134 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Dec 



tracted one thousand pounds from a very few 

 hives, (June 27.) 



We find this season, when a strong stock is 

 somewhat limited for room, that nearly every 

 cell, as soon as the young bee hatches from it, 

 is filled with honey. The queen will occa- 

 sionally find an empty cell before the bees do 

 and deposit an egg. Such will usually keep up 

 the semblance of a strong colony, without a very 

 large number of bees. When so full of honey, 

 bnt few bees remain inside, in hot weather, and 

 most of them cluster outside for most of the 

 summer, and really are not strong enough to 

 spare a swarm. But when extracting is pro- 

 perly done, they are usually strong enough to 

 spare a swarm artificially, late in the season. 



More honey has been yielded up to this time 

 than usual, and those who understand the busi- 

 ness, will manage to get some of it. 



M. QuiNBY. 



St. Johnsville, N'. Y. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



A Simple Cover for Hives. 



It is a matter of importance to the beekeep- 

 er that his stocks should be protected from the 

 sun during the hot months of summer and 

 autumn. Bees do but little work when their 

 stands are exposed to the full rays of the mid- 

 summer suns. Want of attention in this mat- 

 ter is often the direct cause of the abandon- 

 ment of hives by entire colonies. The failure 

 on the part of the bees to store surplus honey, 

 may also often be traced to the same cause. 

 Bees must be made and kept comfortable, to 

 get from them the full amount of service which 

 they are caj^able of rendering. 



The shade of trees and arbors generally fur- 

 nishes all the protection from the sun that bees 

 require. In such places the air is usually cool 

 and refreshing, even in the hottest weather. 

 But if the shade is too dense, so much so that the 

 rays of the sun are entirely and all the time 

 excluded, there is danger of the combs and the 

 inner parts of the hive becoming mildewed. It 

 is better to have too much than too little sun- 

 shine on the hives. But the proper shade can 

 not always be had just where the beekeeper 

 wants to place his hives. He must then resort 

 to artificial protection. The cheapest and 

 most convenient arrangement for this purpose, 

 that I know of, is a cover made of clapboards 

 iV)r each hive. My hive is in shape and size 

 about the same as the Langstroth, and I pre- 

 sume a similar cover would answer for any 

 other hive. I nail five clapboards, each about 

 six inches wide and thirty long; on to two 

 cleats, two of the boards covering the cracks 

 between the three others, in the style of an or- 

 dinary board roof The cleats are placed close 

 enough together to rest on the hive, raising the 

 boards from one to two inches above the top 



of the hive. An air passage is thus formed be- 

 tween the cover, upon which the lays of the 

 sun fall, and the top of the hive, which has no 

 little effect in reducing the temperature in the 

 upper part of the hive. One of the cleats I 

 make thicker than the other, to give the cover 

 a pitch to run off the rain. 



The cost of such a cover would not exceed 

 ten cents, and any one that can drive a nail can 

 make one in five minutes. The whole cover is 

 light and easily handled. When it is desirable 

 to open the hive, it can readily be lifted off 

 entire, and laid on the ground, or set up against 

 the hive, and when the hive is closed it can as 

 easily be replaced. 



Such a cover not only defends the bees 

 against the heat of the sun, but also forms a 

 very effectual protection for the hive against 

 the weather. A hive, thus covered, will last 

 and retain its neat appearance about as long as 

 it would under an ordinary shed or roof. 



Another important advantage in such a cov- 

 er is, that the beekeeper can scatter his hives 

 around in his yard or orchard, or wherever he 

 may desire, and • have each of them well pro- 

 tected from the sun and rain ; this he cannot 

 do under permanent sheds or roofs. When 

 winter comes, and the hives are stored in the 

 cellar or bee-hous(^ these covers can be stored 

 away in the wood-house or barn till they are 

 called for again in the spring. 



I have found this simple cover to meet fully 

 my wants in this direction, and I think that 

 beekeepers, who have not already some better 

 device, will be satisfied with it on trial. 



Charlesiown, hid. M. C. Hester. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Wintering Bees. 



There has been much said in regard to the 

 great malady of 1871-73-73. With me it is 

 quite easy to exjilain, from experience. Prac- 

 tical knowledge should be taken to a great ex- 

 tent as proof. 



In August, 1871, I found my bees were filling 

 up the combs, and leaving but small space for 

 the queen to deposit her eggs. To counteract this 

 danger, I threw t]ie honey out of 6-lOthsof the 

 honey-frames, giving the queen an opportunity 

 to deposit her eggs, for rearing young brood 

 for the winter. The result was, my colonies 

 went into winter quarters with plenty of honey, 

 gathered from flowers, and an abundant 

 young brood, and came out clean, nice, 

 strong, and healthy in the spring of '73, 

 having wintered on their summer stands. To 

 more thoroughly test this plan, in the fall of 

 1872, I arranged a portion of my colonies 

 on the same plan, and a part I left without any 

 preparation, with plenty of honey and plenty 

 of bees, and the result was that all I had pre- 

 pared, as on the previous fall, came through 

 all right, while 7-8ths of those left without pre- 



