THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



29 



haps come to the end of the limits 

 for an essay, and shouUl esteem 

 it a high honor if tlioti^ht woitliy 

 of the premium offered. If not 

 worthy, perhaps a humble spot may 

 be found for my words in the 

 " American Apiculturist." 



Peicser/, Wilts, England. 



For the American Apiculturist. 



SOME THOUGHTS ON 

 WINTERING. 



C. II. DiBBEUN. 



Although this subject is rather 

 old, and has been the theme of 

 many a writer, for many years, 

 3'et it remains one of the most im- 

 portant to the beekeepers of the 

 present. Every little while some 

 enthusiastic apiarist will throw up 

 his hat, and exclaim that at last 

 this perplexing thing is settled. 

 Is it? Of course this enthusiast 

 at once writes to the bee-pa|)ers how 

 it is done. It is usually the same 

 old story, that by means of con- 

 tracting the brood-nest, and pack- 

 ing all around with some nice 

 "warm" material, usually saw-dust 

 or chaff, bees can be wintered safe- 

 ly every time, no matter what the 

 weather. Wlien a severe winter 

 comes along", and gives these meth- 

 ods a real test, usually a strange 

 "coolness" settles over these bee- 

 keepers. 



1 have practised cellar wintering 

 for many years, believing that I can 

 carry them into, and out of, a con- 

 venient cellar much quicker than 

 I could prepare them on the sum- 

 mer stands. Then, too, when in it 

 is considered that much less honey 

 will be consumed in the cellar, it 

 is with me a " weighty "conclusion. 

 I am aware however, that all are 

 not so situated where they can 

 have good cellars, and a poor one 



is often worse than none. For a 

 number of years I have wintered 

 some colonies outside, partly as an 

 experiment and partly because my 

 cellar was too small to hold quite all. 

 I have tried about all the kinds of 

 winter packing, that I have read 

 of, in various bee periodicals, but 

 only with indifl'erent success. My 

 apiary is situated on the south side 

 of a knoll somewhat protected from 

 the north and west by a fence and 

 some evergreens. It is shaded by 

 small trees, but in winter when 

 there are no leaves, it is rather a 

 sunny place, whenever the sky is 

 clear. During the severe winter of 

 1880 and 1881, I had but One col- 

 on}' out, with but slight packing, 

 yet they came through all right. 

 This same winter I had some sixty 

 colonies out on shares, with a man, 

 who thought he knew it all, and he 

 lost every one. This apiary was 

 on the northwest side of a hill, 

 facing west, where the snow lay 

 deep all winter, and the sun had 

 but little effect on the hives. An- 

 other severe winter I had some 

 forty colonies out, packed in vari- 

 ous wa^'s, and I lost about one- 

 half. As they were in different 

 parts of the apiary, I noticed that 

 those situated where they were 

 best protected, and had the most 

 sunshine seemed to come out the 

 best, and the packing seemed to be 

 a disadvantage, as I lost more that 

 were packed, than of the others. 

 One thing surprised me that year. 

 One hive I had forgotten, and left 

 them without a mat or honey-board 

 over the frames, having simply re- 

 placed the outside cap, with an inch 

 auger hole in the end. Strange as 

 it seemed to me, the}' were all right 

 and one of the strongest colonies 

 I had left. 



The conclusions I have come to 

 from these lessons is that the more 

 sunshine we can give our bees in 

 winter and spring, with suitable 

 protection from the north and west 



