374 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



To fill a frame with candy, lay it upon 

 a smooth board with a piece of paper 

 under the frame, and pour in the 

 candy, after first waiting" for it to cool 

 until it is as cool as can be, and yet 

 be made to "run." To keep the frame 

 down close to the paper, so that the 

 soft candy will not run out while cool- 

 ing, tack the frame down with some 

 nails just long enough to hold the 

 frame down nicely, but not long enough 

 to make it difficult of removal. If a 

 frame full of candy is more than a 

 colony needs, a less amount may be 

 given by tacking a crossbar in the 

 frame, part way up from the bottom, 

 and filling the upper space only with 

 candy. 



Mice sometimes do some little dam- 

 age, both to colonics wintered indoors, 

 and those intheopen air. The damage 

 is confined principall3' to that of gnaw- 

 ing the combs. If bee keepers would 

 only remember that bees can pass 

 through a space that is less than '4 of 

 an inch, and that a mouse needs a 

 space ncarlj' twice this, it would seem 

 that there need be no trouble in keep- 

 ing mice out of doors. Simply con- 

 tract the entrance imtil it is only '4 of 

 an inch the narrowest way, and no 

 mice can enter. This should be done 

 quite early in the fall, as cool, frosty 

 nights often drive the mice into the 

 warm retreat to be found inside a bee 

 hive. When bees are wintered in tlie 

 cellar, many bee-keepers practice rais- 

 ing the hive about two inches from the 

 bottom board ; others remove the bottom 

 board entirely. This allows plenty of 

 ventilation with scarely anj' escape of 

 heat. All dead bees and rubbish drop 

 drop down away from tlie cluster of 

 bees, where they dr}' up instead of be- 

 coining mouldy and rotten from contact 

 with the warmth and moisture of the 

 cluster. If a colonj' does die, the combs 

 are left dry and clean, instead of being 

 stuck together with a mass of damp, 

 moldy, rotting bees. All who have 

 tried raising hives in this manner are 



enthusiastic in its praise; but it will 

 be seen that this plan gives the mice, 

 if there are any in the cellar, free 

 access to the hives. The remedy is to 

 trap the mice, or poison them. For the 

 latter purpose I have found nothing 

 better than equal parts of flour, white 

 sugar and arsenic, mixed, and placed 

 in shallow dishes in difirerent parts of 

 the cellar. 



Unless the cellar is well underground, 

 where it is well beyond the influence of 

 the outside temperature, it is well to 

 keep watch and not allow the tempera- 

 ture run too low in protracted cold 

 spells. A lamp stove, burned all night 

 in a cellar, will raise the temperature 

 several degrees. During the fore part 

 of winter, a low temperature is not so 

 dangerous as it is towards spring, 

 when brood rearing may have com- 

 menced. From 35 to 45 degrees will 

 answer ver^' well until towards spring, 

 when it ought not to be allowed to go 

 below 30 degrees, and may withsafet3' 

 go as high as 48 or 50 degrees. So 

 long as the bees remain quiet, I should 

 not disturb them with artificial heat. 

 If the cellar becomes too warui in the 

 spring, before it is time to remove the 

 bees, it may be cooled down by carry- 

 ing in ice or snow, or the windows and 

 doors may be opened at night and 

 closed in the morning. 



Years ago, many bee-keepers prac- 

 ticed taking their bees from the cellar, 

 if there came a warm day in the 

 winter, and allowing them to fl^', re- 

 turning them again to the cellar, but 

 this practice has been pretty nearly 

 abandoned. If the bees are in a quiet 

 normal condition, it often rouses them 

 to breeding in mid-winter, which is far 

 from desirable. Rapid breeding late 

 in winter, or ver3^ early in the spring, 

 is decidedly objectionable; nothing so 

 quickly wears out bees as the rearing 

 of brood; and the more unfavorable the 

 conditions, the greater the wear. It is 

 better that the bees should remain quiet 

 until warm weather furnishes the most 



