THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



eiency of hone}' and pollen during 

 winter, to enable the bees to continue 

 breeding, and keep the hives crowded 

 with brood and the young bees to store 

 the surplus when the first harvest coin es, 

 than in any differencein in bee-pastur- 

 age existing between that locality and 

 ours; and in fact, as far as quality is con- 

 cerned, we certainly will always have an 

 important advantage. Hence, the 

 vast importance of the question, "How 

 shall we winter our bees, so as to avoid 

 these annual losses, and to bring them 

 out strong and healthy in early spring." 



( >n a correct solution of this problem, 

 largely depends the success or failure 

 of several thousands of young persons 

 just now commencing this delightful 

 persuit, and we feel duly our respon- 

 sibility in undertaking to advise them 

 in so important a matter; )vt with 

 several years experience of our own, 

 aided by the methods of others who 

 have generally been successful, to- 

 gether with our own personal inspection 

 of hundreds of apiaries, (late in the 

 fall), in most of the northern States, we 

 feel we can throw out som^ hints that, 

 if acted upon, will, in a majority of 

 cases, secure the desired end. 



The greatest cause of disaster to the 

 bees, is the gross neglect of the owners 

 to provide any protection to them what- 

 ever, during the winter. They are 

 placed usually upon a long bench two 

 or three feet from the ground, often 

 in bleak places, with openings on all 

 sides of the hive, and there left to ''live 

 or die," the year round; hut this is the 

 class that discard all modern improve- 

 ments in hives, and, of course, take no 

 paper devoted to bees; so we will not 

 occupy space in advising them, but sim- 

 ply content ourself by wishing that all 

 such, might be compelled to pass a few 



MASS, 



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To 



days of midwinter in July a 

 sleep a few nights under one thu 

 ering. We think they would then real 

 ize what they inflict on their bees. 



The great secret of successful winter- 

 ing, we believe is to keep the in1 

 of the hive perfectly dry; and in order 

 to do this, the interior walls of the hive 

 and sheets of comb, must be kept a 

 tempertature high enough, not to con- 

 dense the breath of the bees, and at the 

 same time, provision must be mad 

 that the foul air may escape and 

 air be admitted. 



In wintering in cellars or bee In 

 this object is partly accomplishe 

 regulating the temperature; but we 

 have objections to these modes which 

 will prevent our recommending them 

 except in the very coldest section 

 the country, say Canada or Alaska. 



We once wintered 80 stocks in a 

 double walled brick bee-house; we car- 

 ried them out during winter, on line 

 days, and gave them a "fly." They 

 came out in March ''bright as a dollar," 

 and the first warm day, we placed them 

 on their summer stands, thinking all 

 danger was now over; a spell of two or 

 three cold days came on, and in less 

 than one week, more than half of our 

 yellow beauties were dead. The sud- 

 den change was too much for them 

 and this same result we have known 

 to occur in many other apiaries. Still 

 we do not condemn good, dry, venti- 

 lated cellars or bee-houses but recom- 

 mend great carefulness in their use. 



The bees should be set out and al- 

 lowed to fly once or twice during the 

 winter, and when put on the summer 

 stands, they should be closely watched, 

 and set back whenever it is very cold. 

 But there are many bee-kepeers who 

 have neither cellar room to spare, nor 



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