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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



June 1, 1905 



Start moderately, and spend the greater part of the money 

 after you have become accustomed to the harness, so it will 

 be used to the best advantage. 



The men who started the L,eague are deserving of 

 praise. We surely must adopt up-to-date methods in find- 

 ing a market for our product, and I am sure the leaders in 

 the League are safe men to tie to, and if they had not 

 started in their own way probably nothing would ever have 

 been accomplished. They offer to do this work without sal- 

 ary, and I think we should not hesitate to pay our allotted 

 share. 



There is a growing antagonism between bee-keepers 

 and bee-supply manufacturers ; also between the small bee- 

 keepers and the specialists. This should not be so. And 

 now, as the manufacturers have planked down their money, 

 and invited the bee-keepers and all to join in and aid the 

 cause of the most importance to bee-keepers, let us all meet 

 each other half way. We are all interested in the welfare 

 of the bee-keepers — all rests upon the proceeds of the honey 

 crop. 



Probably my criticism has been rather plain and to the 

 point, but it is meant for the good of all. 



Knox Co., 111. 



Some Remarks on Wintering Bees 



BY HENRY ALLEY 



ABOUT this time of the year the bee-keeper can go into 

 the apiary on warm days on a tour of inspection, for 



the purpose of seeing where mistakes were made in 

 preparing his bees for winter. 



A few colonies will be found that have perished from 

 starvation, not because the combs were not filled with stores 

 the previous fall, but because the bees clustered too near 

 one side of the brood-nest, and during a long, cold spell 

 could not reach the food stored in combs at the opposite 

 side of the hive. 



Very large colonies are not apt to be caught in such a 

 trap, but the weaker ones, if they happen to cluster in the 

 early winter at either side of the brood-chamber, almost in- 

 variably die from this cause. Sometimes the bees select 

 the combs for wintering and clustering upon that contain 

 the least honey. There is but one way to help the bees out 

 when this is likely to happen. Remove the empty combs at 

 the side of the hive, and replace them by inserting full 

 combs— that is, alternate the full and light filled ones so far 

 as they will go. This work, of course, should be done as 

 soon as the bees cease to store fall honey, as it can not be 

 safely done during cold weather. 



As soon as the honey-flow is over, bees should be packed 

 for winter, and not disturbed thereafter. 



A good way to winter bees is to let them alone from 

 November to April. I mean by this, that under no circum- 

 stances should the interior of the hive be disturbed. Hardly 

 anything can be done during cold weather that will in the 

 least be beneficial to the colony, unless it be to carefully 

 clear the entrance of the hive of dead bees. 



Now a word about snow around and over the hives. 

 During the winter of 1903-04, here in Massachusetts, we 

 were buried in snow for four months. I spent much time 

 digging the snow away from the hives, especially around 

 the front ends, thinking each time that a warm day would 

 soon come so that the bees could take a cleansing flight, 

 which they seemed much in need of before the winter was 

 half gone. But the warm day did not come — not one favor- 

 able day from December to March 20. 



The mistake I made that winter cost me the loss of 

 inany colonies of bees. During the past winter, instead of 

 di&ffing' the snow away from the hives, I spent my time in 

 that direction in covering the entire hive with snow. In 

 doing this I paid no attention to the entrances of the hives, 

 but tried my best to seal them all up as tight as a fruit-jar. 

 When the warm days came, which was Jan. 1 and Feb. 21, 

 I dug the snow away from the fronts of the hives and gave 

 the bees a chance to fly all they desired. Result, bees came 

 through in fine condition. 



In the spring of 1904 the best colony I found was in the 

 yard of a man some six miles from my place. This colony 

 was a swarm hived in a shallow hive-cap the previous June, 

 then the box was placed upon two sticks of wood and 

 directly upon the ground. This box of bees was not seen 

 by the owner from November to April 10 the following year, 

 and the hive contained nearly bees enough to swarm. 



If a good, big blizzard comes your way, and covers your 

 hives all over, my advice is to let them alone. Colonies in 



that condition need no attention, and will surely come out 

 all right when spring opens. 



