OCTOBER 1, 1913 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



Good Yield of Honey in Spite of the Dry Weather 



This has been the liest year we have had for five 

 or six years past in spite of the drouth which has 

 cut crops at least in half, and the fact that there 

 was no dew nights at all. What few bees there are 

 left, that were taken care of and looked after, have 

 yielded a profit to beat Standard Oil stocks. 



May 10 I bought a colony for $2.00. The lower 

 story was well filled. I moved the bees three miles 

 home, and on the 14th I put on a case of sections 

 for them. Up to date I have sold 66 sections of 

 honey from that colony. These sections test from 17 

 to 18 ounces each, so I have sold them by the section 

 at 18 cents. I still have fifty or more sections ready 

 to move at any time from those bees. I have been 

 unable to fathom the source of the supply. I know 

 of some alsike-clover fields, some two or three miles 

 from us, that I have thought probably were where a 

 part of it came from. One man claims that the red 

 clover was so rich in nectar that it was actually 

 dripping from the petals on dewless mornings when 

 he went into the clover-fields for the stock. Any way, 

 we are getting the goods, and the honey is of fine 

 quality. Others did as well as myself in securing 

 good yields. 



So far as I have learned, there have been few 

 swarms. Some careless ones that neglected their bees 

 came to get sections for them after the flow was past. 

 To be sure, a part of our flow was from the once 

 despised sweet clover, but now looked upon by the 

 farmers in quite a different light. One man this year 

 has sown twelve acres for fertilizing, and others will 

 follow his example. Alfalfa is also getting started, 

 so that we hope in the not distant future that the 

 good honey-pastures of former days will come again, 

 and that commerical beekeeping will be as profitable 

 as it once was. 



Philo, 111., Aug. 26. M. L. Brewer. 



Bees Winter Better When a Way of Escape for 

 the Moisthre is Provided 



I have tried the plan of wintering my bees in the 

 cellar and also out of doors. In either case I usu- 

 ally found the combs wet and damp in the spring ; 

 and often water would run out of the front of the 

 hive, and ice form on the bottom-board. 



Four years ago in December I bought four colo- 

 nies of bees — big strong colonies with an abundance 

 of honey. They were in two-story home-made hives. 

 They had gunny sack over the top under a make- 

 shift cover. Some of them were open at the corners, 

 and the covers were loose. Yet those bees were ready 

 to come out at any time the hive was disturbed in 

 the least. No water ran out of the entrance, and 

 there was no frost inside the hive. They stood right 

 out of doors where I put them when they were 

 brought to my place, and they went through some 40 

 degrees below zero all right. 



I have cut twenty or twenty-five bee-trees here in 

 Montana. Invariably in these trees the entrance is 

 at the top of the cavity. I have read the discussions 

 in Gleanings regarding sealed covers, absorbent 

 cushions, etc. However, last fall I made a winter 

 house. It is 16 feet long, 30 inches wide, and high 

 enough to put in a double-story hive if I wish. I 

 placed my hive without bottom-board on cleats on 

 the bottom, and bored a %-inch hole in the back 

 end of the covers, and packed the extra space with 

 alfalfa hay, coarse remains from the cows' manger, 

 and set a plank slanting =n front of the entrances. 



When I opened the h'.es early in March I never 

 saw a drier or cleaner lot of combs and hives for 

 that time of the year. The dead bees on the bottom 

 were dry i^nd clean, and the bees wintered well. 

 Some were getting short of stores, which I find is 

 frequently the case in Danzenbaker hives. However, 



I had reserve combs for them. .Vs elsewhere, the 

 winter liere was not sevei'e. 



Prom the above observation.s and experience I am 

 of the opinion that it is better to let the moisture 

 out, and keep the hive dry than to keep the moisture 

 in and have the hive damp, and a lot of wet ill- 

 smelling dead bees on the bottom-board. 



Belgrade, Mont., April 16. C. A. Kinset. 



Bees Packed for Winter so as to Allow Escape of 

 Moisture from Hives 



I have kept bees for some time, and have always 

 had marked success in wintering them. I use a 

 telescope cover for the hives, with a three-inch space 

 on the four sides, and a four-inch sijace for the top. 

 In the air space I pack planer shavings; and just 

 before covering the top of the hive with the shavings 

 I raise the lid and slip a ten-penny nail between the 

 lid and the hive body. This allows the moisture to 

 pass out and to be absorbed by the shavings. In the 

 spring, when I unpack the colonies I find them nice 

 and dry without any moldy combs. As a rule the 

 shavings are very wet, even down lialf way along 

 the i^ides. 



Last winter I put 23 colonies into winter quar- 

 ters, four being quite weak. When I removed the 

 telescope covers late in March I found the bees in 

 e.Ncellent condition with the exception of the four 

 weak colonies, and did not lose a colony. 



Some of the hives were as full of bees as is usual 

 the first of May. 



One hive in particular was so strong that I had 

 to lift out the frames, and a pleasing sight met my 

 eyes — a nice lot of brood was started, and one frame 

 in which the brood was sealed, and this March 20. 

 This seems especially remarkable as the climate up 

 here on the mountains is rather cold, and the sea- 

 sons are slow, it being a rule that fruit bloom is ten 

 days to two weeks earlier west and a little south. 



Philipsburg. Pa., March 20. W. N. Zeitler. 



A Word of Explanation About Feeding Back to 

 Secure Well Finished Sections 



On page 564, Aug. 1.5, Mr. J. E. Crane asks 

 whetiier there is not some mistake about getting 15 

 to 23 supers per colony finished by feeding back in 

 the two or three weeks between clover and hearts- 

 ease. This statement was based on memory, as I 

 have not kept an exact record : and while I am quite 

 certain one can count on 15 supers in three weeks 

 per colony, yet it might be too much to count on 25. 

 As I said, the character of the colony and weather 

 conditions govern the amount finished. But with hot 

 weather, strong colonies, and plenty of feeder sur- 

 face, the section work goes very rapidly. We run up 

 to five or six supers to the hive after a few feeds, 

 and look the supers over about every other day, and 

 add new ones next to the brood-chamber, or else 

 heavy feeding will bulge the sections already on. 



The bees must have plenty of room to store; and 

 as fast as the partly finished sections are about 

 drawn out, more partly built ones must be added. 

 -Vs regards the time, one usually has more than two 

 or three weeks, especially in years when it becomes 

 necessary to feed back. Frequently the early flow 

 closes July 1 to 10. and perhaps no fall flow, to 

 amount to any thing for section work, follows. 



Such seasons are the ones when there are apt to 

 le unfinished sections. We can begin a little before 

 the flow ceases, and continue into the fall flow if it 

 is light, so we really have perhaps nearer a month 

 for this work than two or three weeks. I may have 

 had the idea of counting on 15 to 25 supers per 

 colony, and failed to state it clearly. 



There is so muck variation in the conduct of bees 



