1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1265 



into the jars. A large-sized tea or cotfee pot is 

 iirst rate for this purpose. 



All vessels for feeding should be provided with 

 covers lest troublesome robbers make life miser- 

 able to the apiarist. 



Swarthmoie, Pa. 



PAPER WINTER CASES. 



How they Wintered the Bees, and how 

 they Increased the Honey Crop. 



BY L. C. ALWIN. 



The drawing herewith illustrates my method 

 of packing colonies in the spring. The first hive 

 shown is one used in the Ferris two-queen sys- 

 tem; but the method applies to eight or ten frame 

 single-queen colonies as well, as shown in the 

 second drawing. 



On account of the late cold and disagreeable 

 springs, packing has become a necessity in these 

 northern States, and the above plan, it seems to 

 me, has proven the most pr.ictical of any that 1 

 have employed. 



The reason I use two pieces of tarred paper is 

 because I am not able to get paper large enough 

 to cover a 14-frame hive from cover to bottom- 

 board, as it ought to if good results are secured. 

 I do not know whether there is any advantage in 

 having two pieces, except that there would be a 

 double layer of tarred paper in front, in the rear, 



and on top; but this can hardly be considered on 

 account of the expense of using two pieces for a 

 hive. There is no doubt that one piece of 

 tarred paper per hive would be better. I use only 

 two pieces for the Ferris hives. My eight-frame 

 hives are all packed with a single piece. 



In putting on this packing 1 have not made it 

 a practice to tie it down with string, but use 

 broad-headed tacks that I can easily drive into 

 the wood with my thumb. But I have tied the 

 packing of some of the hives, and think it just as 

 good as tacks, if not better. 



I am not an advocate of wintering bees out- 

 doors in a climate so cold as that of Minnesota, 

 although I have wintered, and am at the present 



time wintering, bees outdoors successfully. -My 

 success is due to a great extent to the mild winters 

 we have been having the last few years. But the 

 system of packing that I describe is meant for 

 spring protection; but I do not hesitate to advo- 

 cate this method of packing for winter in a cli- 

 mate like that of Ohio. Although our winters 

 have been mild, our springs have simply been — 

 well, I can't think of a word strong enough to 

 express myself properly — but the average temper- 

 ature from the 1st of April to the 15th of May 

 was 40° F. last year; and in spite of these condi- 

 tions I had my colonies boiling over with bees, 

 and swarming by the last week of May and first 

 of June; and if bees rear brood extensively so 

 that, by the last of May, the hives are just boil- 

 ing over with bees and brood, with the tempera- 

 ture outside ranging below freezing, you can cer- 

 tainly winter them outdoors successfully in a cli- 

 mate where the temperature rarely goes below 

 zero. [^:M 



Last spring, March 15, on account of the mild 

 weather and the restlessness of the bees, I set 54 

 good colonies on their summer stands. ^ Of these, 

 I packed 41 according to my method; and be- 

 cause I ran out of newspapers the remaining 13 

 were packed with tarred paper only. This warm 

 weather was soon followed by a cool spell which 

 lasted until the last days of April. On the first 

 of May we were blessed(.?) with a foot and a half 

 of snow. This was soon followed by severe cold 

 weather, with the temperature ranging from 5 to 



