36 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



fatality of the Winter of 1871-2 by tlie 

 absence ofFall bi*ood in the hive. Now, 

 while I was sure that this was not the 

 correct explanation in the vicinity of 

 Lansing, as I never knew my Bees to 

 have more late Fall brood than during 

 that Autumn, yet I thought that it 

 might account for loss in some localities 

 where the extreme drought precluded 

 any late bloom, and where there were 

 perhaps no nectar-secreting insects ; es- 

 pecially as it was not difficult to find 

 localities where Bees had died without 

 appearance of dysentery. So during 

 the Summer of 1872, I removed the 

 queens from two colonies, preventing 

 the rearing of brood from August till 

 late Fall. In all other respects these 

 colonies were treated the same as the 

 remaining colonies of my apiary. All 

 the colonies wintered well, with no ap- 

 l^earance of dysentery, but these two 

 died off so rapidly after setting them on 

 the summer stands, that in a very few 

 days my apiary numbered two less col- 

 onies. Those which had brood October 

 Ist the preceding Autumn, not only 

 came through the Winter, but have 

 done exceedingly well during the past 

 Summer. Hence, so far as this experi- 

 ment goes, it proves that successful 

 wintering demands that we should keep 

 our Bees breeding well into the Fall. I 

 quite believe that neglect in this par- 

 ticular was the direful spring of last 

 Winter's woes — especially about Lan- 

 sing. 



Do you ask then, how would I pre- 

 pare my Bees for Winter? I most cheer- 

 fully answer : 



1st. I would arrange to protect them 

 against warm winter weather, by so 

 guarding them that they would not 

 feel it. 



This ma}' be done by preparing a 

 thick, double-walled special depository, 

 by placing them in a cool, dark, quiet 

 and dry cellar, which is beyond the in- 

 fluence of changeable weather; or, if it 

 is preferred to leave them on their sum- 

 mer stands, by either making them the 

 center of a huge snow bank, in which 

 case caution must be taken to so arrange 

 that water from molting snow can iwt 

 run into the hives. (The wind-break 

 of the apiary might be so constructed 

 that nature would bank up the snow 



for us, by placing our screen a little tO' 

 the west of colonies which we Avish to 

 protect) ; or, by putting the hives near 

 together, we could place boards about 

 them, and pack in with saw-dust, straw 

 or shavings, and thus protect them from 

 the changes of Winter. Yet^ if we are 

 not sure to keep them cool and quiet^ 

 we must be careful not to stop up the 

 entrances to the hives. 



To secure good Winter stores we may 

 either follow Mr. A. I. Root's sugges- 

 tion, extracting the honey and feeding 

 a syrup made of coffee A sugar,, a safe 

 and economical method^ as the honey is- 

 worth enough more than the sugar tO' 

 more than ^my for the ti*ouble ; or, we 

 may take pains tliat they have none 

 other than honey gatliei*ed from flow- 

 ers and all capped over as soon as the 

 buckwheat harvest is past. I should 

 prefer, too, that they have a good 

 quantity of Bee-bread, that there may 

 be no hindrance to earl}^ Spring breed- 

 ing. 



Again, I would have none but very 

 fertile queens, and be sure to have 

 brood in October, even th-ough in ex- 

 treme cases I might have to feed to se- 

 cure it. 



I should have some ern^pty comb in 

 the center of the hive, and should pre- 

 fer to have at least thirty pounds of 

 honey in each hive, though if rightly 

 managed, I should expect, my Bees to- 

 consume but a small part of it. 



Having made use of the above pre- 

 cautions during the past Winter, not 

 only with my own Bees and those of 

 the college, but also by suggestions se- 

 curing the same in a neighboring apiary, 

 wintering in all of the three cases was 

 attended bj' the very happiest success, 

 while so far as I know there was not 

 another colony of Bees Wintered in the 

 whole localit}'. 



Now, Mr. President, I would not be- 

 too positive that I have got to the core 

 of this subject of wintering Bees, for it 

 behooves us all to be veiy slow to ex- 

 press 0]iinion!^ adverse to those enter- 

 tained by such cautious, candid men, as 

 Mr. Quinby and A. I. Root, and even 

 more slow to generalize iji matters com- 

 plicated by life, Avhere very many ex- 

 periments are ever necessary to render 

 us certain as to results. Yet T feel con- 



