108 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal ] 



Experience in Italianizing, &c. 

 By Another Novice. — No. 4. 



Wintering Bees. 



Mr. Editor : — I had intended this for the 

 September or October number of the Bee Jour- 

 nal ; but being very busy during the summer, 

 and seeing several pieces on the same subject in 

 the Journal, I have kept it till rather late. My 

 attention was recalled to it the other day, when 

 reading the article on wintering bees in the open 

 air, or on their summer stands, by Mr. J. T. 

 Langstroth, page 72, of the October Journal. 

 T do not like the trouble of putting bees in cel- 

 lars, or burying or housing bees in this latitude. 

 I think it wholly unnecessary. I will just give 

 my experience the two past winters, and leave 

 the readers of the Joup-nal to judge for them- 

 selves, which is the least troublesome and least 

 expensive way. 



In tbe fall of 1866, I had nine stands, four in 

 frame hives and four in common box hives. 

 The four frame stands, in two of which Italian 

 queens had been recently introduced, with one 

 of the box hives, were too weak in stores for 

 winter. These I fed with brown sugar syrup, 

 knowing no better then ; and to make sure of 

 the two Italians, I mixed half honey with their 

 syrup. 



I took off the honey-board and spread a piece 

 of warm carpet over the tops of the frames ; 

 then stuffed the caps with dry straw or shav- 

 ings, and put them on. I merely opened the 

 holes of the box hives and put on wire cloth, 

 then put the caps on stuffed as above. One of 

 the Italians being weaker than the other, and 

 being unwilling to lose it, I took a bundle of 

 rye straw, flattened it to four inches thick and 

 a little wider than the top of the hives, thus 

 making a flat mat, and sewed a piece of tow 

 linen around it. I laid this immediately on the 

 frames, and spread a piece of oil cloth over, to 

 keep off the rain ; placed a board on top, 

 weighted with a stone, to keep the wind from 

 blowing all off— the caps being also left off. 

 Don't smile at this, reader, but wait and see the 

 result. This stand wintered so well that I win- 

 tered it again with the same mat last winter, 

 and also three others prepared in the same man- 

 ner. 



In January I examined the five weak stands, 

 to see if all was right. Found the two Italians 

 in good condition, dry and warm ; but the 

 other three were dying of dysentery. Two of 

 these had about five pounds of honey remaining 

 but could not get access to it. I carried them 

 into a warm room, and tried to save them by 

 uniting the three together and feeding them; but 

 this being in a cold spell of weather, they all 

 died in a few days. I rather attributed this to 

 the brown sugar I had fed them on exclusively, 

 as each hive still had sealed honey; though they 

 were only half filled with comb. 



On the first of February, I examined the two 

 hives of Italians, and found them all right, dry 

 and warm, with plenty of honey. On the 15th 



I examined them again, with the same result. 

 I re-examined them on the 8th of March, they 

 still had plenty of honey, with some brood. 



The six stands wintered well, and from them 

 I increased my stock to eighteen the next sea- 

 son — all of which I wintered successfully, in 

 the same manner ; only setting the weak ones 

 in larger boxes, and filling the space between 

 with shavings, sawdust, straw, &c; and cover- 

 ing the tops well, to keep out dampness. I also 

 drove down stakes, and fastened boards around 

 all sides, except the front ; and stuffed the space 

 between with straw. 



All my hives face the south-east, and the en- 

 trances are left open all winter, only being con- 

 tracted to half an inch in cold spells. I am 

 confident that some of my weak stands had not 

 over ten pounds of honey last fall, and I had 

 no idea of wintering them ; but concluded to 

 try as an experiment, and the result was a com- 

 plete success, for I only had to feed the two 

 weakest in April, when the supply of honey 

 was exhausted by the brood. I think this mock 

 fully as good as, and much less troublesome and 

 expensive, than Mr. Langstroth's. The mats 

 can be made by any person in a few hours, and 

 will last for years if kept in a dry place in sum 

 mer. I would here say that my apiary is sr 

 situated as to break the force of the wind, and 

 receive the warmth of the sun most of the day. 



I began last spring with the above eighterr 

 stands, but as the season was so bad, I only al- 

 lowed five first swarms. I never knew or ex- 

 pect again to see such a season as this was. I 

 am now reduced to eighteen stands, and wil 1 

 select fifteen of them for wintering, all of which 

 I am feeding on coffee sugar syrup. 



A. 



Lowell, Ky. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



What's the Difference? 



Mr. Editor : — Will Mr. Francis be kinc" 

 enough to inform us how much more his bees 

 are disposed to steal honey, where the cells 

 have been unavoidably broken by an inexperi- 

 enced hand, than where the same chance occurs 

 by the use of a thin-bladed knife in the hands of 

 an expert ? 



I have tried both ways, and cannot see but 

 that my bees are as well pleased with the one 

 as the other. In fact they do not seem to be 

 very choice about the way — they seem to be 

 more interested about the honey ; but perhaps 

 it is because I have neglected their moral cul- 

 ture. This seems to be the only point between 

 us, as he admits that his bees are naughty 

 enough to fill their frames so full that there is 

 difficulty sometimes, ana this is all that I claim- 

 ed. I do not think Mr. F. has demolished a 

 single * * * 



KWIt is an error to say that queens and 

 drones will not feed themselves. I have often 

 seen queens eating honey out of open cells : and 

 have noticed drones doing so hundreds of times. 

 — Berlepsch. 



