718 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



A IKUl 



iiiiaii, Williaiiislowii, CUiio, showing his concrete cases holding packing 

 material arouud regular hives of wood. 



chamber, horizontally as well as vertically, 

 with full and tree communication among all 

 the bees in the cluster, they will establish a 

 permanent clustering place, wherein their 

 brood-nest will be established. Mid-winter 

 brood-rearing will begin according to the 

 habit of bees in a normal condition. The 

 importance of Avide spacing is not so appar- 

 ent when other conditions are right, and 

 nine frames in a ten-frame hive is sufficient. 



This method, when measured with na- 

 ture's try-square, would seem to harmonize 

 with the habits of bees; and since it ap- 

 proaches as closely to box-hive conditions 

 as is possible under modern methods where 

 straight combs are imperative, it should 

 give equally satisfactory results in winter- 

 ing. Thus, while we may not improve upon 

 nature's methods we can imitate them so 

 closely as tO' give equally good re.sults. 



Birmingham, Ohio. 



BRINGING COLONIES THROUGH THE WINTER 

 STRONG 



Higher Temperature and More Ventilation Needed 



BY WILLIAM BEUCUS 



The editor of Gleanings has long antl 

 earnestly persisted that bee-cellars should 

 be abundantly ventilated. Doolittle, on th" 

 other hand, has insisted that ventilation is 



not necessary. Until the last year or two I 

 was inclined to side with Doolittle, for we 

 have wintered our bees with good success 

 without excessive ventilation, and some- 

 times without any ventilation whatever. In 

 the winter of 1909 our loss out of 140 colo- 

 nies was nothing. In 1910, 160 colonies 

 wintered without loss. In 1911, six out of 

 176 failed to live through the winter. One 

 of these was queenless; one starved because 

 of too much pollen and too little honey; 

 four had been weakened by the attacks of a 

 skunk. In 1912, '13, the bees again win- 

 tered successfully, and there were 192 colo- 

 nies. Many will say, " What more do you 

 want?" The answer is, " Stronger colonies 

 in the spring." We want every bee that 

 can be saved. We have learned to carry 

 through eveiy colony, now we want to carry 

 through exevy bee — if that is possible. 



The en.deavor to carry through all hees 

 led me to the practice of ventilation. I 

 have been troubled during the past three 

 winters with bronchitis, and consequently 

 liave been very sensitive to changes in the 

 environment. On the first of each month, 

 _ all dead bees are swept up and measured, 

 which requires some time. Each time this 

 was done, the bronchial tubes felt raw. 

 Why? It certainly was not the low tem- 

 ]^eralurc, for it was warmer in the cellar 

 tlian outdoors, and no rawness was felt out- 



