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THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEL EK. 



the fruit of care and judgment. 

 Every climate and location has its own 

 best method. That which would lie 

 best in one climate or condition would 

 prove fatal in another. Reading the 

 advice given in our different bee papers 

 the novice wonders at so many " best 

 methods," without giving thought to 

 the different climates and conditions. 

 A climate so rigorous that it generally 

 does not give any days warm enough 

 for a successful flight, would undoubt- 

 edly be best suited to in-door winter- 

 ing, while a climate that seldom has 

 many steady cold weeks would be best 

 suited for out-door wintering. 



The next to be considered is damp- 

 ness of climate. What will be success- 

 ful covering in one location will prove 

 destructive in another. The way S. 

 P. Hardee wintered his bees success- 

 fully, would here in northern Ohio 

 have killed every swarm by dampness 

 and mould. I once had a fine colony 

 in a common box hive which contain- 

 ed over 100 lbs, of honey. I made a 

 box to cover the hive entirely, all but 

 the entrance, leaving about a 4-inch 

 space which I filled with chaff. It 

 proved to be one of our long, rainy 

 winters, and in the spring the hive was 

 all mouldy inside and sour, and the 

 colony fell an easy prey to other bees. 

 Had it been a cold, dry winter they 

 would undoubtedly have wintered suc- 

 cessfully. In this lattitude, where 

 warm spells are frequent in winter, I 

 think out door wintering saves less 

 trouble. 



The Root chaff hive is a very good , 

 sure one, and also the Cleghorn hive, 

 which has chaff the first story and sin- 

 gle wall second story. The chaff on 

 side- of hives is made to take out and 

 in like a frame, and sets h inch in 



from the side wall and h inch above 

 the bottom board, giving a space for 

 damp air to escape. 



The next thing of importance is to 

 manage the dampness caused by the 

 breath of the bees and by cold air be- 

 ing condensed in corning in contact 

 with the warmth of the bees. The 

 hive just described manages that the 

 best of anything in my experience. 

 The next best is to lay a cake of can- 

 dy one inch thick on the top bars large 

 enough to cover the cluster. This 

 takes up the moisture and is converted 

 into the best food on which to winter 

 bees. Never use any metal where bees 

 cluster. It will be too cold and con- 

 dense too much moisture. Let him 

 who recommends the tin passage-way 

 for bees in winter sleep under a tin 

 sheet some cold night. Good judg- 

 ment and common sense will winter 

 your bees, but he who uses advice 

 without common sense will reap a 

 fool's harvest. A. Farmer. 



Florence, 0., Oct. 9, 1891. 



Ed. American Bee-Keeper, Dear 

 Sir: I am pretty late in sending in my 

 last winter's report, but this has been 

 the busiest year I have passed in a long 

 time, and even now, upon the eve of 

 another harvest, I find no time to rest. 

 That is the way it is with the Cuban 

 bee-keeper. There is no season of rest. 

 For 52 weeks and almost 365 days in 

 the year it is all business with him, or 

 suffer loss from neglect. But this year 

 I have had a double dose, building and 

 putting in a steam extractigg plant. 

 The latter is now in position and 

 works to perfection. The extractor 

 is a 25 frame machine built by Mr. 

 Newcomb, of Pleasant Valley, N. Y. 

 The dimensions are about as follows : 

 Reel 7 ft. 3 in. in diameter. The arms 



