64 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



fruit culture, and bee-keeping is encour- 

 aged instead of persecuted. 



In Italy there is a law regulating the 

 size of hives and frames. If the bees 

 destroyed fruit, there would have been, 

 in those countries, laws enacted long- 

 ago to prevent their being kept. And, 

 further, if bees destroyed grapes, would 

 they not do so every year, and not some 

 years^only, as several writers state in Re- 

 port of Agriculture tor 1671 ? It may be 

 said that bees do not woi'k on the same 

 flowers ^every jenv (linden and buck- 

 wheat, for instance), but that is because 

 they secrete no honey, but grapes al- 

 ways contain juice. 



But no matter how foolish and 

 groundless a theory is, it will have some 

 supporters. II. O. Kruschke. 



Berlin, Wis. 



For the American Boc Journal. 



Notes on Wintering. 



So many different and conflicting the- 

 ories have been advanced regarding 

 this branch of our science, that I feel 

 it must be approached with caution. 

 The reason for this caution should be 

 apparent to each of us who may care 

 to instnuct our brother bee-keepers on 

 the sn'MTJeQt before us. And why? That 

 which will suit us in Pennsylvania ma}^ 

 be greatly at variance with both the 

 practice and interest of those residing 

 in Iowa or Minnesota, or even those in 

 Tennessee or Kentucky. The effect of 

 the climate, the amount of honey gath- 

 ered in the fall from natural sources in 

 the various localities, and many other 

 things should be taken into considera- 

 tion if we attempt to solve the problem 

 of the "successful wintering of bees." 



I doubt not but that in the higher 

 latitudes, a carefully constructed win- 

 tering house should be the prominent 

 object of the bee-keeper; and even with 

 us, it nuiy prove an important auxilia- 

 jy, but after many years of careful 

 observation and experiment, I have con- 

 cluded that he who will lead us to suc- 

 cess by giving us a complete system of 

 out-door wintering will be considered 

 our greatest benefactor. With this ob- 

 ject carefully in view, 1 have made the 

 most of my experiments in relation to 

 this matter. .\ few of them, with vour 



permission, I will give to your readers. 



On the 17th day of November, I pre- 

 pared my hives for winter (it should 

 have been two weeks earlier), having 

 previously cut winter passages in all the 

 combs. I use the Langstroth hive al- 

 most exclusively — the double hive. I 

 packed at sides with either dry leaves 

 or old rags, and the caps with clean 

 straw. I removed the honey boards 

 from nearly all the hives, and in their 

 place I put a box frame of ])roper size, 

 made of plastering lath, and covei'ed 

 with burlaps or common bagging. This 

 frame I filled with clean straw, left 

 about one inch ventilation in front for* 

 the flight of the bees, and left the back 

 ventilator in the cap open. Permit me 

 here to say, that for wintering purposes 

 I prefer the single hive, made of one 

 and one-half inch stuff, to the double 

 hive. 



On examining stocks packed as des- 

 cribed, I find at our lowest temperatui*e ' 

 (eighteen degrees) this winter, that the 

 bees remained at the top of the frames 

 among their stores. I have tried vari- 

 ous coverings for the frames, cotton and 

 woolen quilts, heavy paper, dry leaves, 

 corn-cobs, etc., etc., but find nothing 

 equal to the box frame filled with straw, 

 except, perhaps the corn-cobs ; these 

 appear to Ije the best absorbents of 

 moisture, and at the same time afford 

 the most complete ventilation of the 

 hive. 



These are the only preparations I 

 have made this winter, with the excep- 

 tion of the fact that I have covered 

 every hive with light boards to protect 

 them from rain and snow. This I also 

 do in the heat of summer to protect 

 them from the sun. 



As I hope to give you further note* 

 on this subject, I will close this already 

 too lonor communication. "B '' 



Beaver, Pa. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



What Gallup has Seen. 



We have seen a stock of bees win- 

 tered under the following cii'Cumstance+H; 

 They were in an old fashioned straw 

 hive ; confined in the hive, and set on 

 some loose boards directly over the fire- 

 place in a log dwelling-house, where 



