September, 1914. 



American ;B ge J ournal^ ^^^ 



301 



Winter \'ie\v of Mrs. Savers' Single Colony 



the entrance, but as you can see by the 

 other picture, we had some very heavy 

 snows this winter, so I laid a board 

 against the portico, thus keeping the 

 entrance dry. They had a great many 

 flights and wintered well. I had a chaff 

 tray over a Hill's device on the brood- 

 chamber, and w'len I took it off ."Vpril 

 24, they had built comb from the tops 

 of frames to the Hill's device. Propo- 

 lis is abundant in this locality, and they 

 glue everything fast. 



"The little stool shown in the picture 

 is where I sit to watch them, and no 

 matter how thick they are flying 

 around, not one ever bothers me. Do 

 you think they recognize the person 

 who is around them so much ? 



" My shade board works well (the 

 hive faces east and I use a second 

 shade board at the south until the 

 grapevines above them give more 

 shade). We have a bamboo porch 

 screen stretched on the arbor above 

 them to help shade them, and when it 

 rains too hard I put pieces of 'quarter 

 round ' over the extra openings on the 

 rainy side. 



" Your book has been a great help, 

 and all beginners should have it. I 

 also look for your articles and ' An- 

 swers ' in my Bee Journals. 



" (Mrs.) Gr.'^ce A. M. S.wers. 



" Nyack, N. Y." 



The foregoing letter, with the beauti- 

 ful pictures accompanying it, has been 

 handed over by Dr. Miller for publica- 

 tion in this, its appropriate department, 

 and the replies here given are in ac- 

 cordance with his views. 



Those pictures are interesting sub- 

 jects for study. One of them shows 

 Mrs. Sayers' " apiary " almost covered 

 with snow, in the center of the picture ; 

 another gives a nearer view to show 

 the manner of its winter dress ; while 

 the third, exquisite gem that it is, 

 shows the "apiary" in its coolest 

 dress for hot weather. A close look 

 at this third picture shows that the 

 different stories are " stuttered ;" that 



is, that they are shoved back and forth 

 to admit ventilation. Some of us who 

 have to work at the hives all day long 

 in the sweltering heat can but envy 

 Mrs. Sayers that shady seat on which 

 to watch the bees and listen to their 

 drowsy hum. Nothing drowsy about 

 the bees, to be sure, but did you never 

 notice a drowsy feeling coming over 

 you if you sat for any length of time 

 watching the bees and listening to 

 their steady murmur ? But why in the 

 world was not Mrs. Sayers herself sit- 

 ting on the seat when the picture was 

 taken ? 



Mrs. Sayers raises the question that 

 has probably troubled many another, 

 as to whether in the " stuttered " pile 

 the rain does not beat in through the 

 openings and hurt the brood or un- 

 capped huney. Well, we have had ex- 

 perience enough in the matter to be 



able to tell something about it. For a 

 quarter of a century or more we have 

 had one or more of such piles every 

 year, and we have had much more ex- 

 perience in another way, for through- 

 out most of tlie harvest on all hives 

 having section supers an opening of a 

 quarter of an inch or more has been 

 allowed between the hive and the super 

 at the back end. During all these 

 years we have never noticed any harm 

 from the rain entering these openings. 

 If you will think about it you will see 

 that the rain must be driven half an 

 inch in a horizontal direction before it 

 can touch the brood or honey. The 

 most tliat probably happens is that a 

 little clean water runs down at the ends 

 of the frames, and in warm weather 

 that can do no harm. 



It will be interesting and instructive 

 if Mrs. Sayers will report how that 

 comb-honey super on top of the three 

 extracting supers turns out. One would 

 hardly expect very much work to be 

 done in it until after the extracting su- 

 pers are filled. To be sure, that would 

 also be true of an extracting super on 

 top ; but the bees would be a good deal 

 slower about working on foundation 

 than on drawn combs. Of course, the 

 sections being partly drawn out makes 

 a difference. 



\'es, Mrs. Sayers, on a humid day it 

 is nothing strange to see many more 

 than 50 to 200 bees outside the hive, 

 especially after the day's work is over 

 in the evening. Even with abundant 

 ventilation it is more comfortable oul- 

 side than in. 



The question as to the length of a 

 day's work for bees is not one to be 

 answered in ten words. From 4 ;30 in 

 the morning until 7 :45 at night is cer- 

 tainly a long day's work, and is excep- 

 tional. There is a difference in bees as 

 to industry, and your bees may be ex- 

 ceptional in that respect. \'ou will no 

 doubt find, too, that 15'4 hours is an 

 exceptional day's work for your bees. 

 There seems some irregular'ty about 

 the working of the bees that is a bit 

 puzzling. Under what seem to be the 

 same conditions they work at some 



The Single Colony Packed f r Winter 



