120 



T'H® MMl^KIC'Mlf BM® JO'^KEfMI,. 



protected by 3-inch thick chaff cush- 

 ions. Hill's device is over the brood- 

 chamber, which is covered by a clean 

 sheet of burlap. 



Next comes a heavy, double woolen- 

 quilt filled with cotton-batting, and all 

 covei'ed with a chaff-cushion 4 or 5 

 inches thick. The cover has four 1- 

 inch holes, covered with wire-netting 

 to carry off' the rising moisture. Each 

 colony has at least 25 pounds of winter 

 stores. 



On Jan. 25 and 29, my bees had, for 

 the first tin)e,excellent cleansing flights, 

 except 2 very strong colonies, which, 

 it seems, preferred to stay inside of 

 their hives. These 2 colonies are win- 

 tering on sugar syrup, and one of 

 them is in a New Heddon hive. All 

 the other colonies are wintered on 

 natural stores. 



I found all of my bees to be in the 

 very best condition, but few dead bees, 

 dry, and no signs of dian-hea. So far 

 the season has been exceptionally mild, 

 but still too cold for bees to fly except 

 on the two days mentioned. The mer- 

 cury went but twice, 10° Fahr., below 

 zero, while in the winter of 1887-88, it 

 was several times 30-^ below, and once 

 even 35°, Fahr., below zero. 



I have for two years tried the New 

 Heddon hive, on a small scale, and I 

 like it better the longer I nse it. For 

 the production of comb honey it is the 

 hive that I shall adopt. The Heddon 

 hives I have packed inside in a box, 

 allowing chaff-packing of ti inches out- 

 side the hive, all around, and in other 

 ways they are arranged like all the 

 rest. 



Grand Island, Nebr., Jan. 30, 1889. 



WINTER LOSSES. 



Preparing tlie Bee§ to Prevent 

 L.osse§ in Winter. 



Read at the Maine Convention 



BY F. F. GRAVES. 



I claim no new discovery, nor have 

 I any new theory to advance, but I 

 claim that the winter problem has 

 been long solved. The matter is no 

 longer a problem, but a fact, governed 

 by certain philosophical conditions. 

 Before the advent of the frame hive, 

 when all bees were kept in logs or 

 boxes, whole apiaries were swept away 

 in one winter. Then the cause could 

 not have been so easily known or pre- 

 vented. With the movable-frame 

 everything is changed ; the bees may 

 be at anj' time examined and put in 

 the proper conditions, consequently 

 tliey may be safely wintered on the 

 summer stands, or in the cellar. 



It is not a certain temperature that 

 is required, as the most successful bee- 



keepers in cellar-wintering differ al- 

 most as many degrees in their treat- 

 ment, as there is change in a hive out- 

 of-doors. One very successful apiarist, 

 who never lost any bees in the winter, 

 claims that the correct point is about 

 45° above zero ; while others winter as 

 successfully in a fruit cellar, which is 

 kept as near the freezing point as pos- 

 sible— 32° to 350. 



More bees die every year from diar- 

 rhea than from all other causes com- 

 bined. Our bees die, and we simply 

 mourn our fate and do nothing to 

 avert a recurrence of the calamity. 

 We attribute the loss to this disease, 

 and go no further, when in reality 

 diarrhea is but a secondary agen^-- 

 the result of a primaiy cause, which 

 should be sought out, removed, and 

 guarded against in the future. 



Reports are published every year of 

 bees wintering under the most adverse 

 circumstances. The success is attri- 

 buted to " good luck," and no careful 

 examination is made ; so what might 

 be valuable information is lost. 



We have worked too much by 

 theory, not using enough common- 

 sense. We have been dodging the 

 main issues, and theorizing on upward 

 or downward ventilation, giving our 

 whole attention to loose or solid pack- 

 ing, writing long articles on the great 

 advantage of a dead-air space, when 

 our bees were starving or contracting 

 diarrhea by eating nauseating and un- 

 wholesome food. We have lost sight 

 of some of the most important princi- 

 ples in our great rush after improve- 

 ments. 



The new races of bees for a time 

 absorb our whole attention. Long 

 tongues and three bands have been 

 more sought after than hardy and in- 

 dustrious workers, and as a result, 

 prolificne-ss may have been obtained at 

 the expense of hardiliood. 



The great question of all advanced 

 apiarists is how to prevent increase. 

 Any race of bees will multiply fast 

 enough. The great object is to have 

 the bees strong in early spring. This 

 can only be done by successful winter- 

 ing. Some hives maj' contain bees 

 enough in the spring, but they may be 

 in such a feeble condition as to be of 

 no value whatever. Thej' would be 

 all summer building up, storing no 

 surplus, and requiring a large amount 

 of feed to carry them through the win- 

 ter. The attention given through the 

 season, and the feed would amount to 

 more than their value. This is no iso- 

 lated or extreme case. Such cases 

 are too common, and the cause should 

 be ascertained, a remedy applied, and 

 a repetition prevented. 



There lias been so much written and 

 said about the best hives, best frames, 

 best bees for business, that we have 



attributed our winter loss and spring 

 dwindling to our particular strain of 

 bees, or liive, or way of wintering ; or, 

 what is more common, to the bad 

 weather, when iu fact the hive, the 

 weather or place had nothing to do 

 with the disaster. 



To winter successfully, the great and 

 all-important requirements is plenty of 

 sealed honey ; on this the bees will en- 

 dure almost any change of tempera- 

 ture or withstand the inconvenience of 

 almost any kind of a hive. Honey 

 gathered in the first part of the season, 

 stored in clean combs, well sealed, with 

 little or no pollen, is almost all that is 

 necessary to successfully winter a col- 

 ony of bees, and have them come out 

 in good condition to begin the spring 

 work. 



The extractor is the greatest inven- 

 tion for the bee-keeper since Father 

 Langstroth introduced the movable 

 frame. Its good qualities have been 

 overrated, but it lias been somewhat 

 overworked. We have been too anxious 

 to make a large showing. We have 

 extracted too snug, and left our bees 

 too little honej', retarding their fall 

 breeding, and allowing them to go into 

 winter quarters with too few young 

 bees, and the old ones overworked and 

 enfeebled by braving the cold, windy 

 weather, in vain efforts to replenish 

 their fast failing stores after the frost 

 had withered every blossom. 



I^eetlingr Itees lor Winter. 



The first care of the apiarist should 

 be the perpetual welfare of his bees. 

 With this thought in mind, he should 

 save all frames of capped honey dur- 

 ing the season when he finds such in 

 his manipulations, until he has four for 

 every colony. These should be care- 

 fully saved, and put in by the side of 

 the cluster, when the bees are prepared 

 for winter. 



Late-gathered and unsealed honey is 

 by the bees' breath and change of tem- 

 perature rendered so thin that it will 

 run out of the cells and down on the 

 combs. This the bees, by their natural 

 desire for cleanliness, will lick up and 

 thereby become so over-loaded as to 

 cause diarrhea. 



Honey gathered after the frost has 

 touched the blossoms, being chemically 

 changed therebj', is not fit for the bees 

 to eat when in confinement — another 

 cause of diarrhea. 



Syrup made of granulated sugar is 

 far preferable to fall honey, as it con- 

 tains no pollen and will not readily 

 sour ; but it is veiy difficult to make it 

 of the proper consistency. If it is too 

 thin, it will run out of the cells ; if too 

 thick, it will cantly, and become so 

 hard that the bees will not eat it. 

 "The best is the cheapest" is the gen- 

 eral rule, and it is no exception in this 



