716 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



people of bis com- 

 munity. His home is 



among" the finest in the 



town, his daughters 



are college graduates, 



and the family enjoys 



eveiy convenience and 



advantage of educa- 

 tion and travel. 



B. A. Aldrich, of 



Smithland, has been 



engaged in general 



farming on rented 



land for years until 



recently. Failing to 



make this line of woi'k 



profitable he closed 



out every thing but 



the bees, wliich he had 



found profitable as a 



side line, and devoted 



his attention to them 



exclusively. Mr. Aid- 

 rich says that the only 



mistake he has made 



was in not dropping the principal business 

 and devoting all his attention to the side 

 line several years sooner. Mr. Aldrich har- 

 \'ested a crop of nearly 14 tons of honey 

 from 300 colonies last year, and bids fair to 

 do as well, or better, this year. He has the 

 finest equipment in the way of a honey- 

 house and labor-saving machinery that I 

 have ever seen in the hands of any beekeejo- 

 er; and by this means he is able to do near- 

 ly all his own work and thus reduce his 

 expenses to the minimum, Avhich is, of 

 course, impossible with general farming. 



In the face of such examples as these we 

 surely need not fear to recognize beekeep- 

 ing as a dependable pursuit. If a man will 

 recognize the fact in the beginning that 

 there is something to learn, and that to be 

 successful he must go about it in a business- 

 like manner, and observe the same caution 

 that he would do in undertaking any other 

 line of business with Avhich he is unfamiliar, 

 the chances for success are better, in my es- 

 timation, than in most other lines which are 

 highly specialized. 

 Atlantic, Iowa. 



THE OUTSIDE WINTERING OF BEES 

 A Nature Study 



BY J. E. HAND 



The outdoor wintering of bees is prac- 

 ticed with varying results tln-ougbout the 

 United States, and even in portions of Can- 

 ada, where it is rapidly coming into favor. 

 Beekeepers everywhere are coming to real- 

 ize m.ore and more that open-air wintering 



Home of F. AV. Hall, Colo, Iowa. 



is mor-e in harmony with the nature and 

 liabits of bees. Colonies wintered in the 

 ojien with suitable protection will usually 

 have several cleansing flights at frequent in- 

 tervals, thus enabling them to void their ex- 

 crement in a natural manner. 



Since it is my purpose to measure up the 

 situation with nature's try-square, regard- 

 less of any preconceived ideas, perhaps a 

 little nature situdy along these lines may 

 lielp to a better knowledge concerning the 

 domestic economy within the hive. It has 

 long been a source of conjecture among bee- 

 keepers why an old box hive with open 

 cracks admitting chilling drafts will carry 

 its colony through the winter in safety year 

 after yeai', in open defiance of all theories 

 relating to moisture, ventilation, and pro- 

 tection. But this is nature's handiwork, 

 unmolested by the blundering hand of man; 

 and a closer scrutiny reveals the fact that 

 the internal arrangements within that hive 

 are in perfect harmony with the habits of 

 bees, wherein exevy angle and curve of the 

 combs betokens a wisdom of architecture 

 beyond the power of man to comprehend. 



Our first thought upon opening such a 

 hive is, " Why do the bees build their combs 

 so crooked and irregular?" but if one looks 

 a little closer he will notice that there is 

 '^ method in their crookedness," since many 

 are converging toward tlie center like the 

 spokes of a wlieel ; and if tlie examination 

 is made in mid-wintei" the cluster Avill usu- 

 ally be found in the center, as represented 

 by the hub of the wheel. The wisdom of 

 sufh an arrangement w'U be more apparent 

 when one underslar.ds that it is the habit of 