As a matter of fact, a good colony of bees needs but 

 little packing to insure safe wintering. All should use 

 hives having outside or winter-cases, and then the snow 

 can do the bees no injury. Some coarse material, such as 

 burlap, over the frames is about all the protection needed in 

 winter. Upward ventilation without much draft is a great 

 advantage to the bees. 



I recently read in the American Bee Journal' a good 

 article from the pen of Mr. Latham. I can not agree with 

 him that a large entrance is sure to winter bees. The large 

 entrance is all right, and actually necessary, but many 

 other things are required to insure their safe wintering. 



Two years ago I purchased 10 colonies of bees from a 

 woman in a near-by town. When I packed the hives, I re- 

 marked to the lady, that, had those bees been in my yard 

 the previous winter they would have died, as I did not see 

 how the bees got out of and into the hives, as the only en- 

 trance I saw in at least two of them would admit of only 

 one bee at a time. Yet those 2 hives of bees were in as 

 good condition as any of the 10 colonies. 



I took the bees home, and during the summer managed 

 to enlarge the entrances of all the hives. The next winter 

 was the hard one of 1903-04, and notwithstanding the fact 

 that each hive had a large entrance, several of those colo- 

 nies died ; but the loss was not caused by the size of the 

 entrance. It was dysentery, caused by poor food and long 

 confinement. 



Bees having poor stores for winter must have frequent 

 flights, or many of them will die. 



As a rule, I have 'found that 100 days, or three months, 

 is about as long as bees, either on the summer stands or in 

 the cellar, can stand confinement here in Massachusetts. 



There is within a half mile of my apiary 200 acres of 

 goldenrod. Just so sure as the weather during the month 

 of September is dry, warm, and pleasant, the combs in all 

 my hives will be packed with fall-gathered honey. The 

 quality of such honey is not first-class, certainly not for 

 winter food for the bees. Frequent flights of the bees in 

 winter generally bring my bees through the winter safely. 

 When long confined, say of two months' duration, if entire 

 colonies do not die, the hive is greatly depleted by the bees 

 continually getting out when the sun strikes the hive dur- 

 ing the warm part of the day. From this it will be seen 

 the importance of darkening the entrances with snow, or 

 in some way to keep the bees quiet. 



A good queen put in not later than Aug. 1, plenty of 

 good honey, the hive well prepared for winter, and absolute 

 quietness, will generally bring a colony safely through to 

 spring. Essex Co., Mass., March 18. 



# 



How Bees Find a Future Home 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE 



DO bees select a future home before swarming?" is a 

 question frequently asked. As this has quite a little to 

 do with a start (to many) in the bee-business, it might 

 not be amiss to talk about the matter a little. 



My opinion is that where one colony knows where it is 

 to go before it swarms, five know nothing of the kind. The 

 reasons for such an opinion are based on the following : 



First, the majority of swarms cluster within 2 to S min- 

 utes after coming out in the air, and then send out scouts to 

 find a place to go for a home. This is easily proven by 

 allowing a swarm to hang on a limb for 2 or 3 hours. Now 

 take them from that limb or place, hiving them a rod or two 

 away, and you will find from 10 to SO bees hovering around 

 that limb for from hours to days. I have often seen them 

 about such a limb 3 days after such swarm had been hived, 

 while, if the swarm is hived at once, no bees will be seen 

 hovering about the limb 10 minutes after the swarm has 

 been taken from it. 



Next, I have known of swarms hanging on limbs 2 or 3 

 days at a timet till they have built quite a little comb there, 

 and then go off to a tree, or into some old empty hive that 

 had been left standing in some apiary. From my own 

 observation and that of others with whom I have conversed 

 in this matter, five out of every six swarms alight and send 

 out scouts in search of a suitable place for a home. If the 

 scouts fail in finding such a place within 2 or 3 miles of 

 where the swarm is clustered, the swarm moves off from 4 

 to 10 miles, when they cluster again, and again send out 

 scouts, thus clustering and sending out scouts until a suit- 

 able place is found for a home. If a rainy day or two comes 



