of unmatched 

 lumber with roof over all. Now, although 

 the thermometer sometimes drops fco 20 be- 

 low zero, we found that six inches of saw- 

 dust over this floor would keep out the frost. 

 Do you think that tarred paper spread over 

 the floor would have given like results? 



As the most of my bees are wintered out- 

 doors, I have tried only the paper for spring 

 protection in a limited way; but what experi- 

 ence I have had, coupled with what I have 

 observed in other yards, has disgusted me 

 with its use, as the black paper attracts the 

 heat of the sun too much, and bees are en- 

 ticed out in unsuitable weather. With boards 

 leaned up against the front of hives this dif- 

 ficulty is overcome somewhat; but at out- 

 yards they can not be used. Certainly for 



my own use I should much prefer some top 

 protection that will fit snugly over the frames 

 to any amount of paper tied around the 

 sides and ends of hives. 



This article is already too long, so I must 

 forbear giving the experiences of some other 

 bee-keepers with the paper protection; but 

 before closing I wish to say that, in my opin- 

 ion, too much stress has been laid by some 

 writers on the danger of too much packing 

 for outdoor wintering. Last winter the loss- 

 es were very heavy in the majority of api- 

 aries, regardless of how bees were packed; 

 but I wish to say that the very strongest 

 half-dozen of colonies to come under my 

 notice last spring, among hundreds of colo- 

 nies examined, were those wintered by a 

 friend of mine, a farmer bee-keeper. These 

 bees were packed in large cases, four inches 

 of sawdust under the hives, six inches all 

 around, and twelve inches over the brood- 

 nest. The conditions those bees were in on 

 the first of May, after being wintered in those 

 "refrigerators," would have delighted the 

 heart of A C. Miller in spite of his opinion 

 of such methods. 



The argument is often advanced, that the 

 packed hives do not warm up enough to let 

 the bees have a flight, as is the case with the 

 paper-protected hives. True; but the bees 

 in well- protected hives do not need the flight 

 in the majority of cases. No, I do not advo- 

 cate as much packing as the amount referred 

 to in my friend's case; but I do think there 

 is danger of giving too little rather than too 

 much protection to bees wintering outdoors 

 in Ontario. 



Mt. Joy, Ont. 



[There is not much if any difl'erence be- 

 tween your position on paper winter cases 

 and that of the editor. Instead of saying 

 that we "can see no difference theoretically 

 between paper and other packing material," 

 as quoted by you, we said (see p. 1554, Dec. 

 15), "There should be several folds of news- 

 paper or other packing-material under the 

 paper cap to give the hive necessary protec- 

 tion. We can see no reason theoretically 

 why such a packing-material, protected from 

 the weather by an oiled or tarred paper, 

 should not give just as grod results as the 

 same packing -material surrounded by a 

 wooden case." Notice that that statement 

 does not compare "paper or other packing- 

 material," but a paper or wooden winter 

 case over the same amount of packing; notice 

 also that we said "packing-material sur- 

 rounded by a wooden case," meaning not 

 packing-material confined to the top only, as 

 you seem to infer, but at the top and around 

 the hive, sides and ends. In other words, if 

 a certain thickness of packing were sufiicient 

 under a wooden case, it ought to be nearly 

 if not quite as eflicient as under one of pa- 

 per. Or, to put it still another way, it is not 

 a question of covering, but it is a question of 

 the amount of packing-material around top 

 and sides, and the quality of it, no matter 

 how covered, if kept dry. But right here is 

 a question: Is it practicable to put as thick a 

 packing under a paper cap as in a double- 



