SKPTEMBER 1, 1912 



555 



fine straw, and a large eover-roof is placed 

 on top. 



As long as we need our extra-heavy 

 clothing or overcoats in the spring the 

 hives also need "overcoats." A heavy 

 building-paper or a thick manila paraffined 

 paper of a light color is best to use in 

 wrapjiing the hives that were wintered in 

 a cellar. The paper should be folded so 

 as to cover the entire hive except the 

 entrance, so that no drafts can get in. If 

 tied with a string instead of tacking on, 

 it can be used over and over every spring. 

 Black building-paper should not be used, 

 as many times on a cold day, even when 

 the sun does shine, this pa[ er will absorb 

 heat and cause the bees to take a little 

 flight, and, of course, be chilled to death. 



Many times in the spring when the tem- 

 perature is U13 to forty or more the bees 

 come out and have a fine fly, and at the 

 same time there may be considerable snow 

 on the ground. Here is where 1 notice that 

 many bees perish; for if they once alight 

 on the snow they become chilled so they 

 can not reach the hive again. I use a fine 

 remedy for this; and that is, simply to 

 scatter straw in front and around the hives 



on the snow, so that, if they should alight 

 on the straw, they would not be chilled, but 

 can rest and return to the hive. 



If colonies have good young queens in 

 the fall, with more honey than enough to 

 winter on, and are well protected with win- 

 ter cases, there will be earlier brood-rearing 

 and stronger colonies in time for the honey- 

 flow the following season. 



Platteville, Wis. 



[Mr. Frank F. France is a son of N. E. 

 France, General Manager of the National 

 Beekeei^ers' Association for many years, 

 and grandson of the late Edwin France, 

 who was a frecjuent and valued contribu- 

 tor to this journal in the interval between 

 twenty and thirty years ago. The Frances 

 liave always been largely engaged in bee 

 culture; and their quadruple liives, or what 

 some call tenement hives, have been used 

 by them for a good many years. They arc 

 no experiment, because they have stood the 

 test of time. The tenement-luve idea seems 

 to be coming more and more to the front — 

 especially in colder climates — so cold that 

 cellar wintering prevails. See editorial. — 

 Ed.] 



Snow iu abuudance in Nebraska — an unusual sight. 



