Gleanings in Bee Culture 



HOW THE BEES HAVE WINTERED. 



It is a little early to get reports; but those 

 we have received" indicate that our most 

 northern States and Canada probably will 

 not have severe losses — particularly among 

 those who i)ractice cellar wintering or pack 

 in double-walled liives outdoors; but the bee- 

 keeper so called, who has been in the habit 

 of letting his bees "work for nothing and 

 board themselves"' will i>robably lose very 

 heavily, even if he does not lose every bee; 

 for the severe winter we have had has had, 

 in the more northern localities, a disastrous 

 elTect on colonies not housed in winter re- 

 positories or ])roperly protected in double- 

 walled hives or winter cases. The greatest 

 loss will occur, i^robably, about the dividing 

 line between territory where it is necessary 

 to use protection and territory where no pro- 

 tection is ordinarily needed. That means 

 that losses will be most severe in latitude 40. 

 South of that line, say Southern Kentucky 

 and Tennessee, the mortality will be less 

 severe because of the shorter winter season 

 and the milder winter. 



In most c>ises it is clearly shown than it 

 Ls an advantage in the Xorlhern States, at 

 least, to put all colonies in good cellars or 

 double-walled hives; yet, notwithstanding, 

 a couple of men at the Springtield con- 

 vention reiiorted that they put their colonies 

 in single- walled hives, and they were win- 

 tering splendidly, while one of their more 

 careful neighbors was losing his bees in 

 double-walled packed hives, liut it is the 

 exception that proves the rule. 



SOME OBSEin'ATIONS ON WINTERING AT 

 IMEDINA. 



On the 13th and 14th of the past month 

 the severe weather began to moderate, and 

 on the loth and lOth we took a look through 

 the bees at our several outyards and at the 

 home yard. In the Harrington yard there 

 was not a single colony lost, notwithstand- 

 ing we had more reason to fear that yard than 

 any of the others. The bees were nicely put 

 up and well housed; but the individual col- 

 onies, with some few exceptions, were weak. 



At the Clark yard there was a loss of only 

 two colonies out of soine eighty odd. In 

 one case the super cover had got tij)ped back 

 so that cold air blew in right over the bees, 

 and actually chilled them to death. In the 

 other case the cluster got into an open feed- 

 er with syrup, and half of the bees were 

 drowned. The reduced force was not able 

 to stand the cold. 



W the home yard, which had been used 

 for fillini: orders for queens and bees in tlie 

 fall, we found a little dilTerent story. We 

 first commenced on two rows at the north 

 end of the apiary, comprising some colonies 

 that had been made up late. Indeed, they 

 were aggregations of little clusters from sev- 

 eral hives that had been united. The bees, 

 however, were well housed; but their en- 

 trances were facing north. Something like 

 seven or eight of these colonies were dead 

 outright, and the others were weak. Where 

 they were dead it wns noticed that snow had 

 blown over the entrances, and that moisture 



from the clusters had caused the snow to 

 melt and freeze, thus herme'ically sealing 

 the entrances. In some other cases dead 

 bees had clogged the entrance, their car- 

 casses being jammed in tight so there was 

 no chance for escape. In most cases, where 

 the entrances were clogged or sealed tight, 

 the bees were either dead or in bad shape. 

 In either case it was ai)parent that the clus- 

 ters had scattered in order to get air, had 

 died, and dropped down on the bottom board. 

 Late-made-up colonies do not, as a rule, 

 winter well because they lack the stability 

 of an old colony that has the real colony 

 spirit. 



When we went through these two rows we 

 were somewhat alarmed; but on going 

 through some of the other colonies, "the 

 old stagers," that had gone through the sea- 

 son, and whose life had not been sapped by 

 pound orders, we found conditions much 

 better; but still the bees at the home yard 

 were not in nearly as good shape as those at 

 the two outyards already mentioned. The 

 reason for this is, doubtless, owing to the 

 late disturbance in filling orders and feed- 

 ing and doubling up to make ujr. The bass- 

 wood apiary was in about the same condi- 

 tion as the home yard, and that, too, had 

 been used to some extent for filling orders. 



The Brunswick ai)iary was in the worst 

 condition of all. This yard consisted of late- 

 made-up colonies, and all were supplied with 

 the so-called golden Italian queens. The 

 hives protected by winter cases were placed 

 on a side hill facing southeast; but the loca- 

 tion was evidently bad because of the fact 

 that the wind blew over the hill in the rear, 

 and then apparently meeting some counter- 

 current was deflected into the entrances of 

 the hives. How do we knoiv this? In many 

 of the colonies we found snow that had 

 blown in at the entrances reaching clear up 

 under the frames. The entrances were clos- 

 ed, and the mass of snow below the cluster 

 seemed to be too much for the bees, for a 

 third of them were actually dead, and anoth- 

 er third will jirobably " throw uj) thesponge" 

 within two or three weeks. The goklen 

 Italians hatched out in the fall; and as they 

 were young bees we naturall^^ supposed they 

 would be able to stand more cold than the 

 older leather-colored Italians; but as a mat- 

 ter of fact the exact reverse was true. Our 

 Mr. SpalTord rejiorted that the extra yellow 

 bees seemed to be the first to die. The leath- 

 er-colored bees, though much older, were 

 standing the cold much better. This only 

 confirms the experience and reports of for- 

 mer years, that these extra goldens are not 

 good for outdoor wintering. It is very sel- 

 dom that we have been able to winter them; 

 and why they should die before the darker 

 Italians is not easily explained, unless it is 

 because their hardiness has had to give 

 place to color. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF WINDBREAKS; THE 



RIGHT AND WRONG KIND; SOME 



I'REAKS OF THE WIND. 



The question of wind exposure to an api- 

 ary is a matter of no little importance. 



