72 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Wintering Bees on their Summer Stands. 



An article -which appeared in the Journal 

 of May, 18G8, from the pen of my father, on a 

 new plan of preparing bees for winter, has 

 drawn forth many inquiries in legard to the 

 details of his method. He stated, in that arti- 

 cle, that the full particulars of his mode would 

 be published in the Journal ; and the time, 

 when such promise should be redeemed seems 

 to have arrived. I Avould leave to him the ex- 

 planation and presentation of his views on this 

 subject ; but lie is, unfortunately, again pros- 

 trated by the return of a disease which has for 

 years, at frequent intervals, incapacitated him 

 "from writing, talking, or experimenting on his 

 favorite pursuit, apiarian science. Anxious 

 that the bee-keeping public should be put in 

 possession of this mode of successfully Avinter- 

 ing bees on then .summer "stands, in time for 

 use the coming winter, I shall briefly communi- 

 cate the details without attempting to enter into 

 a full exposition of the reasons that led to its 

 adoption. Experience teaches that there will 

 not. be found wanting those who are ready to 

 make indiscriminate attacks upon anything and 

 everything which has our name connected with 

 it ; but also those who will "prove all things 

 and hold fast to that which is good." In place, 

 therefore, of the full description, both of theory 

 and practice, which my father would give were 

 he able, I present the following brief directions 

 for preparing colonics, in the Laugstroth hive, 

 for open air wintering. 



First, we (temporarily) double an empty 

 hive on three sides by nailing half-inch boards 

 on the outside of its legs. (All our late style 

 of hives are provided with four legs 1 inch by 

 2, and 15 inches long, nailed on the sides, front 

 and rear ; their tops coming under the ledge on 

 which the upper cover rests). These side 

 boards can be put on any hive already in use, 

 together with the legs, if they are not already 

 there ; they should extend 1§ inches below the 

 bottom-board of the hive, making them 11 

 inches wide and 24 inches long, put on so as to 

 project 1 1 inches behind the rear end of the 

 hive. An end board, 19 by 6^ inches, is nailed 

 or secured to the projecting ends of the side 

 boards, fiting up to the ledge on which the up- 

 per cover rests, and coming down even with 

 the top of the rear ventilator. Another piece 

 19 by 4^ inches, fastened by any simple device 

 that will admit of its being readily removed at 

 any time, and put on behind the rear ventila- 

 tor, completes the outside casing. This can all 

 be readily removed in the spring and replaced 

 in the fall, when desired ; though many may 

 prefer leaving it on, thus making a cooler hive 

 in summer where the apiary is exposed to the 

 direct rays of the sun. 



Having thus dressed the empty hive as it were 

 in crinoline, turn it upside down and fill in the 

 air chamber with wool, woolen rags, dead 

 leaves, or similar substance; then a heavy coat- 

 ing of straw is laid on the bottom-board, held 

 in place by a few battens. If preferred, tan 

 bark or saw dust can be put in the empty spaces 



and held in place by boards fitted for the pur- 

 pose. Now right the hive, put strips on the 

 rabbets so as to raise the frames about half an 

 inch higher from the bottom-board, and lay a 

 piece of corn cob, sawed to a proper thickness, 

 centrally from front to rear and from side to 

 side, so that bees can always have a warm and 

 easy way of reaching the central cluster from 

 the bottom-board. By taking off the lower back 

 piece and raising the ventilator, 3'ou have the 

 power in a few moments of sweeping out every 

 dead bee in the hive. This can be done in 

 weather that would not alloAV of the opening of 

 the hive, and in a large apiary where all the 

 hives cannot be opened in the first spring-like 

 weather, will be found to be of great import- 

 ance. By this arrangement we unite all the 

 advantages of movable and permanent bottom- 

 boards, without the usual disadvantages of 

 either. If the frames are not raised there is too 

 little space under them for cleaning out the re- 

 fuse. If desirable, a covered way can be made 

 on the alighting board, by a thin board with 

 two one-quarter inch clamps, this board not to 

 come out within one inch of the outer edge of 

 the portico. A board shutting up the rest of the 

 portico above, may now be fitted in, and the 

 spacT within be filled with straw, saw dust, or 

 similar packing material. Leave the whole en- 

 trance open ; mice cannot get in and scarcely a 

 ray of light, while the foul air which collects 

 on the bottom board, and when all below is 

 kept tight often smothers the bees, can pass out. 

 In putting a colony into the hive, thus prepared, 

 the one of the combs that can be best spared is left 

 out, and the space gained given to the four or 

 five central spaces in which the bees will clus- 

 ter. More bees are thus enabled to occupy the 

 central spaces and keep warmer. This idea 

 was first suggested by Mrs. William Harris, of 

 Buffdo, New York, who has fully tested it. 

 We have no doubt of its great importance. 

 Across the top of the frames lay two strips, f 

 inch thick, leaving between them cen'rally a 

 space of about eight inches. Over these fasten 

 a piece of old woolen carpet, coat, or pants, or 

 several strips of woolen rags torn into narrow 

 bands, making a shallow chamber over the cen- 

 tral part of the hive. The spaces between the 

 combs outside of this are to be stuffed with 

 Avoolen rags or loose wool, or covered with old 

 woolen cloth or carpet, or both stuffed and cov- 

 ered. And over the central chamber loose wool 

 or woolen rags are to be laid, to such amount 

 as the climate requires. The bees will be found 

 to cluster densely under this warm central shal- 

 low chamber, and from it they can radiate to 

 any of the honey combs— making it just as easy 

 to winter them in the shallow frames as in a 

 deeper form of hive. As soon as it grows cold, 

 they retreat from the front, rear, and bottoms 

 of the combs towards this central chamber, 

 which is always filled with bees and kept warm. 

 Sugar candy or liquid food can be fed in this 

 warm central apartment when the mercury is 

 below zero. Every particle of dampness es- 

 capes through the woolen carpet, rags, or loose 

 wool, away from the bees and yet their 

 warm bed-clothes retain their animal heat 

 admirably. For the purpose of experiment 



