THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



409 



I would like to hear whellier any of 

 the readers of the Bke Jouknal lost 

 heavily, wlio gave their bees this 

 iniKdi protection against the cold, 

 with pure air and abundance of food 

 given early. I have reports from 

 nearly HllO colonies (fall count) in this 

 county (Wayne), and of these ]i)0 are 

 dead. I know of but one man in the 

 county beside myself, who su|>plied 

 all of the above conditions, and he 

 lost no colonies, and I lost none. 



Besides the :i(i colonies spoken of 

 above, I put into tny cellar one strong 

 colony having an abundance of honey 

 and pollen. On March 1 they had not 

 the cZirtj-rAea, but the dysentery*, and 

 that badly, at least the liive, combs 

 and bees looked bad- and smelled 

 worse. The bees were then taken 

 out and put into a chaff hive out- 

 doors, and they ultimately recovered, 

 though they were the weakest colony 

 I liad. 



Of the 26 colonies wintered out- 

 doors, 10 had honey and pollen, 5 had 

 sugar syrup and pollen, and 5 had 

 syrup alone. The latter reared no 

 brood until I fed them pollen in the 

 spring ; all wintered well and none 

 had the diarrhea. Of these 26, the 

 3 hybrid colonies wintered well, the 

 12 Italian colonies better, and the 11 

 Syrian colonies best. 



Fountain City,o» Ind. 



[Mr. Johnson's use of the word 

 dysentery instead of diarrhea is not 

 borne out by AVebster's Unabridged 

 Dictionary. To have dysentery, there 

 must be " griping pains " and a " dis- 

 charge of mucus and blood."— Ed.] 



For tbe American Bee Journal 



Wintering Bees, etc. 



C. L. HICE. 



Probably there is no one particular 

 branch of business in which there is 

 so great a diversity of opinions in 

 regard to the most feasible method 

 to pursue to bring about the most 

 favorable results, as there is in 

 modern bee keeping. It is presum- 

 able that this confusion of ideas and 

 differences of opinions arises cliietly 

 from climatic reasons, and if esti- 

 mates were made and conclusions 

 drawn from an area constituting the 

 same latitude, it is probable that the 

 great difference in the practical ex 

 perience of apiarists would very 

 noticeably diminish. But other causes 

 also exist in different localities of the 

 same latitude ; as, for instance, the 

 moth, quickly changing temperature, 

 drouth, etc., which vary the standard 

 of a basis on latitude for bee-manage- 

 ment sufficiently to cause a theory 

 practicable for one point therein not 

 unmistakably so to all others. 



In this locality there can really be 

 said to be but two vital features to 

 lend discouragement to the bee- 

 keeper, viz : the severity of the win- 

 ter and the shortness of the honey- 

 gathering season. But from what 

 experience I have had here in bee- 

 keeping—which extends over a period 

 of about three years— I think that the 



former difficulty can, by careful and 

 judicious management, be nearly if 

 not quite overcome, and that by 

 means of a dry, warm and dark cel- 

 lor. I put about 40 colonies into the 

 cellar last fall, arranged upon shelves 

 one above another, removed the 

 covers, leaving the blankets on, and 

 the entrances to the hives open. The 

 cellar was ventilated by a small pipe 

 running out at the window, but not 

 sutlieiently large as to allow enough 

 cold to enter as at any time to cause 

 frost to gatlier on the hives. This, I 

 believe, to be the only way to winter 

 bees with reasonably safety in this 

 climate. The hives were principally 

 well stocked with honey, none having 

 been extracted therefrom during the 

 season. Scarcely more than 2 per 

 cent, of the colonies died, not count- 

 ing 2 very late swarms which perished 

 for the want of supplies, and not 

 through the effects of the cold, and 

 which might easily have been saved 

 by proper feeding. 



The winter previous to the last, I 

 kept in the same cellar about 20 colo- 

 nies with about the same proportion 

 of loss. A neighbor with about the 

 same number of colonies, who de- 

 pended on an out-door cellar or " dug- 

 out" for wintering his bees, and 

 which at times reached a quite low 

 temperature, suffered a loss of about 

 50 per cent. I notice a correspondent 

 of the Bee Journal says that a 

 strong, healthy colony of bees should 

 not, during the winter, lose by dying 

 more than about a tea-cupful of bees. 

