THE AMERICAN APTCULTURIST. 



veil. Now, friends, you tliat have 

 written to me for information and 

 all others desiring it can, I think, 

 from the above draw 3^our own con- 

 clusions as to Avhat you can do in 

 the way of managing bees so as to 

 build them here in fall and spring 

 and carry them north for the clover 

 crop. Ten years ago I would have 

 thought it would paj?^ to do so, but, 

 as now I am past forty years, I 

 hardly think it will. 



A. J. Goodwin, M. D. 



Neio Smyrna, Florida, Nov., 1884. 



the safe vtintering of bees. 



Dear Sir : 



This is one of the most impor- 

 tant topics with which we as bee- 

 keepers have to cope and my success 

 in this regard has been such that 

 it may benefit your readers to con- 

 sider carefully the following. 



Tn this communication I shall 

 hope to supply some needed inform- 

 ation regarding a properly con- 

 structed hive and healthful food for 

 bees as these are inseparaljly con- 

 nected with success in wintering 

 and no art or skill can remedy the 

 defect or mistakes in this particu- 

 lar. 



The hive that I use is called the 

 New England No. 7 hive and one 

 upon which I have been employed 

 for a number of years and embodies 

 many and oft-repeated experiments. 

 The hive is constructed in sections ; 

 the cap, two sections and the base. 

 The brood-nest is disconnected 

 from the hive being separated there- 



from both beneath and at the sides 

 so that it can be removed by hand 

 without any disturbance of the outer 

 case. The space between the brood- 

 nest and the hive is packed during 

 the entire year with buckwheat or 

 India-wheat or dry sawdust or any 

 material that is dry and fine. The 

 object of this packing is to protect 

 the bees from the extremes of both 

 heat and cold. The packing be- 

 neath the brood-nest is serviceable 

 during winter in that it inclines 

 the bees to seek the bottom of the 

 hive (which is the warmest part of 

 it) instead of at the top. In this 

 case when the bees drop from the 

 combs they do not die of exposure 

 but finding a place among the clus- 

 ter are warmed and revived. It is 

 also an advantage to have bees at 

 the bottom of the hive in spring as 

 their being there protects the brood 

 above from the draughts of air. 



In my locality tlie last harvest 

 of honey is gathered'from basswood. 

 As soon as my surplus from bass- 

 wood is properl}' sealed, I remove 

 it and put a set of extra combs in 

 its place. I then feed strictly pure 

 granulated sugar food (in the pro- 

 portions of four pounds of sugar to 

 one quart of water) until the combs 

 are filled therewith. In preparing 

 this food I pour the water in a boil- 

 ing state upon the sugar and stir it 

 until it is dissolved. Having these 

 combs filled at this time in the sea- 

 son serves the double purpose of 

 stimulating bees to rear j'^oung 

 brood for winter use and also to 

 thoroughly ripen the sugar syrup 

 food which is of the utmost import- 

 ance. On no account should au}^ but 

 an expert attemptlate feeding which 

 as a rule is unadvisable and a det- 

 riment to the bees. 



Before the fall harvest of honey 

 is gathered, I remove these combs 

 filled with sugar syrup food to the 

 storehouse and also lift out of the 

 brood-nest all of tlie frames of hon- 

 ey that are not filled with brood, 



