60 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



in a deep hive. I put straw over some of the ; 

 hives, and tliey did better tlian those without. ; 



L. C. Root. In wintering bees, tliere arc 

 three things necessary : Proper condition i 

 when going into winter quarters, proper tem- 

 perature, and quiet. Bees are usually in best 

 condition to go into winter quarters, when 

 the honey is stored from time to time during 

 the season — the amount being increased as 

 tlie brood diminishes. This leaves empty 

 comb where bees cluster. The principal ob- 

 jection to late fall feeding is the hive contains 

 no brood, and the honey or sugar fed is stored 

 too much in the centre of the combs. We 

 tind that about forty -five degrees is the proper 

 temperature where they are subject to any 

 jar. I think if tliey could have perfect quiet, 

 they would stand a much higher temperature, 

 and consume a less fiuantity of honey. In 

 our cellars the present winter, where the ther- 

 mometer stands at forty-five to forty-seven 

 degrees, one swarm consumed two and three- 

 fourths pounds during November; one and 

 three-fourths during December; one and 

 three-fourths jiounds during January. An- 

 other swarm consumed four and three-fourths 

 pounds during November; two and three- 

 fourths during December; five and three- 

 fourths during January. The difference in 

 quantity is owing to warmth and quiet. 



S. A. Cleveland. I believe we should report 

 our losses. A year ago I had forty swarms 

 in good condition. From all my frame hives 

 I had extracted the honey. I continued to 

 feed one-quarter of a pound a day of sugar, 

 until April 1. They seemed in good condi- 

 tion. I set them out, and they were raising 

 young bees. About April 2()th I noticed they 

 did not eat the honey. I only succeeded in 

 getting seven through the spring. Four out 

 of six in box hives survived. They had no 

 honey taken from them during the year be- 1 

 fore. Last year my record was all reverses, j 



M. n. Tennant. Quiet is what bees need, f 

 I went into my bee-house Wednesday even- 

 ing, and I never saw better swarms than [ 

 those fed with my feeder. I feed nothing ' 

 but pure box honey. I have succeeded very j 

 well with straight "A" sugar. My house is j 

 fourteen by sixteen feet, above ground, with ; 

 saw-dust-filled walls, ventilated above and j 

 below, the current of air passing up the cen- ! 

 tve of the room, and the bees standing around | 

 tlie sides. I put cleats on the fioor, and then [ 

 piled the hives one above the other, bringing | 

 them out a little from the wall. I think a ■ 

 floor should be avoided, as you can not step 

 on it without jarring. One winter I only i 

 went into the bee-house four times, and only | 

 lost two swarms. , In the spring I lost eleven. ', 

 I found them around on the fen(^es, where | 

 caught them and chilled them 



the wind had 

 fast. 



L. C. Root, 

 ruins the bees. 



It 



is i)rotracted cold which 

 wind from one direction 



will drive the bees to the other side of the 

 hive. They will eat all the honey on that 

 side and die. They cannot get back to the 

 food on the cold side. Getting excited induc- 

 es the bees to leave the cluster, and then they 

 get chilled easily. 



R. Bacon. I am slow to believe that cold 

 alone produces dysentery. We should learn 

 the cause for a certainty, if possible. 



S. Alexander. I believe with Mr. Root 

 that long detention in the house will not in- 

 jure the bees. We bought a hive of a neigh- 

 bor who left it in until IVIay 15. It was the 

 best hive we had. We put out the bees early, 

 and saved them, but those left in until May 

 were the best bees. The idea in modern hives 

 is to make them non conductors. This, of 

 course, makes it slow business to warm theui. 

 Thus protracted cold results. This might 

 account for Mr. Bacon's bees not doing so 

 well in frame as in box hives. 



J. H. Nellis. This would work if bees 

 were not capable of producing warmth. In 

 an article written some time ago, Mrs. Tupper 

 asserts that she wintered bees very success- 

 fully in a cellar, under a living room in which 

 children were constantly romping. I once 

 wintered bees, some in box, some in frame 

 hives, under ten feet of snow, from January 

 to April. I shoveled them out and rapped on 

 the hive with no result. They were dormant, 

 and it took an hour to re^■ive them. The}' 

 were in good condition. I have wintered 

 bees very nicely in a cellar at a temperature 

 of forty degrees. The last two winters have 

 been disastrous, howevei*. The winter of 

 1872, I had seventy-seven stocks in the cellar 

 — forty-four in box hives. Lost more than 

 one-half of those in box hives, and but few 

 of those in frame hives. I think the bees in 

 frame hives were stronger and more thorough- 

 ly bred. I lost about one-fourth of my stocks. 

 In tlie fall I fed five stocks on sugar syrup. 

 They wintered better than tiie average, yet 

 not satisfactorily. Those subsisting on late- 

 gatheied honey wintered as well as those sup- 

 plied \Nith honey stored early. The cellar 

 averaged probably about thirty-five degrees. 

 I think they should be kept warmer — about 

 forty-two degrees, and after the first of 

 March they should be warmed frequently to 

 fifty degrees. I would have them breed con- 

 siderably afti-r the first of ]March. I think 

 the scarcity of young bees at the time stocks 

 are taken from the cellar, the prime cause 

 of disaster in the spring. The old bees die 

 of natural c-auses, and leave what little brood 

 is started, unprotected. I have known 

 stoi-ks in rickety box hives to winter well out 

 of doors in llu' nu)st exposed situations. Facts 

 are so apparently contradictory, that I cannot 

 reach any certain conclusion. 



Capt. Ileatherington. We bought some 

 bees in Vermont of a Frenchman who had 

 left his bees until May. His bees were in as 