 This is hardly in accordance with the 

 experience that I have liad so far in 

 wintering, a quart of dead bees being 

 not much above the average. 



Until about June 1, it was a bad 

 spring here for bees, the wetatlie 

 being cold and severe ; but a ther 

 present time (June 14) they are work- 

 ing nicely, and bringing in plenty of 

 supplies, although I have had as yet 

 but one swarm the present season, 

 which I allowed to come about nat- 

 urally, believing that plan to be su- 

 perior to dividing colonies, for the 

 amateur bee keeper. 



Granite Falls, 9 Minn. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wintering Bees Under a Snow -Drift. 



L. H. SCUDDER. 



Last fall I put 1S7 colonies into 

 winter quarters— 137 in the cellar, and 

 50 on the summer stands — all being 

 supplied with natural stores, and no 

 chaff-packing or other protection. Of 

 the 137 in the cellar, lo died. All late 

 and light colonies were in the cellar. 

 All of the 50 left on the summer 

 stands were in Lang.stroth hives in a 

 row along the east side of a hedge, 

 and about 4 inches from the ground. 

 Soon after winter set in, the snow 

 drifted (mainly from the west) until 

 it was level with the top of the hedge, 

 thus completely burying the bees 

 under a snow-drift from 3 to 5 feet 

 deep. 



It looked like cold comfort for " the 

 little busy bees," but as I have fre- 

 quently heard that plan of wintering 



recommended, I concluded to let 

 them alone ; however, after allowing 

 them to remain in that condition for 

 some 3 or 4 weeks, I thought I would 

 see how they were doing, and accord- 

 ingly I opened up a trench iii front of 

 1(1 hives, and found them all alive, 

 and apparently in good condition. 

 ]5y this lime I was tired of shoveling 

 snow, and being satisfied that I could 

 not improve their condition, I quit 

 work, leaving 34 colonies under the 

 snow unmolested until about March 

 1, when it commenced thawing. I 

 then opened them up, and found but 

 few living, and all in a miserable 

 condition. 



Tliey all had been breeding, some 

 having 5 or 6 frames of brood. It 

 took but a glance to see that diarrhea 

 had done its work effectually. Of 

 this lot of 34, 6 are living, and of the 

 16 from which the snow was removed, 

 10 are living. It would appear from 

 this that if they are to remain long 

 under snow, they should have some 

 ventilation. By the way, has any one 

 tried keeping bees under a snow-drift 

 for three months, on sugar syrup 

 alone V If Mr. Ileddon has not tried 

 this, I wish he would do so. 



One great trouble with the most of ' 

 us is, we do not doas well as we know 

 how. I did not leave 50 colonies out 

 all winter because I knew no better, 

 nor as an experiment, but for the 

 simple reason that my own stiength 

 was not sufficient to put them in the 

 cellar^ and aid could not be bad at 

 the proper time. 



The outlook is not very flattering 

 in this locality. The weather has 

 been and continues too cold and wet 

 for a successful honey harvest. Bees 

 have only just commenced swarming. 

 It will be seen that I lost 49 colonies, 

 so I am commencing the season with 

 138. 



New Boston,^ Ills., June 15, 1885. 



ror tlie American Bee JoumaL 



Bureau of Animal Industry. 



WM. JIUTII-RASMUSSEN. 



The following item on this Bureau, 

 I have taken from a recent San Fran- 

 cisco Chronicle: 



" The Bureau of Animal Industry, 

 established by an Act of Congress, 

 May 29, 1884, has been completely 

 organized during the last year, and is 

 now in active and efficient operation. 

 The purpose of this bureau is to col- 

 lect statistics, procure information 

 and impart instruction upon all mat- 

 ters relating to the animal industry 

 of this country, and to investigate 

 the extent and character of all dis- 

 eases of a communicable nature, and 

 to devise means for their prevention 

 and cure. The work of this bureau 

 has been pushed on vigorously and 

 rapidly ever since its establishment. 

 A great mass of information has al- 

 ready been collected in relation to the 

 prosecution of the live-stock industry 

 in this coiuitry, its needs and devel- 

 opment, and the evils which affect it, 

 so that owners of animals of all kinds 

 may be insured against all preventable 

 losses arising from disease, inexperi- 



