80 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Oct., 



in the cask opposite to the mouth of the hive, 

 nnd place a piece of reed or of elder made hollow 

 from the mouth of the hive to the hole in the 

 cask, and after this to cover the hive with more 

 of the same dry earth If there be any room to 

 fear that the bees will not have a sufficiency of 

 food, a plate with honey, covered as before 

 directed, may be put under the hive. If the 

 number of hives be great, boxes may bo made of 

 deals nailed together, deep enough to contain the 

 hives covered with dry earth. Tiie bees will thus 

 remain all the winter free from any danger from 

 cold, hunger, or enemies. 



Every hive should have at least twenty pounds 

 of honey in it in the beginning of the winter. If 

 short of that quantity a reserved hive should be 

 put to them, or they should be fed with clear 

 honey put into a pewter dish covered with paper 

 and put under the hive at night. 



That bees suffer such degrees of cold as we are 

 strangers to. without detriment, seems certain ; 

 nor is it easily accounted for, why a much less 

 degree of cold becomes fatal to them in our mild 

 climate. If I may venture my opinion, I think 

 that in these extreme colds the bees are so per- 

 fectly frozen that their juices cannot corrupt or 

 putrify ; but they remain in the same state till 

 the return of spring, when the change of the 

 weather beiug sudden, the bees soon come to 

 life ; whereas, in our climate they are so far 

 chilled as to lose the signs of life, and their juices 

 being still in a liquid state, soon putrify, and 

 real death soon ensues with corruption, the 

 stench of which proves destructive to the live 

 bees if the dead bodies remain long in the hive. 

 It is, therefore, a good rule to examine the hive 

 from lime to time, wi ether any bees fall to the 

 bottom, that if they do, the seeming or real dead 

 should be removed. 



Hives should never be placed on stones because 

 they are susceptible of too much heat in sum- 

 mer, and are so cold in the winter that it is 

 immediate death to every bee that lights on 

 them. Even wood is then too cold, and, there- 

 fore, I would advise the owners of bees to 

 have straw bottoms, in every respect similar to 

 the straw covers already described, to be laid 

 under the hivo during the winter, that when the 

 bees descend thoy may not be chilled by the 

 coldness of the substance they light upon. 



The bees have the sagacity to judge of the 

 proper degree of cold, and when they feel it too 

 great upon coming to the door, they drop their 

 excrements on the stool and return to their com- 

 panions, unless they are allured out by a bright 

 sun. On this accouut it is proper that during 

 the winter the mouth of the hive should not lace 

 the sun at noon, but rather the west. The 

 mouths of the hives should be lessened so much 

 during the winter, by means of a slide fitted to 

 it, that there may be room left only for air, and 

 to afford a passage to two or three bees 



Even in spring many bees lose their lives, 

 being tempted out by a bright sun in search of 

 food. v The mouth of the hive should, therefore, 

 be continued facing the west, till all danger from 

 cold is past ; for if the mouth has been placed 

 to the south, a clear morning may carry them 

 out, being tempted by the glare of the light 



which shines in ; but such a morning often brings 

 a cloudy afternoon, which prevents their going 

 out. When the season for working comes on 

 they must not be restrained from going out by 

 any bar in their way, for they become so impa- 

 tient of confinement, that they will even die in 

 search of an outlet, rather than bear imprison- 

 ment. 



Extracts from the work of Freyherrn vm Eliren- 

 fels. 1829- 



The wintering of bees begins in our climate in 

 the month of October, and begins everywhere 

 when nourishment ceases, brooding diminishes, 

 and the honey harvest has fully ended. 



The examination of all the stocks as regards 

 their brood, population, and honey supply, is the 

 first and weightiest work of wintering. At the 

 beginning of October most swarms have brood. 

 Where this is found, one may feel assured that 

 they have a fertile queen, and has the necessary 

 foundation for well wintering. All such stocks 

 should be marked No. 1. Stocks having no 

 brood will be considered in a doubtful condition. 

 They may have a sick and unfertile queen, or 

 none at all. These should be marked No. 2. 

 Stocks sh wing drone brood should be marked 

 No. 3. No. 1 stocks are in a safe condition for 

 winter; ng. No. 2 should be destroyed or united 

 together. No. 3 should be destroyed for their 

 honey, and the bees used to strengthen other 

 stocks. 



A populous stock, with little honey, will be easier 

 wintered than a slock rich in honey and poor in 

 b-es. 



The worker bee has, with me, more value now 

 when work and forage cease, than in the spring 

 when their loss is more easily supplied by the 

 rapidly maturing eggs of a fertile queen. The 

 old proverb, " That in spring every bee is worth 

 one kreuzer," is changed by me: "In spring 

 every bee is worth one kreuzer ; in fall, two 

 kreuzers." 



With me, stocks having more than twenty 

 pounds of honey, are considered safe for winter- 

 ing. Stocks having less than twelve pounds are 

 destroyed. Stocks having from twelve to twenty 

 pounds, are supplied with honey. 



Feeding witli fluid honey in autumn, is not to 

 be recommended. This fluid honey being un- 

 capped and through heat, is made watery and 

 sour ; the brood place and winter quarters will be 

 thereby narrowed and disturbed, and the honey 

 will, in its fluid condition, be more readily con- 

 sumed ; with ten pounds of fluid honey un- 

 capped, I will not have as healthy winter nour- 

 ishment as with five pounds of capped, well 

 evaporated honey, and the stock is better pro- 

 tected against robbery than when containing 

 uncapped and unevaporated honey. 



It is well known that more thousands of bees 

 are lost through cold than hunger. Many at- 

 tain pts have been made to moderate the cold in 

 the hive ; the removal of the hive to cellars and 

 rooms, their burial, and their artificial heating. 

 Under all these modifications, the winter and a 



