18 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



[Jl'ly, 



I must have it. I would advise all bee-keepers, 

 and all who intend to keep bees, to take the 

 Journal, and read it carefully. 



A. J. Bhundige. 

 Ottawa, Ills. 



[For the American Beo Journal.] 



Wintering Bees. 



I read every article in every number of the 

 Bee Journal, but none with more interest 

 than those that give us facts in regard to the 

 production of honey and the successful wintering 

 of bees. 



The ultimate object of all bee-keeping is the 

 production of honey ; and the most that any 

 bee-keeper can do, to promote this production, 

 is to i)rovide suitable habitations for his bees, 

 and to take the best jjossible care of them 

 through the winter. He can do nothing to change 

 the instinct of the bee, and nothing to alter the 

 character of the honey season. If the season is 

 ;^oductive of honey, he rejoices ; if it is not, he 

 has only to submit — he can do nothing to change 

 it. But in wintering bees, the case is different. 

 In tliis matter the bee-keeper has full power, 

 provided he has the requisite knowledge. He 

 may cause the loss, unwittingly, of every stock ; 

 or he may save evert/ one. 



This last statement may be thought a strong 

 one, but I think it is true. A colony of bees, to 

 live through the coldest winter, need simply 

 plenty oi good food, but not too much ; sufficient 

 warmth, pure air, and dryness. If the preced- 

 ing season has been favorable, every colony 

 worth saving will have plenty of good food. If 

 it has been unfavorable, feed them a sufficient 

 quantity of sugar syrup, as soon as the honey 

 harvest has closed. Having now a supply of 

 good food, the bees will generate tlieir own 

 warmth sufficiently in the coldest weather. If left 

 on their summer stands, they will certainly get 

 the necessary pure air ; and if properly venti- 

 lated at the top and bottom of the hive, they 

 will keep dry. I believe no colony has ever 

 died in winter, unless one or more of the above 

 four conditions were wanting. It would f-eem 

 an easy thing to provide those conditions for 

 every colony of bees, every winter, and so lose 

 none. Yes, that is just my opinion. Must we 

 have a bee-house or a cellar to accomplish this ? 

 Just as you please. A nice bee-house is a con- 

 venent thing to have, but I do not consider it 

 necessary. The best one ever made can fur- 

 nish only one of the above requisites, namely, 

 warmth ; and thanks to Mr. Langstroth, we can 

 get that out doors, much cheaper and with much 

 less trouble, by removing the honey-board, 

 placing two small sticks across the frames, and 

 before replacing the cap, covering the whole top 

 of the hive with old carpeting, or batter with the 

 cotton batting comforters, described in a pre- 

 vious number of the Journal. Then by leaving 

 the entrance open three or four inches, we get 

 the requisite fresh air, ventilation, and dryness. 

 I wintered twenty-seven colonies in this manner 

 last winter with perfect success, losing not one, 

 although five of them were queenless, and sev- 



eral others weak in bees, owing to the failure of 

 the honey harvest last year. My queenless and 

 weak colonies have been strengthened up with 

 frames of brood from strong colonies, so that 

 now all are in fine condition. 



Notwithstanding my eftbrts to prevent swarm- 

 ing, by giving an abundance of room for the 

 brooding chamber, viz., eighteen inches square 

 by ten inches deei?, and 3,000 cubic inches for 

 surplus honey on top, yet I have had seven fine 

 natural swarms up to June 8tli — three of them 

 as early as May 19. Who says that the Lang- 

 stroth shallow hive is not favorable to early 

 breeding? 



Bees wintered on their summer stands have 

 one great advantage in the matter of frequent 

 evacuation ; thereby avoiding a tendency to 

 dysentery — which is merely an inability to re- 

 tain the feces. My bees were observed flying on 

 twelve days between December 2G and March 30, 

 when they made t\\e\v g.neral spring flight, as 

 follows : 

 Dec. 20. Therm. 48" a few bees from all the hives 



"27. " 43« sparingly. 

 Jan. 2. " 51° rather freely. 



"17. " 54° freely. 



" 20. " 55^ very freely. 

 Feb. 7. " 45° sparingly. 



" 15. " 44° " 



" 16. " 40° generally. 

 March 16 to 20, thermometer at about 45°, flying 

 rather freely every day. 



" 30 general flight. 

 April 8 and 9, first pollen brought in. 



March 13 to 15 all my hives were buried com- 

 pletely out of sight by about four feet of snow. 

 March 15, dug a pathway in front of all the 

 hives. Next day was warm, and the bees flew 

 as above. 



To be sure when the be^es fly out in winter 

 some are lost in the snow. At first this troubled 

 me, but it does not now. I am satisfied, from 

 close observation, that nearly all that are worth 

 saving get back into the hive all right; audit 

 no longer alarms me to see a few dozen or even 

 a few hundred bees lying on the snow, dead. 

 Many that we see thus, have died in the hive 

 and were brought out by the living bees on the 

 first fair day. In fact you can tell your strong- 

 est colonies at a glance in the spring by their 

 having the largest number of dead bees in front 

 of their hives. I think we read in the Bee 

 Journal of as great mortality among bees kept 

 in winter repositories, as among those kept on 

 their svimmer stands. 



If those who winter bees out of doors would 

 adopt the above plan, many colonies would be 

 saved. 



R. BiCKFORD. 



Seneca Falls, N. Y., June 11, 1870. 



Bees should have a liberal allowance of air 

 during all extremely hot weather, and if the 

 stocks are strong the entrance blocks may be 

 entirely removed. Langstkoth. 



A truthful and circumstantial biography in all 

 its relations of a single insect, has yet to be writ- 

 ten. — A. S. Packard, Jr. 



