446 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



top of the super containing the unfinished 

 sections, as I use the large chaff hives. 



Amelia J. Culver. 

 Mt. Lebanon, N. Y. 



[The bees might or might not take the 

 honey out of the sections and use the same 

 for brood-rearing. A good deal would de- 

 pend upon circumstances. The sections 

 should be so given as not to leave a lot of 

 empty space for the bees to warm up. Your 

 proposal to put back the cushions is correct 

 in tneory and practice.— Ed.] 



[This shed would be better if the bees were 

 made to enter on the lower (or opposite) 

 side of it. This leaves the high side for the 

 apiarist, so that he can handle the hives from 

 behind instead of in front.— W. K. M.] 



HOW TO PACK A FEW COLONIES OF BEES FOR 

 THE WINTER. 



Many small bee-keepers having from one 

 to a dozen colonies allow them to remain on 

 the stand all winter without any protection, 

 and in the spring wonder why so many of 

 the bees died. A plan bv which their bees 

 can be wintered safer and cheaper outdoors 

 than if placed in a cellar is this: After the 

 honey season is over, and the supers have 

 been emptied and cleaned, I place them back 

 again on the hives with the section slats left 

 in. I do this early enough — about the last 

 of October — that the bees may have time to 

 wax things down tight between the edges of 

 the super and brood-chamber. When very 



7">A fii PAPEFL. 



cold weather comes on, and the bees have 

 quit flying, I place them in a row east and 

 west, with front to the south, and about a 

 foot apart. I now fill each super full of old 

 rags, pieces of burlap, or even torn-up news- 

 papers, finishing with a quilt of burlap, and 

 on this I place the cover proper, snug and 

 tight. The straw (prairie hay is better) is 

 then packed in between tight to the top of 

 the hive and over all and behind; and at the 

 ends I put the straw three feet deep, finish- 

 ing with a cover of tar-paper tacked to two 

 2x4:'s or scantlings the desired length, one 

 placed in front, the other back, witn slope 

 enough to carry off water, and thus keep the 

 packing dry. I leave the bees as they are, 

 quite late in the spring until rains and cold 

 chilly days gives way to warm settled 

 weather. I then remove the winter protec- 

 tion and space the hives a proper distance 

 apart again. I might also add that 1 place a 

 board in front on sunshiny days to prevent 

 bees from flying out and perishing. The en- 

 graving may help to explain my plan. 

 Tecumseh, Neb. Cyrus Douglas. 



testing the weight of hives in spring; 

 "hefting" not a safe guide. 



On March 20 of last year, when I "hefted " 

 my hives they were fully as heavy as when 

 packed for winter. Imagine my surprise to 

 find them, April 10, at the point of starva- 

 tion. While there is no doubt that consider- 

 able honey was gathered during March, the 

 queens seemed to think that summer had ar- 

 rived, and that it was time to be up and do- 

 ing. The result was, hives full of brood, and 

 I had hefted brood instead of honey. This 

 leads me to the conclusion that, while the 

 hefting plan may do in the fall when you 

 know there is little or no brood in the hive, 

 it is not a safe guide in the spring, especial- 

 ly after such winters as the past has been 

 here in the South. 



Tupelo, Miss. J. D. Rowan. 



position of cluster in winter seen 

 through a glass cover. 

 This is the third winter that I have winter- 

 ed colonies in hives with double glass covers 

 so that I could look in at any time without 

 disturbing the bees or 

 letting the cold air in on 

 them. These colonies 

 are in pairs with only a 

 thin division- board be- 

 tween them; quilts over 

 and around them, and 

 one outer case over all. 



The winter cluster 

 does not form near the 

 entrance, as some have 

 said, but in the warm- 

 est part of the brood - 

 nest, next to the thin 

 division-board, the top of 

 the cluster being above 

 the brood-frames. There 

 is a half inch space be- 

 tween the brood-frames and glass. 



The entrance to these hives is very small — 

 not to exceed one square inch; and I know 

 by actual trial that the entrance can be 

 closed for weeks at a time, and do no harm 

 to the bees if the weather continues cold and 

 the bees remain in that semi-dormant state 

 which is natural for them in winter, with the 

 temperature of the cluster many degrees 

 lower than when active. In this state I am 

 sure they need very little honey, very little 

 air, and they lose very little vitality. But if 

 roused from this state by any cause they 

 must have air or there will be trouble. With 

 an entrance equal to one square inch kept 

 clear, I have found that they are perfectly 

 safe through the winter. 



I have always kept a thermometer on top 

 of the double-glass cover of one of these col- 

 onies, and this has never shown a tempera- 

 ture lower than 38 degrees, and this with a 

 temperature outside of 12 below zero. In 



