132 



THE AMERICAN BEE JoilENAL. 



inside covered completelj' with inch pine himber 

 planed and grooved, so as to have a tifjht wall to 

 hold the ten inches of sawdust, without its sift- 

 ing through in the way. One -window in one 

 end, and a door in the other or rather double 

 doors, and tight shutters for the window ; and if 

 necessary, we are going to have a straw cushion 

 to fill in both. As we shall want a stove in it in 

 the spring, after the bees are removed, for "•arti- 

 ficial incubation," we had the top ventilator 

 made of galvanized iron, and in dimensions 7 

 inches in diameter, so that it can be used as a 

 stovepipe when desired. It just comes below 

 the ceiling inside, and at the "top is made so as 

 to exclude light, snow, and rain. The lower 

 ventilator is simply a square box, 7 inches across, 

 through the lioor, covered ^vith wire clotli to ex- 

 clude mice, and a nice piece to just fill the top 

 in summer time, when it is not needed. 



We have had one rather weak swarm in 

 already, to test oui' house. We noticed them 

 one quite cold night making a very loud hum- 

 ming, such as weak swarms make when ver}' 

 cold ; and in two hours after carrying them in, 

 they were so still that you could 7io't hear a sound, 

 unless the hive was struck. Is not that the 

 proper test for the right amoiuit of ventilation — 

 a temperature that the bees should be perfectly 

 still ? We think we can do it every time, mth 

 any one of our hives singly ; but it may be moi'e 

 difficult with them all together. 



We have had some very cold, freezing weather 

 in October here, and many of ovu* hives brought 

 out more dead bees after it than we reallj^ like 

 to see. They had probably strayed out of the 

 cluster, and there were no passages through the 

 combs. The weather has been cold enough for 

 the past three or four Aveeks, so that we think 

 we should have found no difficulty in keeping 

 our bees cool enough in here ; but we dislike to 

 house them befoi-e about the middle of this 

 month (November.) 



Well, we found in front of one of onr heaviest 

 hives (a swarm made artificially entirely, in Sep- 

 tember), quite a number of dead bees, perhaps 

 half a teacupful, and, worst of all, among them 

 one of ouF finest, largest, and yellowest queens. 

 The bees were maldng an unusual fuss, which 

 was in fact what first atti-acted our attention to 

 them, so that thej'^ had c\idently just discovered 

 their loss. On opening the hive, we could find 

 no trace of brood in any stage. Did the queen 

 get frozen, like the bees, or was it some disease? 

 And is it common for young queens to die so ? 

 She had raised fine workers, and her liive was 

 quite populous. Thus we had to take the queen 

 from the light stock we were experimenting 

 with, Avhich we regi-et, for two reasons. First, 

 our number is now only fortj^-six, and we are 

 afraid friend Argo ^vill surely beat us. Second, 

 our stocks are all strong now, and we always 

 want one to experiment with and build up. 

 Some of our best swarms have been made in 

 that way. Could not a small nucleus hive be 

 wintered in a house like this, and so save yom* 

 reserve queens ? Has any one ever tried it ? 



Mr. Editor, do you know that your compositor 

 and proof reader between them managed to 

 make a great part of our last article all non- 

 gense? Perhapp it was so already, but they 



j made it worse. They made me say "warm 

 rain,'''' whereas I wrote "warm sunf' 



We will try again to give our ideas on Annter- 

 ing, so far as experiments and what we liave 

 been able to gather from the whole series of vol- 

 umes of the Bee Journal, and from those 

 ha\ing tested the matter largely. 



There are two distinct Avays of wintering, and 

 they cannot vreU be combined in any way that 

 we have heard of, if we understand the matter. 

 They are — 



Outdoors, on summer stands, and 

 Indoors, in frost and sun-proof repository. 

 I By the first plan we would give them all the 

 sun possible, to enable them fo prepare in suc- 

 cession for each cold snap. And we can see no 

 plan so good as to give them a hive that wiU 

 warm through quicldy. We cannot understand 

 how a liive standing alone, Qut doors, can be 

 coA^ered or packed to Iceep out the frost entirely, 

 as they are in a special repository, A\ith tlie bene- 

 fit of the Avarmth from a number in a room 

 I together ; and if it is attempted at all, the bene- 

 I fit from the sun is necessarily cut off more or 

 I less. That bees do Avinter in that manner is no 

 j proof, as they usually Avinter AA'ell Avhere nothing 

 j is done, if they liaA'e \entilation sufficient. 

 j Tlie object to be gained by having a special 

 j repository is, first and foremost, a great saving 

 of honey ; and second, a gi-eat saAing of bees iii 

 each liiA-e. When they are wintered out of doors, 

 everj^ cold snap Idlls oft" a fcAv ; and from the 

 frequency of tins, the aggregate in the end 

 j amounts to nearly three-fourths of their AA'hole 

 number. Xay, we liaA^e knoAvn them to build 

 up Avhen not more than a pint of Italians AA'ere 

 left Avith the queen, and it took nearly the Avholp 

 season to do it. It is easy to see that one full 

 stock of bees in the spring is of far more 

 utility, than many of such as are nearly played 

 out. 



HoAv man,y times has it been discovered or 

 recommended to have the hive enclosed in a 

 large box, or made double Avith a dead-air space 

 all round ? And the reason of failure of such 

 plan has been many times glA'en — that all benefit 

 usually derived from the sun is cut off, which 

 more than counterbalances the protection ob- 

 tained against frost. Why do not all methods 

 of out-door pacldng come under the same head 

 — even the one gi\-en bj^ -VIi'. I^angstroth, to say 

 notliing of prepaiing the hives as he advises? 



We may be mistaken, but aa'c cannot think 

 that any protection of tliat kind Avould be suffi- 

 cient to alloA\' a bee to go around a comb, or go 

 to any part of the hive for honey, when the mer- 

 cury is beloAv zero, as they could if housed in a 

 building like om'S. 



Many have said to us that five inches of saw- 

 dust Avould be plenty; but in a building in AA'hich 

 Ave expect no aid at all from the sun — but all 

 from their oAvn animal heat collectively — Ave 

 shall find full as much trouble in keeping the 

 eftect of the sun out (as Ave tried to tell last 

 month) as in guarding against frost. And even 

 though our room is as dark as midnight, we do 

 not expect our bees to be as quiet as they should 

 bo, unless the temperature is kept not higher 

 than 40" or 45° : and when Ave cannot do tliat 

 we shall exnect to set them out. 



