224 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



other respects, is coining to be more generally 

 understood. 



My fiieud, B. Banse, has cultivated melilot 

 three or four years. He says it lias proved 

 itself very superior for bee pasturege; and cows, 

 goats, and sheep eat it freely. His brother has 

 had equal experience in its cultivation. He 

 states that it furnished ample and acceptable 

 fodder for his cows, and that his bees foraged 

 on the blossoms continuously for more than 

 three mouths. A square rod yields about six 

 pounds of seed. 



In conclusion, I would say let farmers and 

 bee-keepers try melilot on various kinds of 

 land ; and then cultivate or reject it, as they 

 may find it adapted or not to soil and climate. 



F. Bahr. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Wintering Bees. 



Mk. Editoe : — I hope that all bee-keepers 

 •will act on the suggestion made by Mr. Har- 

 desty in the April number of the Bee Jour- 

 nal, and give rs their manner and success in 

 wintering bees the past winter. I consider that 

 one of the most important things for successful 

 bee-keeping is to learn how to winter bees 

 properly. In this country (Canada) more bees 

 are lost from bad wintering, than from all othei' 

 causes combined ; and a large number of the 

 colonies that manage to live through the winter, 

 are weak in numbers in the spring and short of 

 lioney. They consequently require feeding for 

 a month or six weeks, at the risk of being rob- 

 bed by more fortunate colonies, or are destroyed 

 by the worms. Such bee-keeping is both vexa- 

 tious and unprofitable. Hence the question 

 arises, can it not be avoided ? I think it can, 

 with a proper place for wintering, and a little 

 care and judgment in fitting colonies for winter 

 confinement. Now if all the bee-keepers who 

 read the Bee Journal, will describe their 

 method of wintering, the number of stocks lost, 

 and if possible the cause of their dying, we 

 should then soon be able to learn the best way 

 of wintering our bees. This would be a very 

 important stei> gained towards success. 



I will give the mode of wintering I adopted 

 last fall, and the result. I had twenty-eight 

 colonies, all of them Italians, or at least the 

 most of them, and the rest hybrids. All of 

 them were in J. H. Thomas' movable comb 

 hives. On the eighteenth of November, I put 

 them into a cellar, built like a root cellar. The 

 sides were planked up with seasoned pine 

 planks, an. 1 the floor of the same material; 

 the top planked over, and covered with dirt ; 

 and ventilated at the end. I removed the hon- 

 ey boxes and tacktd a piece of fine wire gauze 

 over the holes in the honey board ; and then 

 packed corn cobs on the top of the hives, as 

 many as the covers would set over. With the 

 cellar perfectly dark, and the thermometer 

 ranging from 34" to 38°, they spent the long 

 cold winter of 1867-8, undisturbed. 



On the twenty -third of March, I set them out, 

 and found them all (with the exception of two 



colonies) in a splendid condition. One of the 

 two exceptions referred to was dead, leavint^ 

 plenty o. honey. Cause, a small, colony of bees 

 when put into winter quarters, with too much 

 ventilation, consequently too cold. Tlie other 

 hive had a very strong colony of bees, and was 

 very full of honey when put into winter quar- 

 ters ; but came out reduced in bees, and short 

 of honey ; combs damp and mouldy. Cause, 

 not enoufjh ventilation, consequently too icarm. 

 The other twenty-six were in good condition, 

 as already stated, Avith plenty of honey, and 

 some to spare. 



Now is there anything to be learned from my 

 last winter's experience ? I think there is. 

 First, when preparing our stocks for winter, we 

 should ascertain how many we have that are 

 short of bees or honey, and give them a little bet- 

 ter protection, and considerably less ventilation. 

 Second, if Ave have a very strong and heavy 

 colony (especially if Italian) we would give it 

 more ventilation. Perhaps, in the latter case, it 

 would be advisable to take off the honey board 

 altogether, and cover the top of the hive with 

 fine wire cloth, to prevent the bees from com- 

 ing out. 



I, for one, am very anxious to see, in your 

 valuable Journal, the experience of every 

 practical bee-keeper on wintering bees. I think 

 we could then conie to sor.ie very important 

 conclusions, in regard to Avinteiing our colonies 

 successfully; and on that depends to a great ex- 

 tent our success in bee-keeping, especially here 

 in Canada. H. M. Thomas. 



Brooklin, Ontario. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



"Wintering Bees. 



It lias been my practice heretofore to carry all 

 my bees into the cellar about the tenth of De- 

 cember. With the hives I chiefly used, I found 

 the operation quite objectionable— ^?'s<, because 

 of the heavy lugging ; and secondly, because, to 

 my great dissatisfaction, there Avould almost al- 

 ways be more or less of the combs mouldy in 

 the spring ; and this, too, notwithstanding an 

 apparent sufficiency of upward ventilation. I 

 therefore determined, last fall, to try the exper- 

 iment of wintering a fcAV on their summer stands. 

 For this purpose I selected five colonies — two of 

 them Italian hybrids, and all in hives that had 

 been constructed Avith a special view to afford, 

 among other advantages for convenient man- 

 agement, particular facilities for i)rotection in 

 Avinter. Above the combs I placed corn cobs, 

 for the purpose of absorbing the moisture, and 

 then sticks set slanting against the hives to se- 

 cure a dead air space, against which I placed 

 straAV and litter, and then banked up with chip 

 dirt to nearly the height of the hive — placing a 

 lock of prairie hay over, to shed off the water 

 from rains and melting snows. 



Thus protected, I left them undisturbed until 

 about the twentieth of March, when a Avarni 

 day occurring, 1 opened them to ascertain with 

 Avhat degree of prosperity or adversity they had 

 passed their long cold Avinter night. 



The first one opened was found in a fivir con- 



