14 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



Giving bees a flight in winter. 



Question 3. Will it do to let the bees take a 

 cleaiibiiig flight in winter in case tlie weiitlier is 

 waini enough so that no bees will Uiop to the 

 enow ? C. 



Yes. 



Mrs. H. Hills. 



Yes, if the weather is dry. 



Joshua Bull. 



Let them fly; it will result in injury to confine 

 them wlien they desire to fly. C. W. CostelloW. 



Yes, if on their summer stands. I never confine 

 them to their hives, or remove them from the cel- 

 lar to give them a flight. J. L. Hubbard. 



I should thinli it would do very well but I doubt 

 if the benefit to be derived fiom it will ever pay 

 for the fun of moving the bees out and in. 



G. F. ROBBINS. 



We practise out-of door wintering exclusively 

 and arrange the hive entrance so the bees have 

 opportunity to fly at any time they feel inclined. 

 A good fliglit at any time is beneficial, if tliere is 

 no liglit snow for them to fall into. H. D. Davis. 



The bees will drop on the snow, more or less 

 on tlie best of winter days, and, if allowed to fly, 

 the day should be with no wind, a bright sun, 

 shine and the snow hard enough to bear the- 

 weight of a bee. J. D. Goodrich. 



If wintered in the cellar it "won't pay" unless 

 they show strong symptoms of disease and tlien 

 the fliglit may be o( doubtful utility. 



If wintered on their summer stands a flight 

 cannot well be prevented. J. H. Lakkabee. 



At any time during tlie winter when it will al- 

 low bees a cleansing flight. If tlie weather will 

 permit; if there is snow on the ground, it will not 

 do to allow tlieni to come out with a rush. The 

 snow will blind them. 



Bees wintered in cellars should not need a 

 cleaning flight at all during the winter, unless diS' 

 eased. E. L. Pratt. 



Yes. In this latitude, 38 north, bees are seldom 

 confined to the hives more tlian a week at a time. 



My bees as well as all others in Middle Ten- 

 nessee remain in winter on the summer stands, 

 and have frequent flights during the winter. 

 Scarcely ever a spell of cold weather occurs con- 

 fining them to their hives twenty davs. I think 

 it would be beneficial to give them a cleansing 

 flight where they are housed for winter. 



VV. P. Henderson. 



I do not know that It would do any harm to let 

 them have a flight but I am quite sure it would do 

 no good unless they have the dysentery. If you 

 cannot rest contented until you have tried the ex- 

 periment be careful to set the hives some little 

 distance apart, for if the day is warm and pleas- 

 ant there will be such a roar in your yard as you 

 never heard before and you will probably have 

 such a "mix "on hand that you will wish you 

 ■ had taken good advice and left them in the cellar. 



My bees are in the cellar four months every year 

 and I never think of cairying them out for a 

 fliglit. I do not like to work well enougli for that. 

 I have lost one colony in four years, and Iha* 

 was a queenless stock that crawled in with its 

 next neighbor. Z. T. Hawk. 



^piculturist illail-boit. 



The Beekeepers' Directory. 



Bismark, III. 

 Directory to hand. And I think it well worth 

 the money. 



S. B. Stroder. 



Fayette, Ohio, Nov. 27, 1889. 

 Ed. Am. API: Have received the beekeepers' 

 directory this date. I find it well arranged and 

 very nice. 



N. E. Cartwell. 



"Worth five years subscription. 



Collamer, N. T. 

 Friend Alley— Your suggestions regarding 

 feeding bees, on page 179, aie worth five years 

 subscription to the API. J. W. Tefft. 



A good word for the drone-and-queen trap. 

 Port Jervis, N. F. 

 Editor Am. Api: Please send me the price of 

 the P. metal for the drone-and-queen trap. I used 

 them the last season and had excellent success 

 with them. 



John Schmidt. 



The best bee-periodical. 



LuHcuster, Pa. 

 AMERICAN Apiculturist: Please find seventy 

 five cents eiicloseil for which renew my subscrip- 

 tion to the API. I like the Apicultukist better 

 than any other bee-periodical that I have yet had. 

 You can count me a subscriber as long as I have 

 a colony of bees. 



Joseph Eipel. 



A very nice queen. 



Worcester, Mass. 



JiIr. Alley: The queen I bought of you was not 

 received in season to build up the colonj' in time 

 to gather the fall crop of honey, so I fed them 

 thirty-five pounds of syrup. 



They are the igentlest bees I ever saw; can al- 

 most handle them without smoke, and have not 

 had a sting. They guard the entrance fiercely, 

 and "fire out" any intruders. If they pull through 

 the winter all right, I expect wonders from them 

 next spring, for they are hard to beat. 



W. S. Yeaton. 



