28 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



ventilation." Mr. Dayton says " . . 

 . . . it is reasonable to suppose that 

 the reports of wintering without some 

 kind of upward hive ventilation were 

 mistakes. Out of a hundred or more 

 colonies prepared without upward 

 hive ventilation, I have been unable 

 to get one decentl)' through the win- 

 ter, while whole apiaries having up- 

 ward ventilation wintered perfectly 

 without any loss." Now what is the 

 poor novice to do ? Death and dis- 

 aster threaten him with upward ven- 

 tilation, and disaster and death 

 without. But after all this is said 

 (and I have merely said it to show 

 that the solution of the problem is 

 not yet complete for universal use) 

 I still think the October Apicultu- 

 RiST a valuable contribution and a 

 help toward the desired solution. 



And now, not with any critical 

 spirit, I will collate some of the dif- 

 ferent views and practices. Of the 

 eleven writers, five appear to winter 

 out-doors, four in cellar and two in 

 both ways. Mr. Demaree lives in 

 Kentucky where cellar wintering is 

 unnecessary, leaving the other ten 

 equally divided as to out or in-door 

 wintering. 



As to temperature, one recom- 

 mends 41° to February, then 48° 

 from that time till the bees are set 

 out, one says 43° to 45°, two say 45°, 

 one says 45° or more, and one says 

 50° to 55°. This certainly shows no 

 very wide divergence of views and I 

 think we are slowly getting at what tem- 

 perature is best. In my own prac- 

 tice, I am satisfied if I can keep my 

 cellars from 45° to 46° and perhaps 

 50° may be none too high for the lat- 

 ter part of their confinement. 



As to size of brood-nest, one con- 

 tracts in proportion to the size of 

 colony ; one to seven frames, and in 

 September to six or eight, and one, 

 September i, to five or seven. This 

 makes me think it possible I contract 

 too much, as a great many of my colo- 

 nies have only four or five frames. 

 Still the tendency has been toward 



a smaller brood- nest and that ten- 

 dency may continue. 



As to food, one makes no choice 

 between sugar-syrup and honey; one 

 thinks sugar-syrup safer one year 

 with another than honey ; and three 

 prefer _§(?(?^/ honey, one of these em- 

 phasizing that the honey should be 

 stored early and thoroughly ripened. 



Regarding pollen, one thinks the 

 pollen theory most fallacious ; an- 

 other thinks we may cease to call it 

 a theory and accept it as a settled 

 fact ; four pay no attention to the mat- 

 ter of pollen ; another would rather 

 have the pollen out, and another 

 thinks pollen harmful in some locali- 

 ties and not in others. So we are all 

 at sea as to pollen, but possibly the 

 last opinion given may harmonize all 

 the others. 



As to ventilation, we are left pretty 

 much at sea also. Two directly op- 

 posite views have already been given ; 

 burlap, carpet, leaves, shavings and 

 chaff are used as packing by different 

 ones, special mention being made by 

 two, of an empty space in the cover 

 over the packing with a i^- or if 

 inch hole in each end of the cover 

 so the wind can blow right through. 

 Mr. Muth objects decidedly to the 

 use of oil cloth over the brood-nest, 

 and yet I have used it many times 

 with good success. In my own prac- 

 tice I have never used porous cover- 

 ings in winter. For years I left an 

 open space at the back end of the 

 top of the hive ; then I tried both 

 ways at the same time, having some 

 ventilated and others sealed tight, 

 and I could see no difference, so 

 now as a matter of convenience I 

 leave on the cloths or quilts as they 

 were on summer stands. 



I think only two speak of the age 

 of bees for wintering. Mr. Pond 

 says : "Brood-rearing I keep up by 

 stimulative feeding as late as the bees 

 can care for brood ; desiring they 

 should go into winter quarters with 

 a full quota of young bees." On the 

 other hand Mr. Manum aims "to 



