Ttmm mimmmicm'H mmm jqurnkiu. 



619 



his bi^cs alive for a term of years, is 

 sure he knows all about bees. You 

 cannot convince him that the queen is 

 not a " king ;" he " has seen him lots 

 of times," and the beeswax is gathered 

 by the bees upon their legs in little 

 yellow pellets ! He " has seen it, and 

 he knows it is so." 



One is apt to succeed if he be wholly 

 dependent upon bee-books for ayearor 

 more, or until experience helps him 

 out ; but better still, if one is so sit- 

 uated that he can spend a season with 

 an experienced bee-keeper, or can 

 even have the opportunity of occa- 

 sionally helping those who have had 

 experience. 



Roseville, Ills. 



BEE-CAVES. 



Tlieir Construction and Use for 

 Wintering Bees. 



Written for the Iowa Homestead 



BV W. M. BOMBERGER. 



For high locations and a well-drain- 

 ed porous subsoil, where the entire 

 cavity can be under ground, the fol- 

 lowing makes an inexpensive cave, 

 and especially desirable where rock is 

 scarce and brick and mortar expensive. 

 I here give a description of a cave I 

 dug eight years ago. It has cost me 

 $1.50 per year to keep it up, not count- 

 ing the labor. It was dug for winter- 

 ing bees. The temperature ranges 

 from 36^ to 44°, Fahr. In winter it 

 averages 38^ — a little too cool for bees, 

 but I lost but one colony in the last 

 four seasons. 



This cave is 6x12 feet. It was origi- 

 nally 6 feet deep. The roof is flat in- 

 stead of the usual pitch. It was made 

 by cutting a 16-foot plank 2 inches 

 thick in two, laying them flat over the 

 hole, the ends extending one foot over 

 the edge on both sides. While dig- 

 ging it out, these pieces of plank can 

 be laid behind the digger, and the dirt 

 thrown back, saving throwing it out 

 and then back again. Then more 

 plank can be laid and more dirt thrown 

 back until the dirt is all thrown out, 

 and lastly throwing the dirt of the en- 

 trance back. 



Place the entrance at the cornei-,and 

 parallel with the length of the cave, 

 either east or south, so you can get 

 lumber into it to renew the roof. 

 When the cave is first dug, put a 12- 

 foot (2-inch) plank across the middle 

 of the roof on the inside, and set sev- 

 eral good posts under it to receive the 

 weight in the centre. 



Now, in two years, when the plank 

 overhead rots so as to show signs of 

 giving away, I renew the roof from the 

 inside with plank, placing them the 



other way. When they rot out renew 

 again. A flat-roofed cave can easily 

 be renewed in this way from the inside. 

 A cone roof cannot, and is a nuisance 

 for that reason. Do not trust this 

 wcu'k to careless boys or hands, as the)' 

 might kill themselves. 



When you renew the roof, use plenty 

 of posts near the entrance and over 

 where you are working to prevent any 

 accident. If the planks used were 

 soaked well in lime-water, or in some 

 preparation to preserve them, the )-oof 

 would not have to be renewed so often. 

 Each time I renew, I dig a few inches 

 deeper. The cave is some 7 feet under 

 ground now. 



Harlan, Iowa. 



WINTERING. 



Preparing tlie Bees for Winter, 

 and tlie Result. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BV J. A. KING. 



I have had a little experience in out- 

 door wintering of bees which may be 

 of use to some one who has not a good 

 cellar at hand. 



A year ago last winter I placed 7 

 colonies in a row on the south side of 

 the house, thus protecting them from 

 the north wind ; I placed a bank of 

 coarse horse-manure along the backs 

 of the hives, and stuSed some of the 

 same in between them. This com- 

 pleted the outside fixing for the win- 

 ter. The hive-entrances were left 

 open the same as in summer — not even 

 a board was set up on edge in front of 

 the hives. 



The reader should know something 

 of the hive in order to understand the 

 situation. It is 24 inches long by lOi 

 inches deep, 13 inches wide below the 

 rabbets. The 9 brood-frames in the 

 centre take seven-twelfths of its length, 

 leaving a space at each end. These 

 ends give the best possible means for 

 winter packing, either with dry leaves, 

 chalf, or a thick division-board filled 

 with chafi". Sacks of chaft" filled the 

 second story. These can be changed 

 during the winter, if need be. 



On March 21, 1889, a little pollen was 

 brought in bj' every one of the 7 colo- 

 nies, with two others from the cellar. 

 Befoi-e the weather changed (on March 

 25) they all had a good flight, bring- 

 ing in pollen. Those two from the 

 cellar hardly, I thought, withstood the 

 rigors of spring as well as those win- 

 tered out-doors. 



Here let me skip to July 4. Two 

 swarms from those wintered outside 

 were put together. There was no 

 choice among the hives, nearly all be- 

 ing in use. One with old sides, double- 

 walled, 2J inches between the walls. 



liiit never packed, was used to hive 

 this double swarm. They quarreled a 

 little at first, but soon settled down to 

 work. Ninety sections, six of which 

 weighed, when well finished, 7 pounds, 

 were put on at once. The result of 

 the year's work was 140 pounds of 

 comb honey — at least 40 pounds more 

 than I got from any other colony. 



The strength of the colony kept up 

 apparently undiminished until they 

 were placed in winter quarters, with 

 18 others, out-of-doors. These were 

 arranged the same as the seven the 

 winter before, only that a board was 

 set up on edge over the entrance to 

 keep out the wind and snow. The re- 

 sult was that one colony starved ; the 

 extractor did it. One more also 

 starved, just as any novice might have 

 known ; they were clustered on empty 

 combs in the second story. I should 

 have taken out at least three central 

 combs below, and replaced them with 

 empty combs from above, but I did 

 not, and the bead bees soon filled up 

 the passage-ways below, and starvation 

 followed. 



Of the 17 colonies none were dead, 

 but two were queenless and worthless. 

 One of the remaining 15 the eye sus- 

 picioned as queenless. On examina- 

 tion, a queen-cell just readj' to hatch 

 out was found. Destroying this cell 

 at once, I went to a weak colonj-, found 

 the queen, carried the frame with her 

 upon it, and saw her run in at the en- 

 trance of the hive desired, in safety. 

 At such a time it would have been 

 fatal for a colony to remain queenless 

 for many days. 



I wish to " drive a nail" right here : 

 These 9 frames, equivalent to 7i 

 Langstroth frames, have served these 

 colonies thi'ough the surplus season. 

 They have wintered on them, not one 

 ounce of feed having been given them. 

 Thej' are just booming, and had young 

 bees and brood the first of May. The 

 15 have done better than the general 

 average of those kept in the cellar ; of 

 the latter, only about 65 out of 200 

 put into the cellar were of any account. 

 Some of them are extra good, but vary 

 in strength to "no good." 



I am now about 74 years of age, and 

 from boyhood have worked in wood, 

 in the cabinet and piano shop. For 

 the last 15 j-ears I have been studying 

 how to m.ake the best bee-hive. I have 

 some now on hand that, with the addi- 

 tion of a little work by the pain ter, I 

 believe would be worthy a place in the 

 Columbian Exhibition of 1893. 



Blue Earth Co., Minn., Aug.26,1890. 



Ar*" you Cioing to the Fair ! If so, 

 will you" kindly send to this ofHce and get a 

 few samples of the Bee Jouknal, and give 

 them out to j'our friends there, and get up 

 a club ? We will send them to you with 

 pleasure. 



