38 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



It is important that th^ee cages be made 

 light and stout — capable of standing rough 

 usage, and to that end they should be well 

 braced, and only a strong light galvanized 

 wire cloth should be used. The latter should 

 be further protected by a wooden gTatiug 

 to prevent making holes through it. 



We do not know whether these cages can 

 be sent by parcels post. We advise against 

 it for the present, or until this method of 

 sending bees by exj^ress has been developed 

 a little further. The express companies will 

 doubtless reduce their rates on bees so that 

 the}' will be level with those for parcels 

 post. As the exi^ress companies have al- 

 ways met postal rates before, we assume 

 they will do it again. Turthermore, we do 

 not knoAv whether Uncle Sam will accept 

 pound packages of bees in the mails. We 

 believe, however, that the time will come 

 when bees can be sent by parcel post. The 

 only fear we have at present is that some 

 beginner or ignoramus, not realizing what 

 he is doing, may attempt to ship tln-ee or 

 four pounds by mail in a package so frail 

 that it will let the bees loose in transit, re- 

 sulting in a niling barring bees from the 

 privileges of parcel post. When we have 

 developed a package that will prove to be 

 a perfect success for expressage, then it 

 will be time enough to try for the new post- 

 al privilege. 



The obvious advantage of sending bees 

 without combs across the country is so great 

 that there will doubtless be a big traffic in 

 the near future. Arrangements are now 

 being perfected whereby bees can be ship- 

 ped from the South to make up for death 

 losses in the North early in the spring. Due 

 announcements will be given in our adver- 

 tising columns, with statement of prices, 

 so that the beekeeper of the North, desiring 

 bees to let loose on empty combs where his 

 bees have died, will know just wliat it will 

 cost to make a new start. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF WINDBREAKS FOR OUT- 

 DOOR WINTERED BEES. 



The reader's attention is called to an ex- 

 cellent article by Mr. A. J. Halter, in this 

 issue, page 55, on the subject of wind- 

 breaks. It will bear careful reading be- 

 cause it strikes at one of the basic princi- 

 l^les of successful outdoor wintering. 



We are coming more and more to believe 

 that, while double walls and packing are 

 important for outdoor-wintered bees, suit- 

 able windbreaks, or something to break the 

 force of a clean sweep of the wind, are 

 equally important. We have known excel- 

 lent wintering in single-walled hives that 



were well sheltered by buildings and shx-ub- 

 bery. We have known of poor wintering in 

 double-walled hives, subject to exposure to 

 the prevailing winds, especially when the 

 entrances faced those winds. Just notice 

 how the dumb animals in the blast of an 

 on-sweep of wind wiU turn their backs to 

 the wind. The dogs of the polar regions, 

 that will stand more cold, perhaps, than 

 any other living things, have heavy bushy 

 tails; and when not in motion they will 

 stand with their backs to the wind, and the 

 aforesaid bushy tails afforded them a pro- 

 tection that is invaluable. Similarly we 

 have noticed that hives with their backs to 

 the wind will winter better than those fac- 

 ing it; and invariably we find that those in 

 the exposed portions of the apiary will 

 suffer much more than those sheltered by 

 shrubbery, trees, or building's. Last winter 

 gave us some examples of " deadly paral- 

 lels." At our Clark yard were some hives 

 upon a knoll facing a half-mile strip of 

 free country. In the same yard were other 

 hives located in low ground among low- 

 spreading apple-trees and brier bushes. The 

 last named came thi'ough in fairly good 

 order, while the first mentioned were prac- 

 tically all dead by the first of March. We 

 found the same " deadly parallel " at our 

 other yards. At our home yard there was 

 a bunch of colonies just in front of an 

 opening through the evex'gi'eens facing 

 north. These bees nearly all died, or were 

 so weak that they might as well have been 

 dead. Those back of the evergreens, espec- 

 ially in the lower portions of the apiary, 

 wintered in very much better condition. If 

 the reader will turn to the cover page of 

 our Dec. 15th issue, he will see the kind of 

 evergreen for windbreaks which we have 

 found to be most satisfactory. They " do 

 the business." 



This winter, for the purpose of experi- 

 ment, we left one apiaiy, the waterworks 

 yard, on a high knoll, where it had been all 

 summer, with a windsweep from the north- 

 west, west, and southwest, with practically 

 a mile of almost free country. When we 

 located that apiary, we did not intend to 

 leave it at that location all winter; but 

 late in the fall we thought we would try it 

 out for a few weeks to determine how the 

 bees would stand this exposure of wind. 

 They were all in our latest double-walled 

 packed hives; but in spite of this protec- 

 tion we noticed in the month of December 

 that some of the bees were beginning to 

 dwindle, and that they were using stores 

 faster than the bees of the other yards shel- 

 tered by windbreaks. 



Our Brunswick yard was located about 9 



