SEPTEMBER 1, 1912 



arrange for this some tirae next year; and 

 in anticii^atiou of it Ave should be very 

 glad if our readers belonging to the gentler 

 sex would send us their experiences. Why 

 did you take up beekeeping? What are 

 you making out of it? If you do all the 

 work yourself, how do you manage about 

 lieavjr lifting? Where do you sell your 

 honey? We shall, of course, appreciate 

 good pictures ; and for all of those that we 

 can use, and for such articles as we accept, 

 we shall expect to pay probably a little 

 more than our usual rates. 



TENEMENT HIVES FOR OUTDOOR BREEDING. 



In this issue will be found several ai'ti- 

 cles describing various forms of tenement 

 hiv.es fo'r wintering bees outdoors. Some 

 thirty years ago this scheme of wintering 

 groups of hives in one big winter case, 

 with packing betAveen the hives and the 

 walls, was exploited a good deal more than 

 it has been during late years; but during 

 the last two years there seems to have 

 been a simultaneous if not a spontaneous 

 movement on the part of a number of bee- 

 keepers to go back to the old principle. 

 Api3arently there was no previous under- 

 standing between these various parties. 

 Cellar Avintering, under average conditions, 

 does not accomplish all that is desired ; 

 and perhaps we maj^ say the same is true 

 of the ordinary outdoor wintering; but Mr. 

 R. F. Holtermann, of Brantford, Out., one 

 of the number who have adopted the tene- 

 ment princiiile, apparently did so, not be- 

 cause it Avintered bees any better than the 

 old way of wintering in the cellar, but 

 because bees, when packed outdoors, do 

 not require any further Avatehing or manip- 

 ulation till quite late in the spring, when 

 they need to be equalized and other spring 

 work of a like character attended to. It 

 so happens that Mr. Holtermann had other 

 work to do during the winter, and he was 

 compelled to adopt some form of wintering 

 that requires less constant watching of 

 temperature and ventilators than the or- 

 dinary up-to-date cellar demands. It should 

 be understood that Mr. Holtermann had 

 one of the best bee-cellars, if not the very 

 best, in the United States or in Canada. 

 In fact, this cellar is shown in our ABC 

 and X Y Z of Bee Culture as an ideal 

 cellar. That Mr. Holtermann wintered 

 his bees successfully in such a cellar is not 

 to be doubted. He would have been using 

 that cellar to-day, probably, had it been 

 possible for him to be at home during the 

 winter, when he could control conditions. 

 Now. he can be aAvay all AA'inter, let the 

 bees sleep for six or seven months, and 



yet during all that time, with not a soul 

 near them, he has the very comfortable 

 feeling that his bees do not need attention, 

 because they can take care of themselves. 



For very cold climates the tenement plan 

 has its advantages; and an oulside Avinter 

 case for four, six, eight, or even ten hives 

 is relatiA'ely cheaper than a double-Avalled 

 hive or even a winter case for a single- 

 Avalled hive. Cheap panels can be made 

 up out of low-priced lumber; and Avhen 

 suitable hooks and eyes are 2:»rovided the 

 Avhole can be assembled around a group 

 of hives in a com^jaratively short time. 

 A wheelbarrow or a Avagonload of packing 

 material can then be shoveled on top. 



A couple of beekeepers of Canada told 

 me last winter that the princiiole is as 

 good in practice as it is in theory; and 

 the best part of it all is that the individual 

 colonies do not have any outside exposure 

 more than the front, if there be Iavo rows 

 of hives. If there be but one tier, there 

 will be an exposure of front and rear, and 

 one side of each end hive. In either ease 

 the individual warmth of the clusters or 

 several hives is conserved and not dissipat- 

 ed by so many outside exposures as we 

 have when a single colony is wintered 

 outdoors; and if one colony of a group 

 happens to be a little Aveaker than some 

 of the others, it shares the heat of the 

 Avhole bunch. 



Another nice thing about the arrange- 

 ment is that it will work as Avell in cold 

 as in milder climates. If it is an open 

 winter when the bees can fly, there will 

 be no trouble, as there would be if the 

 bees were in one of the best bee cellars. 

 When it is Avarm outside, the temperature 

 of the cellar runs so high that the bees 

 become uneasy and die by the thousands. 



We believe the tenement hive has come 

 to stay. The logic of last winter has rather 

 jammed that fact into the heads of some 

 located in the colder climates. Of course, 

 we do not expect to have many winters 

 as cold as the last one; but Ave never know 

 Avhen they Avill come; and from the facts 

 already gathered it will be seen that the 

 tenement hive is ahvays ready, either for 

 extremely cold climates or a mild one, or 

 for Avarm Avinters or cold ones. 



Of late there has been quite a tendency 

 toward outdoor wintering; but the cold 

 Avinter through which we have just passed 

 is discouraging to some in the far north 

 who have been using double-walled hives — 

 not because they were not all sufficient 

 during an ordinary winter, but because, 

 they hardly afforded adequate protection 

 during an extraordinarily cold one. 



