JULY 1, 1913 



queens so prolific that they would at once 

 skip above for more room if the apiarist 

 did not in some way give them more room 

 than an eight-frame Langstroth hive affords. 

 It is needless to say, I think that all extraet- 

 ed-honey producers should use excluders; 

 but that does not forbid giving a prolific 

 cjueen more room than the brood-nest al- 

 lows, as it is a very simple matter to hoist 

 brood above, or give an extra stoiy for 

 brood-rearing till the main flow opens. 



The joke is on the editor. After publicly 

 inviting Dr. Miller to " jab " me because of 

 my slighting the editor's pet theory, the so- 

 called " winter nest," the said doctor ends 

 his " jabbing " with the words, " for practi- 

 cal purposes the Canuck holds the safer 

 ground." The editor having received pun- 

 ishment already, I will just ask Dr. Miller 

 one question, and drop the subject for the 

 time at least. He says, page 74, Feb. 1, 

 " Your experiment will prove nothing, for, 

 as ye editor suggests, the minute you stop- 

 ped feeding them they began scooping out a 

 winter nest." Now, then, doctor, please re- 

 member that it was on Xov. 7 that the said 

 colony had all combs solid, and that five 

 weeks from that date we had weather about 

 down to zero. How much of a " nest " 

 could they "scoop" out of those solid combs 

 in five weeks'? You know as well as or better 

 than I do that verj^ few stores are consumed 

 early in the winter when no brood is in the 

 hive; but please say whether you tliink 

 enough empty comb will be in evidence in 

 five weeks to accommodate even one cjuarter 

 of the bees. Talk about overstocking the 

 country with bees — really this matter of ad- 

 vising full combs in the fall would be the 

 greatest factor toward that end that could 

 be imagined if all beekeepers in the North 

 who winter outdoors would follov/ the plan. 

 But you needn't won-y; they will not do so, 

 as it is too much trouble, and often too big 

 a pull on the purse — at least those are the 

 reasons that prevent tliis scribbler from 

 putting all colonies in that condition even- 

 fall. 



Dr. ]\Iiller asks me to state what tem- 

 perature I would prefer for a straight 

 " five-months pull " in outdoor wintering. 

 I don't know, but rather suspect that the 

 changing temperature we have is about 

 right, as with proper preparation bees gen- 

 erally winter well under these conditions. 

 Xo, I do not believe that brood-rearing 

 starts earlier outdoors because it is colder 

 than in the cellar. Generally speaking, the 

 best cellar for wintering bees is one in 



which the bees will be very quiet all the 

 time, and, as a rule, little brood will be in 

 the hive when the bees are taken out in the 

 spring. There are exceptions to tliis rule, 

 of course, but that does not nullify the 

 rule. The steadier the cold weather out- 

 doors, the less brood-rearing there will be ; 

 so, to my mind, the cause of brood-rearing, 

 either outdoors or in the cellar, is " activ- 

 ity." When the temperature is 32 or 35 

 in the shade, it will register higher in front 

 of the hives where the sun is shining, and 

 that condition causes activity and conse- 

 quent brood-rearing. Moderately cold steady 

 winter weather gives best results in out- 

 door wintering, especially if too big a win- 

 ter-nest (ha! ha!) is not allowed, so that 

 the danger of the colony running out of 

 stores above the cluster is avoided. If the 

 colony is none too well provided with stores, 

 then a warm sjDell now and then is impera- 

 tive if the bees winter at all. Often such 

 a colony will become stranded on empty 

 comb during a prolonged cold snap, and will 

 starve, lea\'ing honey at the back of the 

 frames. 



VENTILATION FOR BEES OUTDOORS AND IN- 

 DOORS. 



On page 722, Nov. 1.5, 1912, Mr. Doolit- 

 tle lays gxeat stress on having entrances 

 of hives in which bees are wintering out- 

 doors so arranged that the bees will have an 

 abundance of pure air circulating around 

 the cluster. While in a measure I can en- 

 dorse what he says, certainly it is a puzzle 

 to me that, in another article of his regard- 

 ing cellar wintering, he virtually claims 

 that fresh air is not needed at all in this 

 case. Results may prove his contentions 

 to his own satisfaction; yet I confess that 

 it appears to me that lie would have a hard 

 time to prove these different views from a 

 scientific standpoint. Bees will nearly al- 

 ways winter out of doors with the cluster 

 immediately over or back of the entrance, 

 no matter where the latter is, provided it 

 has been in tliat shape early enough in the 

 fall. Whether the bees cluster in such a. 

 position to protect the entrance, or for ven- 

 tilation, I am not sure; but I have proved 

 by experiment that a good colony will win- 

 ter, even if the entrance is shifted to the 

 opposite side after wintering has started. 

 As regards cellar wintering, the majority 

 of those who thus winter are advocates of 

 plenty of ventilation ; and I suspect that 

 many cellars get considerable air even when 

 it is not actually provided for in a system- 

 atic way. thus makiiig the beekeeper think 

 that bees inside need no fresh air at all. 



