THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



ed those nails under a few covers! — 

 said when he raised the cover up the 

 water ran off. Why didn't the mois- 

 ture pass out? Because the current was 

 too slow; it condensed on the top-board 

 as soon as it came in contact. An il- 

 lustration of the same thing' I showed 

 you, Mr. Editor, in my yard Nov. 5, 

 when I raised atig-ht, flat cover (paint- 

 ed on both sides) that was up about 

 >8 of an inch at one end. Remember 

 how the water ran off, and the weather 

 was dry? A week before that, the 

 cover was down tight, and when I rais- 

 ed it, the water ran off in a stream 

 and I wrung a pint of water from the 

 burlap on the frames. Under tig'ht 

 covers, this distressing condition goes 

 on continually throug'h the fall, winter 

 and spring. 



THE HIVE COVER OF THE FUTURE. 



I have eight kinds of covers. The 

 tightest and closest one, the one that 

 keeps the bees the wettest and most 

 miserable, is the flat, reversible. The 

 coming hive-cover will have no paint, 

 will shed all rain and sun, yet will 

 not warp, will need no shade and will 

 not rot. It can be ventilated at will, 

 go half waj' in preventing swarming, 

 will last 25 years, and cost ten cents 

 K. D. or fifteen cents K. U. But we 

 haven't space for hives and covers; be- 

 sides I am digressing. As indicated 

 at the outset, I am practicing this 

 method of wintering for the fourth year. 

 Bees are in a wet cellar and I haven't 

 lost a colony or had a mouldy comb. 

 I am well aware of the opposition to top 

 ventilation. In their last edition the 

 Roots advocate a dry cellar "no top 

 ventilation" and "covers should be 

 sealed down with propolis to make the 

 top air tight." Sixty-two colonies are 

 now in my cellar without a single top, 

 and some of them without bottoms. 

 Ten chaff hives are included in this lot, 

 their covers being unhinged and left 

 out-doors, while twelve chaff hives are 

 left out in the usual way. They winter 

 cleaner and better in the cellar. 



To an accident, is due my practice 

 in wintering. A cover was moved half 

 off one of the hives four years ago, 

 when they were put in the cellar. The 

 condition of that one, in the spring, was 

 perfect, while all the rest were wet, 

 mouldy, diseased and half dead. Then 

 I took a tumble. During the summer a 

 minister came my way, and while "he 

 supped with me and I with him" he 

 told me that a man near Grand Rap- 

 ids wintered his bees in the cellar 

 with no covers except one or two 

 thicknesses of burlap, and then I was 

 born again. 



Cheboygan, Mich., Nov. 18., 1903. 



t^ t^ t^ 



ANAGING ELEVEN 

 APIARIES WITH 

 ONLY ONE HELP- 

 ER. BY E. F. AT- 

 WATER. 



fi^* ft^* e^^ 



This locality, owing 

 to its poor and uncer- 

 tain flows, is not very 

 well adapted to the ex- 

 tensive production of 

 comb honey, and for this and other 

 reasons, I produce mostly extracted 

 honey; running only three or four yards, 

 all, or in part, for comb-honey. 



As there is no bee pasturage in or 

 near Boise, my yards are all out-yards, 

 located from 6)4 to 18 miles from home. 

 The bees are wintered either upon 

 their summer stands, where a wind- 

 break is available, or in light open 

 sheds, facing south, with two tiers of 

 hives in each shed. The sheds keep 

 the hives dry and protect them from 

 the prevailing winds. 



No packing of any kind is necessary 

 or desirable here, as, owing to the 

 mild climate, bees winter very well in 

 boxes made even of thin lumber, and 

 perhaps full of large cracks. 



