1903 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



95 



colonies just swarmed. There is as 

 yet no evidence that he will fix or in- 

 crease the swarming habit by so doing. 

 For him who must raise a batch or two 

 of queens out of season let him endeav- 

 or to fulfil the conditions I have enum- 

 erated and his chances of success will 

 be good. 



A word about artificial cell cups and 

 I will close. Those made in a wooden 

 base have just one advantage over cells 

 built from Alley strips; they are more 

 readily caged. , It is a small matter ob- 

 tained at the cost of much labor and 

 time. 



Providence, R. I., March ii, 1003. 



Deep Frames for Good Wintering 

 and Early Breeding, 



(W. W. McNeal). 



SAY WHAT you will about that 

 ''impractical" thing, the deep 

 brood frame my observations ini- 

 pell me ,to add testimony in their favor 

 for a cold-weather frame. I have 

 watched this matter closely and fairly, 

 and I am firm in the belief that wher- 

 ever cold winters prevail bees thrive 

 better on combs deeper than the stand- 

 ard or L. frame. The cluster is so 

 compact that there is less of that crimi- 

 nal waste of bees on the outer combs 

 which is apparent upon the arrival of 

 each warm spell of weather when these 

 little frozen bunches of bees are dis- 

 lodged and carried out of the hive by 

 the more fortunate inmates. 



Were it not that bee-keepers pre- 

 sume so much on the completeness of 

 the present mode of packing the hives 

 at the top only, generally speaking, the 

 advantages of deep frames would be 

 more clearly demonstrated. A merely 

 local packing of a deep-frame hive may 

 be worse than none for it serves to 

 increase the tendency on the part of 

 the bees to climb up close to the warm 

 packing material, thus endangering the 

 life of the colony from s,tarvation. 

 When the hive is evenly packed or 

 likewise exposed, the position of the 

 cluster will be down near the entrance 

 just where it should be. This is the 

 natural onder of the hive; the stores 

 are then above the bees, and they climb 

 up the combs no faster than the hon- 

 ey is consumed. The empty comb is 

 right where it can be used for breeding 



purposes and the danger of starvation 

 is avoided so long as there is honey in 

 the hive. 



In connection with this it might be 

 well to consider briefly the subject of 

 hive ventilation. I,t is clearly evident 

 to all that the hive and combs must be 

 kept dry or the colony will never sur- 

 vive the long, bitter cold of winter. 

 But the best means of accom- 

 plishing this is no,t so easily arrived 

 at. Perhaps there is no better way, if 

 the apiary is small and the colonies 

 short of stores, than to put each hive 

 into a larger box, filling in with forest 

 leaves or straw so that frost will never 

 penetrate. 



When this cannot be done, a super 

 of chaff or leaves may be placed on top 

 and an outer casing sufftciently large 

 to telescope the brood-chamber being 

 put on, the super-cover proper may 

 then be removed from the hive, and a 

 gentle upward ventilation will be es- 

 tablished. The super-cover should nev- 

 er be left on the super for it would 

 then defeat the purpose of the pack- 

 ing, causing it to become wet and de- 

 s,tructive to the bees. The amount of 

 packing material in the super should 

 be in keeping with the protection af- 

 forded the sides of the hive by the 

 casing or telescope cover, for rea- 

 sons already mentioned. 



In any instance where packing ma- 

 terial is not easily obtainable but the 

 colonies are rich in good ripe stores, 

 ,they will get along fairly well by lift- 

 ing the hive clear off the bottom board 

 sustaining it by other means. The 

 cover board must be sealed air tight 

 allowing all ventilation to come from 

 below. Of course the hive will be cold- 

 er and consequently the bees will con- 

 sume more honey; but a cold dry air 

 won't hurt them so long as their stores 

 are good and ripe. 



This method is open to the objection 

 of being conducive to robbing should 

 there be several warm days in succes- 

 sion. And moreover if the stores are 

 fall gathered I would not advise it for 

 the large consumption of honey would 

 bring on dysentery. 



I would invite the attention of honey 

 producers to this subject to the extent 

 that a thorough and impartial test be 

 made of the merits of brood frames 

 deeper than the Langsworth. It is bet- 

 ter, far better to rely upon strong 



