460 



heat and cold, are also detrimental, especially 

 if the bees are prevented from flying. With 

 either heat or cold the bees become uneasy, 

 eat more, and unless they can fly become dis- 

 eased and die. 



The sorrowful experience of bee-keepers 

 near by cider mills and sorghum presses, 

 clearly demonstrates the importance of good 

 food. This is doubly important during win- 

 ters of long continued cold, when bees are 

 unable to fly for long periods. It is often 

 noticed that bees about cider mills are 

 healthy in Autumn. It is only when the cold 

 of winter shuts them in-doors that they suc- 

 cumb to dysentery. 



The worker bees after a few weeks of 

 active labor, wear out and die. Such bees 

 are illy prepared to brave the dangers of a 

 trying winter. If the bees breed actively 

 till October, there will be no danger from 

 this source. 



Excessive moisture in and about the hive 

 is thought to be a source of danger to the 

 bees. This seems more than probable, as 

 dampness and warmth always promote the 

 development of fungus growths, which as 

 evils are more insidious because they are 

 often invisible without the microscope. 

 These may not only affect the bee through 

 the air which it consumes, but also by 

 contaminating its food. 



To secure a uniform temperature of about 

 40° Fahrenheit— it may safely vary 5° either 

 way from this— we must in some way pro- 

 tect our bees. We may do this by using a 

 dry, dark, well ventilated cellar, in which 

 they must be placed before severe cold 

 weather commences— about middle of Nov- 

 ember in this latitude, and till the flowers 

 come, about April 1st here at Lansing, Mich- 

 igan. To secure good ventilation, a pipe 

 should extend from near the bottom of the 

 cellar, and connect with astove pipe or chim- 

 ney above. Another pipe should connect 

 the cellar with the outside, but should run 

 for 20 feet under the ground, so that the an- 

 as it enters the cellar may be warmed by 

 the natural heat of the earth. The depth of 

 this pipe should be about 5 feet. It may be 

 made of tile. Of course the cellar should be 

 perfectly drained. 



Houses built above ground may do as well 

 as cellars, if they are so made as cer- 

 tainly to secure a uniform temperature. 

 Setting these in a side hill will aid in this 

 respect. Such houses would need no drain- 

 age, but should be ventilated the same as 

 the cellar, except that it may be difficult to 

 connect the pipe for the escape of foul air 

 with a stove pipe or chimney above. In 

 either of the above cases, do not remove the 

 beesduring the entire winter if still quiet. 

 If they make a loud noise along in February 

 or March, or soil the entrance to the hives, 

 then they should be carried out, the first 

 warm day, for a flight, and returned to the 

 cellar or house at night. With proper care 

 this will seldom be necessary. 



We may also secure uniformity of tember- 

 ature by surrounding each hive, or 2 or 3 hives 

 set close together, by a box, which shall 

 leave a space of a foot between it and the 

 hives. This space may be crowded full of 

 fine straw or chaff, and all kept dry by a 

 cover. A tunnel 5 or 6 inches square, placed 

 at the entrance, would permit the bees to fly 



during protracted warmth in winter, and 

 thus be of great service. This box should 

 remain about the bees till May, in the colder 

 parts of the country. Hives with double 

 walls, filled in with chaff, will serve the 

 same purpose. These, however, are large 

 and awkward in summer. By tacking a 

 cloth to the bottom of the upper story, or 

 cover of the hive, this latter may be filled 

 with chaff, which will not only aid in pro- 

 tecting against cold, but will serve as an ex- 

 cellent absorbent just above the bees. 



When honey is good and sufficiently evap- 

 orated, bees always seal the cells. The find- 

 ing of uncapped honey in October, there- 

 fore, is presumptive proof that it is not good. 

 All such should be extracted. Only capped 

 honey should be left for winter. If there is 

 not enough of this— 30 pounds — then feed, 

 not glucose, or grape sugar, or poor sugar of 

 any kind, but either good thick honey ex- 

 tracted early in the season, or good thick 

 syrup made of granulated sugar. This food 

 should be in a space not to exceed one cubic 

 foot, confined by a division board, so that 

 the bees may have to keep only the neces- 

 sary space up to the required temperature. 

 This is very important, during winters of 

 long continued cold, as the bees are unable 

 to break and reform the cluster, and so must 

 have the houey concentrated in a few frames 

 and not scattered through many, else they 

 will be unable to reach it and will starve, 

 though there be plenty of honey in the hive. 



To secure this requisite, the bees must be 

 kept breeding till in October. They will do 

 this, if kept storing and given room. If 

 there are no nectar secreting flowers in Aug- 

 ust and September, the bees can gather no 

 honey, and the brood rearing will cease. In 

 such "cases we must feed a little honey daily. 

 One-half pound is enough. Again, if the 

 fall yield of honey is great, the bees may 

 store so fast as to fill all the cells and leave 

 no room for the queen to lay. Such cases in 

 August and September are very common 

 here. Then we have only to use the ex- 

 tractor and give more room by adding sec- 

 tions and boxes. 



I have already spoken of dry cellars, and 

 absorbents above the bees. Could our hives 

 be so constructed as to secure a good absorb- 

 ing surface entirely around the brood cham- 

 ber, it would doubtless be an advantage. 



Keep the bees breeding till October, feed- 

 ing and abstracting if necessary. Early in 

 October I would look at the bees, give the 

 proper amount of good honey, extract or 

 remove all that is uncapped, contract the 

 chamber, and put on the chaff. By the mid- 

 dle or last of November, I would surround 

 with boxes or put in cellar or house. In 

 February or March 1 would examine fre- 

 quently, and if I found any bees in any hive 

 uneasy, I would give them a fly by remov- 

 ing those in cellar or house to summer 

 stands. Early in April I would remove per- 

 manently to summer stands. In April 1 

 would keep brood chamber so confined, by 

 use of division board, as to keep all the 

 combs covered with bees, and by exchang- 

 ing combs of capped brood, build up my 

 weak colonies, so that by the middle of May 

 all should be equally strong. By this course 

 1 have ever been spared loss by spring dwin- 

 dling. 



