168 



TRE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



October 



is a little below my own and the num- 

 ber of colonies kept is greatly reduced 

 from that kept before the great freezes 

 and foul brood came, so the aggregate 

 of the crop is far below what it used to 

 be in the decade ending with 1894. The 

 promise of a fall crop of surplus is un- 

 usually good at this time. 



Foul brood has been thoroughly 

 stamped out, so, with a few favorable 

 seasons, we may hope soon to get back 

 to oi'.i old figures again. 



Some of the bee-keepers are holding 

 their crop for higher prices, expected 

 later in the season, but filling the or- 

 ders that come to them from northern 

 apiarists at present rates. 



Hawks Park, Fla., Sept. 3, 1898. 



Wintering Bees Out of Doors. 



Written for the . 



imerican Bee-Keeper. 



i. HOWARD. 



ACCORDING to the method of a 



^'<"/(8)\'(5 greal many writers and practi- 

 cal bee-keepers, the month of 

 October is the time to prepare bees for 

 winter. But it is far from my method 

 of management. I make it a rule not 

 to disturb a colony in any manner from 



C. p.. HOWARD. 



Oct. 1 to April 1. The first and what I 

 believe to be the most important factor 

 in successful wintering bees is to se- 

 cure a location well protected from the 

 prevailing winds. This accomplished, 

 the next thing necessary is to have a 



number of young queens available 

 from early spring until Aug. 1, to su- 

 percede any old or unprolific queen 

 which may appear, as colonies having 

 such queens, if they do not die in the 

 winter, will dwindle and die in the ear- 

 ly spring, and many a novice attributes 

 the loss to the moth, when in fact it 

 is the lack of a queen able to supply a 

 sufficient number of worker eggs to 

 keep the colony in a populous condi- 

 tion. 



This accomplished, the next item to 

 attend to is to have each colony well 

 supplied with sufficient stores to last 

 them until nectar abounds in sufficient 

 quantity in the spring, which in this 

 location is from fruit bloom about May 

 1. Colonies worked for comb honey in 

 the frame hives will need no attention 

 if they store surplus honey in August; 

 those which do not should be looked 

 after at this time and supplied or put 

 in condition to supply themselves with 

 the necessary food. The latter method 

 is the one which I usually practice. 

 Colonies worked for extracted honey 

 should have the surplus arrangements 

 removed in time to give the bees a 

 chance to well fill the brood chamber 

 with stores. 



The above three things accom- 

 plished, a protected location, a prolific 

 queen, pure stores of sufficient quanti- 

 ty, and the bees well packed in a 

 double-walled hive that does not admit 

 any water and free from disturb- 

 ance of any kind either from man, mice 

 or any other source, from Oct. 1 to 

 April 1, yes, or even May 1, as I believe 

 more colonies are lost by manipulation 

 in April than are saved, will insure the 

 apiarist against any serious losses in 

 wintering out of doors even in our se- 

 verest winters. 



Romulus, N. Y. 



Bees, it is said, were found by the 

 Arctic explorer, Ejrind Asrup, in lati- 

 tude 83, north, within seven degrees of 

 the North Pole. 



