34 



AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



February, 



a tape for gathering it about the hat safety pin and the upper and lower 



crown. When the tape is in place cloth treated in the same way. It 



just stitch it at the center and then is then slipped over the hat the tape 



while it will gather the cloth equally drawn and tied and it is ready for use. 



from each side it will not pull through 

 — an occurence which is not agreeable 

 when one is in a hurry. 



THE VEIL OPEN. 



The veil shown can be made into 

 a small roll and carried readily in 

 the pocket. To make ready for use it 

 is unrolled, the two ends lapped an 

 inch or more and fastened with a 



If made from bronze-wire cloth it 

 is more flexible than from painted 

 cloth and will not rust or crack. The 

 lustre on the bronze wire soon dis- 

 appears or it may be hastened by 

 washing the wire with vinegar or 

 other weak acid. 



In this veil Mr. Latham has given 

 us all the advantages of the best 

 designed wire veil combined with the 

 convenience of a pocket veil. 



Providence, R. I. 



HOW MANY COLONIES SHALL 

 WE WINTER. 



ALLEN LATHAM. 



THE GENERAL belief, I have 

 been led to think, among bee- 

 keepers is that one should win- 

 ter a few more colonies than he in- 

 tends to run the next season for sur- 

 plus. There may be some lost in 

 the winter and others so reduced in 

 strength that they cannot be profita- 

 bly got ready for the harvest; hence 

 the notion that it is well to winter 

 extra colonies. 



I question the policy that is out- 

 lined above, and believe that local 

 conditions should determine the num- 

 ber of colonies that should be win- 

 tered. The bee-keeper who has not 

 solved the wintering problem to the 

 extent that he can winter his bees as 

 well as he can his cows has much yet 

 to learn. I should then, for the prac- 

 tical apiarist, rule out the wintering 

 of extra colonies for the simple pur- 

 pose of making-good winter losses. 

 Probably in most localities one 

 should winter the same number of 

 colonies as he expects to run for 

 surplus. I should judge such locali- 

 ties to be those where the main flow 

 starts in about the middle of June. 



