THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



January 



a wagon, draw them to a car perhaps 

 three or four miles away, and for over 

 40 bushels you will receive $8.00. 

 This is not very large pay for .the 

 amount of work, but it is what is be- 

 ing done this fall, yet you would not 

 say you will never plant any more po- 

 tatoes or sell your farm. Our divi- 

 dends did not net us more than 35 to 

 40 cents for 100 pounds of milk some 

 months this season at the factory. We 

 would not sell our cows because of the 

 drought of one or two seasons. We 

 must look on the bright side of things. 

 Keep our bees and love them. Work 

 the harder. Raise a little of many 

 things. We as individuals and a na- 

 tion are very wicked. We must learn 

 to look to God the source of all bless- 

 ing more than we ever have before 

 and we will then reap a rich reward. 

 Sherburne, N. Y. 



Wintering Bees in Box Hives. 



BY CHAS. H. THIES. 



A reader of the American Bee 

 Keeper requests me to give my opin- 

 ion on the following : " Will bees 

 winter better in box hives than they 

 will in a movable frame hive ?" 



This question has often been discus- 

 sed, yet 1 will try to give my experi- 

 ence. I prefer to have all my bees in 

 movable frame hives toj get the best 

 results in wintering. If you have an 

 old box gum full of old tough comb 

 well filled with honey, and the hive 

 full of bees — the hive being freejfrom 

 cracks or openings, whereby the heat 

 would escape and the cold find a way 

 in — I should say the old box hive is a 

 first class hive for wintering. But 

 should the box hive be as most that I 

 have seen, full of large openings, the 

 cover flat and full of cracks, the hive 



half full of new comb with little hon- 

 ey in them and the comb about half 

 covered with bees, I would call the 

 box gum a very poor hive to winter 

 bees in. 



Often in these box hives the queen 

 fails during the latter part of the sea- 

 son, and the bees do not supersede her. 

 You probably cannot get at her to re- 

 place her with a young vigorous queen, 

 hence your colony will get very weak 

 before the winter arrives, and the 

 chances are it will be dead before 

 spring. 



The movable frame hive is so ar- 

 ranged that it can quickly be made 

 comfortable for a colony of most any 

 size. If you have a weak, small col- 

 ony in a frame hive and leave them 

 the full eight or ten frames with ten 

 or fifteen pounds of honey scattered 

 all over the frames, the chances are 

 that the bees will hardly pull through. 

 But a bee-keeper with a little experi- 

 ence and ordinary intelligence would 

 not leave his bees in this condition 

 and expect a surplus the following 

 season, if they live through the winter 

 at all. Contract your brood chamber 

 according to the size of the colony of 

 bees ; leave them plenty of good hon- 

 ey where they can get at it, no matter 

 how cold the winter should be ; place 

 a good cover over the frames, and 

 over all a good tight cover to keep 

 them perfectly dry ; tilt the hive a 

 little forward so that all moisture that 

 may collect can run out at the en- 

 trance ; aud I think you will agree 

 with me that a frame hive is much 

 superior to a box gum for wintering. 



I am satisfied that you already agree 

 that a frame hive is superior during 

 the summer season. In conclusion 

 would say that if you are satisfied 



