330 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Deteniber 



that it often results in disease. Es- 

 pecially is this true if the hive is 

 painted any color other than white, 

 for the darker the color, the more heat 

 there is absorbed. I have repeatedly 

 looked into hives at about three 

 o'clock in the afternoon, on days when 

 the sun had been shining brightly, 

 and although the mercury then stood 

 below the freezing-point in the shade, 

 the bees were lively and active across 

 the whole length of the front, or in- 

 side of the south side of the hive, 

 while the north side of the interior of 

 the hive had no bees about it, and that 

 side of the cluster was unbroken. 

 Besides this as our correspondent^tells 

 us, many bees would come to the en- 

 trance, and, finding it warm and nice 

 there in the bright sunshine, out of 

 the wind, would take wing, only to be 

 chilled as soon as they left that com- 

 fortable nook, made so nice by the 

 warm rays of the sun. As night 

 came on, the cluster was again form- 

 ed, only to be broken the next day, 

 and so on, until from loss of bees by 

 flying out, and by the consumption of 

 an undue amount of stores to keep up 

 the wasting tissues, caused by so 

 much unnecessary exercise, disease 

 was contracted and the colony caused 

 to die with bee diarrhea or materially 

 injured and weakened for being a 

 profitable colony the next season. 

 After watching proceedings for some 

 time 1 began experimenting by shad- 

 ing the front of a part of the hives, 

 while others were left as before. 

 Right here let me digress a little. In 

 all new experiments conducted by be- 

 ginners, yes, and older ones too, it is 

 not best to rush wildly into a thing, 

 using the whole apiary for an experi- 

 ment, for if we do we may repent af- 



ter a severe loss. It is far better to 

 keep on in our former way with all 

 but a few colonies when trying new 

 experiments, then if the experiment 

 proves to be a bad one we shall not 

 have made any very serious blunder ; 

 while should it prove of value, we can 

 then use the thing on a larger scale. 

 To return : All those shaded were 

 quiet, with an unbroken cluster, at 3 

 p. M., while those not shaded continu- 

 ed to parade along the south side of 

 the interior of the hive, and fly out 

 and get lost. I now shaded all of the 

 hives, since which I have been far 

 more successful in wintering. For a 

 shade I use a board about an inch 

 shorter than the front side of the hive 

 (hives face south), and a little wider 

 than the hive is deep. This board is 

 set on the bottom-board of the hive or 

 the alighting-board, out about six in- 

 ches from the hive 'when the top is 

 leaned over against the front of the 

 hive. In this way there is an aver- 

 age space of three inches all along the 

 front of the hive, so that a free circu- 

 lation of air is allowed, thus keeping 

 the front of the hive as cool as the 

 back side. When snow falls the en- 

 trance is not clogged with it, and it 

 also keeps strong winds from disturb- 

 ing the cluster and cooling the inter- 

 ior of the hive by blowing in at the 

 entrance. When it is really warm 

 enough for bees to fly, this board is 

 no hindrance to them, but on the con- 

 trary, it keeps the entrance in such a 

 condition that they can fly at any 

 time when it is warm enough, with- 

 out assistance from the apiarist by 

 way of shovelling snow, etc. In the 

 summer these boards are left turned 

 down right in front of the hive, so as 

 to give a large even surface for the 



