78 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



smoke to keep the larva of tlie 

 wax moth from injuring the comb ; 

 but if the combs are white and 

 clean with no dead flies, or no 

 pollen that the worms can get at, 

 tlie latter will do much less harm 

 than the sulphur smoke, which is 

 sure to ruin the flavor of the hon- 

 ey, and if too mnch is used the 

 appearance of the combs, also. 



The facts are these worms can- 

 not develop on wax and honey any 

 more than a child can on sugar 

 and starch. They must have some 

 nitrogenous food which they can 

 find in old combs, dead bees, pol- 

 len, or even a dead fly. 



CLEANING SECTIONS. 



Before sending to market eveiy 

 section should be made clean and 

 tidy and carefully graded, and each 

 grade packed in small cases by 

 itself, either with or without glass, 

 with wood sides or in paper-boxes 

 as your market may demand. 



The marks on the case should 

 accuratel}' represent the grade. 



I have now mentioned ver}' brief- 

 ly the most important factors in 

 the production of comb honey with 

 but one exception. After all that 

 man can do much will depend on 

 the season. 



ISome years the yield will be 

 abundant, while in others very 

 small, and it is always well to fol- 

 low the advice of the late Moses 

 Quinby, and lay in a stock of pa- 

 tience and courage in the good year 

 to carry you through seasons of 

 adversity. 



Middlebw'i/, Vt. 



For the American Apiculttirist. 



WINTERING BEES. 



Samuel Rau. 



In the northern part of the bee- 

 keeping world the "Winter Prob- 

 lem" is still an important subject of 



thought and experiment. It is true 

 many liave entertained the idea 

 they had solved the problem to a 

 certaint}', but like Hamlet's ghost 

 it would not stay down. Many 

 have been storm-beaten and tem- 

 pest-tossed on the stormy ocean of 

 sad experience many wear}' years, 

 and others are still floundering in 

 the sea of endless ideas and tlieo- 

 ries endeavoring to reach a sure 

 anchorage in the haven of safety. 

 We have all stood on the over- 

 hanging rock, like the Mosaic law- 

 giver of old, and viewed the prom- 

 ised land afar off; but, unlike 

 Moses, many of us have entered in- 

 to the promised land at last, and 

 that to stay I think. 



The practice of the best apia- 

 rists of tlie present day is divided 

 between cellar and out-door win- 

 tering, with an increasing tendency 

 toward the former practice among 

 those largely engaged in honey pro- 

 duction north of Mason and 

 Dixon's line. Where the proper 

 temperature can be maintained in 

 a cellar during all the fluctuations 

 of our changeable climate, it would 

 seem to be the safest and most de- 

 sirable mode of wintering. 



My experience, however, has 

 been mostly in out-door wintering 

 and it is of that I wish to write 

 more particularly. Wintering bees 

 on the summer stand, at the pres- 

 ent day, in single-walled hives is 

 akin to wintering stock without 

 shelter, as many farmers really do, 

 on the south sicle of a straw stack. 

 If they "rough it" through, it is at 

 the expense of feed and it is a 

 wasteful, slip-shod practice at best. 

 I remember of doing some work 

 for a farmer beekeeper some eight 

 or nine years ago, who had one sad 

 and lonely colony of bees, 



Like the last rose of summer, 

 Left stamliuij; alone; 

 All its lovely compauious, 

 Having faded and gone. 



It was in an old box-hive of 



I 



