THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



261 



I move a hive to some other lo- 

 cation, and leave the old stand va- 

 cant, the flying bees, when they 

 return and find their old home gone, 

 after soaring around the place 

 awhile, will quietl}' and safely enter 

 some contiguous hive. They ap- 

 parently think either that this must 

 be their home, or they will, like the 

 homeless swarm, make it their 

 home. 



In the above cases they at least 

 do not act like intruders. We have 

 no certain evidence that they are 

 recognized as foreigners. If they 

 judge by odor alone, strangers 

 would be certainly known as stran- 

 gers, and promptly met as trespass- 

 ers. 



3Iecha7iicsburg , III. 



IMie 



Answers by Practical Apiarists. 



W^INTER PASSAGE OVER THE FRAMES. 



Query No. 34. Is it a good plan to leave 

 a paffbage Way between top ot IVanies auU the 

 lioiie) -l)o:ird, mat or cushion used to cover 

 the lianies? What objection can there be to 

 placing the mat direct on the top-b>ir ? 

 .I.H.J. 



ANSWER BY C. C. MILLER. 



Yes. Generally bits of comb pro- 

 ject above the top bar allowing the 

 bees to pass over, in which case 

 there is no objection to laying the 

 mat on top-bar. 



ANSVS^ER BY K. L. TAYLOR. 



Yes. Not to leave an open space 

 over the brood frames prevents the 

 bees from having easy access to all 

 their stores and would often cause 

 starvation with plenty of honey in 

 tlie hive. 



eral occasions I have thoroughly 

 tested it on quite an extensive 

 scale, and these experiments showed 

 that it did no good, nor harm. 



ANSWER BY H. ALLEY. 



I think it is, provided too much 

 space is not left, as that would 

 permit of too much ventilation dur- 

 ing the winter. By April 1, the 

 mat should be placed directly on 

 the Irames to prevent loss of heat 

 and too much ventilation when the 

 bees commence to rear brood. 



ANSWER BY PROF. COOK. 



I think so. This certainly gives 

 a readier ingress of the bees to all 

 parts of a hive, when confined for 

 a long period in winter. It is no 

 argument against this that the bees 

 leave no such passage. Bees are 

 natives of a warmer clime where no 

 such passages are needed. 



ANSWER BY JAMES HEDDON. 



Theoretically it is a good plan. 

 It reasons out first rate. On sev- 



ANSWER BY G. W. DEMAREE. 



When I prepare my bees for win- 

 ter I use pieces of corn stalks 

 split open, laying two pieces side 

 by side across the tops of the 

 frames, and over these go the 

 quilts, etc. This arrangement per- 

 mits the bees to cross over from 

 one comb to another right wiiere 

 the greatest warmth of the hive is. 

 The objection to having the quilts 

 close down on the frames is, they 

 prevent the bees from passing from 

 one frame to another over their 

 tops. 



ANSWER BY J. E. POND. 



1. Yes. I have prepared my 

 bees in this way for years, winter- 

 ing always on summer stands. I 

 give from one to two inches of 

 room over the tops of frames. 2. 

 The objection to placing the mat 

 directly on the frames is that the 

 bees cannot pass freely from one 

 comb to another, unless winter pas- 

 sages are made, and these not only 



