THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



311 



per annum has $7,500 ahead ; and 

 the other, saving $400 per annum, 

 has, SB, 000 ahead. But what is this 

 worth to each of them? Tiie first, 

 spendino; $1,500 per ^-ear, can live 

 on his $7,500 just five years; and 

 the second, spendino; $600 per year, 

 can live on his $6,000 just ten 

 years. So you see, when looked 

 ^at from this point of view, the 

 $1,000 salary is worth just double 

 as much as the $2,000. In other 

 words, the $2,000 man lays by 

 each year enough to support him 

 four months, while the $1,000 one 

 lays by enough each year to keep 

 him eight months. Some of you 

 young men that are itching to get 

 into places to make money faster, 

 think this over. It may make you 

 a little more content where you 

 are. ^ 



Marengo, 111. 



Practical Farmer. 



THE GREAT WINTERING 

 PROBLEM. 



Dr. W. G. Phelps. 



This question is again before us, 

 and in spite of the assertion by one 

 and auotlier tiiat it is no problem to 

 them, that they feel perfectly safe 

 in wintering their bees, the question 

 comes to man}' of us with a good 

 deal of force. How shall I prepare 

 m}'^ bees so as to carry them safely 

 through the winter? Let us look 

 at some of the requisites that are 

 considered positively necessary to 

 successful .wintering : 



1. Abundance of young bees. 

 The life of a worker-bee is very 

 short. In the height of the honey 

 harvest it is found l)y experiment 

 that the whole population of the 

 hive (with the exception of the 

 queen) will be changed in from six 

 to eight weeks. Bees at this time 



of the year do not die of old age, 

 but wear themselves out, or rather, 

 I think, they wear their wings out, 

 and there comes a day when they 

 will load themselves up so heavily 

 that tliey fail to return to the hive. 

 We often see the old bees with but 

 stubs of wings trying two or three 

 times to rise from the entrance on 

 their outward flight, before succeed- 

 ing. During the leisure of winter, 

 bees live much longer, those hatched 

 in September and October living 

 through to March and April ; so if 

 we want our bees to go into winter 

 in good condition, they must be 

 reared during those months ; and if 

 honey is not coming in from the 

 fields during that time, they must 

 be fed in order to encourage brood- 

 rearing. Tiie older bees will die 

 too soon in the spring before 

 enough 3'oung ones are reared to 

 keep up the cluster and do the 

 work of the hive. 



2. Abundance of food, and that 

 readily accessible to the bees. 

 As before stated, 20 to 25 pounds 

 of hone}' or syrup for each fair-sized 

 colony, capped over before cold 

 weather sets in, are considered suffi- 

 cient for winter, and until bloom 

 opens in the spring. In order that 

 the bees may make use of these 

 stores, there must be some way 

 provided whereby .they may shift 

 their cluster without having to pass 

 around or under the frames, either 

 by cutting small holes half an inch 

 or more in diameter, through the 

 combs near the middle of the 

 length, and about two or three 

 inches from the top ; or by placing 

 sticks across the top of the frames 

 an inch or so apart, provide means 

 for them to pass over, and so siiift 

 from one part of the hive to the 

 other. By placing an inverted 

 wooden butter-dish, such as the 

 grocers use, across the top of the 

 frames, a clustering chamber is 

 formed, which the bees will take 

 possession of and so gain access to 



