56 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept., 



inji" honey enough to stimulate the queen to lay ; 

 and if she did lay up to her full capacity, there 

 are not bees enough to keep the brood warm. 



Another advantage in having strong swarms is 

 to avoid the miller (U' wax moth. 



I lay down the proposition that the moth never 

 materiidly injured a good sioarm in a decently 

 made hive. 



In this connection, I lay down another propo- 

 sition, that without some explanation may seem 

 as strange as the one above alluded to, (that a 

 swarm of bees may have too much honej^) I 

 thi:ik I may assert thattiie moth is or may be an 

 advantage. We always act from one or more 

 motivesmoving us toa particular point. Ainongst 

 other things, I stated that the moth never ona- 

 teriiiUy injured a good swarm of bees. Now, 

 one of the requisites of a good one is strength. 

 Let us see if the moth may not be an advantage. 

 Most bee-keepers have had in their yard say at 

 least two swarms of that size that all they could 

 do would be to get themselves into good condi- 

 tion as to numbers and stores for the coming 

 winter, without giving the owner a young swarm 

 or an ounce of surplus honey, and at the same 

 time they vrere very much exposed to the moth 

 and stood a good chance to be destroyed by 

 them, because there are not bees enough to 

 guard the unprotected combs. 



Now, we will put these two swarms together, 

 and see what the result will be ; we will have a 

 swarm strong enough to guard against the moth, 

 strong enoiigh to keep a large quantity of brood 

 warm, by which it will be strong enough to 

 throw off a swarm in good season, and if it is a 

 fair season for honey we iriay expect twenty-five 

 pounds of surplus honey from the mother swarm. 

 And what have we lost? a queen. The comb we 

 will preserve in a cool, dry place, and give them 

 to the young swarm. Has the moth in this view 

 been a benefit ? 



We have now our hives properly examined, 

 those that need it fed. the honey taken away if 

 too much, the queenless doubled up, the weak 

 stimulated, equalized or doubled up. There are 

 now but few things to be done, the hive should 

 be made as tight as possible with no upward 

 ventilation, the fly-hole opened but a trifle, and as 

 the swarm increases, which we can determine by 

 the steam, or rather dampness, on the bottom 

 board at the fly-hole in the morning, we will en- 

 large the fly-hole. 



We will next place a trough in the centre of 

 the yard and keep water in it, and to prevent the 

 drowning of the bees will cover its surface with 

 corn-cobs, and occasionally exchange them for 

 fresh ones as they become sour in time. 



Now we feel i)retty sure thus far we have 

 wardi>d oft" that scare crow, "luck." 



I tliink of but one other duty we can perform 

 for our and their benefit, that is within the task 

 assigned me, to wit, that of placing the surplus 

 honey boxes on tlie hive. Mr. Quinby, I think 

 is the only writer that tells us the proper time, 

 namely, when the hive is full of brood and honey 

 below. As they only go into the boxes for the 

 want of room below, and not always then, they 

 should not l)c put on much sooner, as it enlarges 

 the !-pacc to be ke]>t warm by the animal heat, 

 all of wJbich is needed up to that time. 



[For tlie Amoricau Bee Journal.] 



Winterius: Bees. 



Mr. Editor : — I believe the inventors of all 

 hives claim — each for his special invention — 

 better wintering qualities "than any other hive 

 in use." But many of them, after being tested, 

 prove to be no better than any old common hive, 

 from the fact that they are not constructecl on 

 the right princii)le. When I constructed the 

 hive deso-ibed in the Journal for July, it was 

 my intention to make it one of the best for 

 wintering bees that had ever been devised; 

 and I have yet to find the man who has seen 

 and examined it, who says it is not upon the 

 right principle for that purpose. If we can have 

 a hive constructed on the right principle for 

 successful wintering of bees, storing honey, and 

 allowing of as much room for surplus honey- 

 boxes as the largest stock needs, it is certainly 

 an improvement over anything yet constructed 

 in the shape of a bee-hive. I claim that my 

 hive combines niore good qualities and fewer 

 bad ones, than any hive now extant. 



When I commenced to write, I did not intend 

 to say anything in favor of this hive. Those who 

 have used it will say enough in its favor. I will 

 now give my plan for wintering bees in it, which 

 I can do in very few words ; and it will not take 

 longer to prepare one of them for wintering, 

 than it will to read this article. 



First, make the winter passages through the 

 combs. This I do by taking a stick twenty 

 inches long and three-fourths of an inch wide, 

 made sharp at one end, and slowly worm it 

 through the combs, from front to rear of the 

 hive. If a hive be examined, twenty-four hours 

 after this has been done, the bores will be found 

 as round and as smooth as though the bees had 

 made them. Next remove the board from the 

 top of the brood chamber, and cover the frames 

 with any old rug, coat, or woolen cloth of any 

 kind ; and, although it is not necessary, it will 

 be found a good plan to remove the sides of the 

 brood chamber, and cover them the same as the 

 top ; or they can be covered with cotton cloth, 

 leaving the surplus box holes open as a means 

 of ventilation, and at the same time keeping the 

 bees confined to the combs and 'from going into 

 the outer hive. I did not remove the woolen 

 cloths from the tops of my hives this season, 

 and the only ventilation my hives have had 

 during the very hot weather was through the 

 entrance. There was no melting down of combs 

 as in the shallow form of the Langstroth hive. 



The entrance should be closed during the 

 winter, so as to leave only about one inch space 

 between the blocks. A stock of bees will not 

 smother in this hive, even if it be covered up in 

 snow all winter ; but the ventilating holes in the 

 cap must be left open during the winter. In 

 most of the hives sent out, I left a hole in front 

 of the brood chambers to make the winter 

 passages through. 



In the spring the brood chamber can be 



lifted oif the bottom boards and cleaned of bees 



and droppings ; and I have done this without 



even disturbing the bees. 



Tiireo years ago I gave a plan for wintering 



