18 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



temperature as low as 40°, but if clus- 

 tered in large numbers, bees are able 

 to endure any degree of cold for a short 

 time. It is only by reason of this pro- 

 vision (clustering) of nature, that it is 

 possible to keep bees in cold climates. 



It is the number or weight o£ bees 

 in a hive, that affords a clue to the 

 strength of a colony. The size of a 

 cluster gives no idea of the number 

 of bees, because of the variableness of 

 the density of the clusters under 

 different circumstances. 



If a cluster of more than the aver- 

 age number is situated in a tempera- 

 ture of o2° and a small cluster is sit- 

 uated in the same temperature the 

 large colony will be in a very differ- 

 ent condition, and neither cluster 

 would behave the same as the other. 

 The small cluster would not be as safe, 

 considering the temperature, as it 

 Avould if equal in number, compared 

 with the large colony. 



Indeed, if two colonies, one very 

 large and one very small, be both sit- 

 uated in Winter quarters in a certain 

 degree of temperature, which might 

 not be the most congenial to either, 

 both would suffer more or less because 

 the temperature ranged too high for 

 the large colony, or too low for the 

 safest condition of the small colon v. 



Much has appeared in the bee peri- 

 odicals, concerning the most proper 

 temperature to be maintained, in 

 special repositories, in which bees are 

 kept in Winter. Writers on the sub- 

 ject disagree. By some it is mention- 

 ed that near 60° is the proper limit, 

 while others mention 30° the best. 

 No bee-keeper classes his colonies, but 

 puts both great and small in side by 

 ide, seemingly without a thought of 



any difference of the size of the col- 

 onies. Occasionally we read some 

 ones report which reads about this 

 way: "I put one hundred colonies 

 (great and small) into my cellar, and 

 I took out sixty in the Spring. Sev- 

 eral of the colonies, small when put 

 in, but these did the best in wintering 

 and were the most vigorous all the 

 season." What was the temperature 

 of that cellar during Winter? Over 

 50°. The answer explains why the 

 small colonies did the best. 



I have handled bees more than half 

 a century, running back into the small 

 thirties, and I am cognizant of the 

 progress of bee culture ever since it 

 began to take rise in North America, 

 and I know the death rate of bees in 

 Winter now, and including three de- 

 cades, is greater than it was fifty or 

 more years ago. I attribute the larg- 

 er rating of causualties to the change 

 from the old style of hives and the 

 meddling with colonies, to beat them 

 out of their honey, besides the prac- 

 tice in former times was to "take up" 

 all colonies, both old and young, that 

 upon examination was not strong in 

 numbers and plentifully supplied 

 with stores. 



I have practiced wintering bees by 

 about all the methods known, so far 

 as I know. I was with the lamented 

 Moses Quinby, the first who resorted 

 to protecting bees in W inter by put- 

 ting them in the cellar. I only risked, 

 at first, putting in small colonies, such 

 as I feared would not pull through on 

 their Summer stands. 



There is still a conflict of opinion as 

 to the most practical mode of winter- 

 ing bees. Many have recorded their 

 say, now I submit my say. The facts 



