656 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Results of Emeriineiits in Wiiilerliig. 



Written for tlie American Bee Journal 

 BY B. TAYLOK. 



I can now give the final result of my 

 wintering experience for 1893-94. I 

 have felt more interest in the late ex- 

 periment than any one I ever tried. The 

 end is now reached, and hope and doabt 

 are at an end. 



I removed one-half of the hives from 

 the cellar near the middle of March ; at 

 that time I found but one dead colony. 

 The weather turned cold about the 20th 

 and the balance of the bees remained in 

 the cellar until April 16th. At this 

 time many colonies had dwindled en- 

 tirely away, both in the cellar and in 

 those put out, while nearly all were 

 reduced to very small colonies. 



The colonies that made the big record 

 in surplus last season were the ones that 

 fared the worst. All had plenty of 

 stores ; the combs were entirely free 

 from mold — there was no sign of diar- 

 rhea, and the bees, even in the hives 

 where there was but a pint of bees, what 

 there were, were bright and lively as in 

 summer. 



I had bought 14 colonies last fall that 

 were mostly in box-hives ; these bees 

 had given their owner no surplus last 

 year. He was discouraged and wanted 

 to quit. From late experience I had 

 reason to believe that his hives were in 

 just that condition needed to winter 

 well, and bring big, early colonies this 

 year. They had not been robbed of 

 their store of honey at the end of bass- 

 wood, and had the means of keeping 

 brood-rearing up even if there was but 

 little fall honey. 



Theorizing as above, I bought them, 

 and made no mistake. Put into the 

 same room with my other bees, they all 

 came out, nob only alive, but booming 

 with bees that were ready to fly out and 

 sting before they could be carried to the 

 summer stands. I shall expect first- 

 class early swarms from them. 



My other bees I doubled up — generally 

 two, sometimes three colonies together, 

 and I now have 69 first-class colonies. 

 I am feeding and giving more care than 

 I ever gave bees before, as my next ex- 

 periment is to find how near I can over- 

 come adverse results of wintering by 

 extra spring care. 



The house-apiary wintered its colonies 

 a little better than the cellar, which I 

 attribute to the fact that packed early 

 In a warm sawdust bed, they reared 

 brood later. I am now feeding J| pound 

 of sugar syrup each evening, and will 

 continue this until near the end of fruit- 

 bloom. Each colony is now in one sec- 

 tion of a double hive. 



The loss and doubling up I have ex- 

 plained, has left rae with an abundance 

 of extra hive sections, full of bright, 

 clean combs, heavy with honey. Near 

 the end of fruit-bloom I will unpack the 

 hives and give each another section of 

 these extra stores. This will give food 

 to bridge over the period of dearth that 

 ofttimes comes here between fruit-bloom 

 and clover. I will discontinue feeding 

 after this doubling-up, and with a large 

 store of supers, filled with finished 

 combs, leveled to equal size by the 

 " comb leveler," I will await with hope 

 and joy the white honey harvest. 



It might be inferred from this rather 

 seeming failure in wintering, that there 

 is a shadow cast over my enthusiasm for 

 bee-keeping. If any so imagine, they 

 never made a greater mistake. The 

 apiarian sun never shone more brightly 

 than now. I am now 64 years old, am 

 not physically very strong, and I am go- 

 ing to free myself from every tangling 

 care except practical honey-production. 

 I know it can be made to pay well, with 

 proper, intelligent understanding of the 

 subject. 



What we need is not so much an im- 

 proved strain of golden Italian bees, as 

 an improved "strain" of practical bee- 

 keepers, that know what to do, and why, 

 I am going to make myself one of them 

 if my capacity and industry are capable 

 of so much growth. 



I feel certain that I have found, for 

 me, the key to the wintering problem — 

 large colonies of young bees; plenty of 

 natural stores ; and a warm, dry cellar 

 or house-apiary. I now have the house- 

 apiary and cellar, and next fall I am go- 

 ing to have the young bees, if life and 

 health permit, for I know that by a 

 \itt\e cheap, judicious feeding, late breed- 

 ing can be secured when a fall flow of 

 honey fails to produce natural results ; 



