THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



41 



tary ; aud Adam Fuerbringor, Treasurer. 

 The election of a Vice President was dis- 

 pensed witli. Fifteen members signed 

 the constitution at the first meeting aud a 

 great many morejhave signed since. 



Altliougli the past season here could 

 not be called a first rate one, the reports 

 from the dilVerent members of this Asso- 

 ciation on increase of swarms and surplus 

 honey are very good, and sum up as fol- 

 lows : Colonies in the spring, 1,285 ; in- 

 crease 1,15U ; total 2,4;>5, put into winter 

 quarters. 



Comb hone)' 28,4G7 lbs. 



Extracted. 15,0o2 " 



Total 43,499 lbs. 



All of the above comb honey was sold 

 for a price ranging from 18 to 30 cents 

 per ft, aud the extracted from 12 to 18 

 cents per It), except 250 lbs. of comb, and 

 400 lbs. of extracted honey on my hands 



yet. 



One of the main questions discussed in 

 these meetings was as follows : How can 

 bees be wintered without loss? William 

 Wolf, of the village of Jefferson, opened 

 the discussion on this topic. I have win- 

 tered bees on their summer stands, in 

 clamps, and lately in a house built for 

 that purpose, I would not under any cir- 

 cumstances recommend in this northern 

 country, to winter bees on their summer 

 stands ; bees wintered out-doors would 

 need just double the amount of honey as 

 when wintered in clamps, cellars or re- 

 positories. And further I will state that 

 I always lost one colony out of three 

 when I wintered them outdoors on their 

 summer stands. In regard to wintering 

 bees in clamps I would state that they 

 have done well, except one winter ; when 

 in the spring the snow melted aud water 

 got into my clamp aud drowned many 

 bees. I would therefore advise bee- 

 keepers who winter bees in clamps to 

 select for that pui'pose a dry, high place 

 where no water under any circumstances 

 could get iuto it. 



The last four winters I wintered my 

 bees in a house built for that purpose, 

 the first winter they wintered well ; 2nd, 

 heavy loss ; 3rd, heavy loss ; 4th, some 

 loss, but not so heavy as 2nd and 3rd 

 winter. I account the cause for losing so 

 many the 2nd winter to the smallness of 

 my house, having put in the house 184 

 colonies of bees, they produced too much 

 heat and before the weather was favor- 

 able in the spring so that bees could be 

 taken out from the house, they left their 

 hives, fell down on the floor and died, 

 dead bees covering the floor from three 

 to four inches deep. The third winter 

 n-'iich was two years ago, when t].e ther- 



mometer stood from 28 to 34 degrees be- 

 low zero for one whole week, my house 

 was too cold. The sawdust had settled 

 on the sides and the naked boards were 

 no protection for my bees and they froze 

 to death. 



The last winter I lay the cause to the 

 weakness in numbers of bees in some of 

 my colonies, at the time I put them in 

 my repositoiy. If our bees are in a good 

 condition at the time we put theni up for 

 wintering, not kept too warm neither too 

 cold, they will winter well, but if kept 

 too warm it will induce them to com- 

 mence breeding, they will get too dry 

 and sufter from thirst, the young bees 

 hatching while in the cellar, clamp or 

 repository have no chance to fly and 

 clean themselves, and on that account 

 will get eftected with disease. If kept 

 too cold, the vaporation of the bees will 

 freeze and the comb will get wet and 

 mouldy. 



C. Grimm stated, I have experienced 

 very little difticulty in wintering bees. 

 Since 1868, I kept bees in this country, 

 have always wintered them in the cellar 

 aud had very good success. 



In the summer of 1871, I built a new 

 cellar at my farm for the purpose of win- 

 tering mj'^ bees there. The cellar is built 

 on the side of a small hill, so that from 

 one side where the door leads into it, it is 

 level with the surface aud I can walk in 

 without climbing up cellar-steps. It is 

 only protected on two sides, the other 

 two sides had no protection, except one 

 foot brick wall which was insuflicient to 

 keep the frost out, in this cellar I put my 

 bees the next winter. 



One cold morning wiieu the tempera- 

 ture was 28 deg. below zero outside, I 

 w^ent iuto my cellar and found it only 10 

 above zero. I opened nearly all the hives 

 which were on top, and was surprised in 

 finding the bees, in every one I opened, 

 inclosed in a lump of ice ; put a stove in 

 my cellar at once and used artificial heat 

 to thaw them up. From this time until 

 the weather got warm I kept a fire every 

 day to keep the frost out aud to dry the 

 hives. 



On the 29th of March, 1872, I took my 

 bees from the cellar and put them on 

 their summer stands, and found among 

 77 colonies only two dead, although I dis- 

 turbed my bees many times during win- 

 ter. 



In the winter of 1873, I did not use 

 any artifical heat, I protected my cellar 

 with sawdust to keep the frost out, and 

 have succeeded in doing so. On the 26th 

 of INIarch, took them from the cellar and 

 found after examination among 132 col- 

 onies, four dead, all the rest had wintered 



