210 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



I know that some claim that bees wintered 

 on their summer stands, will breed earlier and 

 more rapidly. But I have failed to discover it, 

 or see it in that light ; and have no difQcully in 

 making my bees breed as earlj^ as I want them 

 to do. This much I do know, that, taking one 

 year with another, more than one-halt' of all 

 the stocks wintered on their summer stands, 

 perish from cold and starvation, uidess in very 

 large hives. I mean in this section of country. 

 Perhaps some would set it higher than this. I 

 have now kept bees in this house two winters, 

 and have lost only one stock, and that diecl 

 from the want of honey, through my neglect. 

 In the others the bees and coml)s were in the 

 very best condition. 



For one, I think it pays to have a suitciblc 

 place to keep bees iu the winter ; and I care 

 not what the hive is, or whose patent, if it is a 

 bee Mye fit to be used at all. We caunot keep 

 temperature as we would like it in this cold 

 disagreeable climate, without some other pro- 

 tection, notwithstanding diiferent venders cry 

 Eureka. B. J. Hoxie. 



CooKSYiLLE, Wis. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



On Wintering Bees in the open Air. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



A Safe and Perfectly Keliable Method 



of Introducing Italian Queens, 



even by a Novice, 



When the Italian queen arrives, put her into 

 the wire cage sent with her, aud tie firmly over 

 the end of it, a piece of old factory cotton. 

 This should be done in a close room, so that if 

 the queen happens to fly, she cannot escape. 

 Now find and destroy your black queen; then 

 cut out from a card of comb a piece the size of 

 the queen cage, but one inch longer ; insert the 

 cage so that the bees can get at the factory cot- 

 ton. The cage should always be inserted near 

 the centre of the combs, or where there is brood, 

 so that the bees will be sure to cluster about it. 

 Within forty-eight hours, they will generally 

 liberate her, by eating through the cotton, and 

 she will be all right, no further attention being- 

 required. But should it so happen that at the 

 end of forty-eight hours they have not eaten 

 her out, a small opening may be made through 

 the cotton with a pen-knife, that the bees may 

 be able to enter the cage if they wish. It is 

 "well to smear the cage and the cloth with a little 

 honey, after it is put into the comb, to attract 

 the bees to it. A few drops are sufficient. 



This method may be practiced at any season 

 of the year ; and the cage with the Italian queen 

 may be inserted immediately on removing the 

 black queen. 



If the bees are in a box-hive, they must be 

 driven out, the old queen captured, the caged 

 queen inserted between the combs, and the bees 

 returned. In searching for a black queen in a 

 frame hive, it is better to smoke the bees only a 

 little, because much smoking will frequently 

 cause the queen to leave the combs and run on 

 the sides of the hive, where it is more difficult 

 to find her. J. H. Thomas. 



Brooklin, Ontario. 



In the January number of the Bee Journal 

 under the above head, Mr. Langstroth says : — 

 "Intelligent apiarians are aware that most bee- 

 keepers in cold climates, who winter ttieir bees 

 in open air, are not satisfied with their success 

 m any style of hive yet devised." 



It is evident from the above and a well-known 

 fact that ordinary hives aie not constructed suf- 

 ficiently warm to prevent loss of bees from chill, 

 in detached clusters, among the outer ranges of 

 comb, during sudden changes from warm to 

 cold weather, as described by Mr. Langstroth, 

 in the article referred to. 



For many years, until recently, it was very 

 generally supposed that all that was necessary 

 lor the successful wintering of bees, on their 

 summer stands, iu the open air, was to admit 

 extensive upper ventilation — tlie object being to 

 prevent the creation or retention of excessive 

 moisture in hives in winter. But this was 

 found to admit too freely the escape of the ani- 

 mal heat of the swarm, and consequently was 

 not well calculated to prevent loss of bees from 

 chill or the impression of cold. And I never 

 could believe that to remove the honey-board 

 late in the fall, aud substitute "corn cobs," or 

 even a nicely made straw mat, instead of a cov- 

 ering perfectly air-tight, such as is natural for 

 bees to prepare, would add anything to the 

 prosperit}' of the swarm. For the reason, that 

 the bees, at that season of the year, cannot 

 " seal up " and give it a coating of propolis or 

 bee-glue, which would prevent the free escape of 

 animal heat. Besides, a straw mat, without 

 such preparation, absorbs so readily the mois- 

 ture arising from the exhalation of the swarm 

 in cold weather, that it soon becomes quite wet, 

 and consequently cold, and often moulds con- 

 siderable. The absorbant quality of the straw, 

 therefore, is of no use in the hive or mat. 



Contrary to the prevailing opinion the coat- 

 ing of propolis given by the bees to the inside of 

 hives constructed of straw or other porous ma- 

 terial (thus rendering them impervious to air 

 and moisture), is indespensablc ; as they are 

 then only in condition to retain the animal heat 

 of the swarm. Thus conditioned, the warm air 

 arising from the swarm, and coming into con- 

 tact with its warm interior surface is not con- 

 densed ; and thus the creation of moisture is 

 prevented, and "prevention is better than 

 cure." 



Isaac Ide. 



Medina, N. Y. 



I have known hundreds of cases, where bees 

 which were accustomed to the presence of an 

 old fertile queen in their hive, treated one re- 

 cently ferilized, introduced after the death or 

 removal of the old one, not only with indiffer- 

 ence and disregard, but with as much animosity 

 as though she were a stranger or a virgin queen 

 — either rejecting and destroying her, or be- 

 coming reconciled and accepting her only after 

 prolonged resistance. — Berlepsch. 



