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American Bee Journal, 



DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO BEE CULTURE. 



Vol. XI. CEDAR RAPIDS, MARCH, 1875. No. 3. 



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W. F. CLARKE, I Fditoks 



Mks. E. S. T upper, f^^^^^^'^- 



Wintering Bees. 



Sir Robert Peel was accustomed to say, 

 " Ireland is my difficulty." lu like mau- 

 ner, the bee-keeper in this climate, may 

 say with truth, " winter is my difficulty." 



AVe have found a remedy for most other 

 difficulties, but it is not too much to say, 

 that this one remains uucouquered. The 

 serious losses of the past two or three sea- 

 sens, induce feelings of uncertainty and 

 apprehension, now that another winter is 

 upon us. 



Lentil recently, the common custom was 

 to winter bees on their summer stands. 

 During a moderate season, this was found 

 to answer very well, but long-continued 

 severe w^eather, and especially the perval- 

 ence of bitterly cold winds, caused great 

 mortality and heavy losses, even with 

 doubled walled and so called frostproof 



hives. 



In-door wintering too, has been tried 

 and found wanting. Sometimes it works 

 well, and on the whole, it has been more 

 successful than the other method. But 

 there has been many failures. These 

 have been variously explained. Lack of 

 warmth, iu.sufficient ventilation, too great 

 warmth, close confinement, damp, impur- 

 ity or thinness of honey, disturbances of 

 the bees, extreme quietude, artificial feed- 

 ing, and the want of it, are among the 

 most prominent theories that have been 

 put forward to account for the failure of 

 in door wintering. 



Mischief usually develops in the form 



of dysentery, and the explanations above 

 enumerated, relate to the cause of this 

 trouble. In a state of confinement, the ex- 

 crementitious matter is retained in the 

 body of the bee. Its habit is to discharge 

 its foeces when on the wing; If bees can- 

 not fly, the foeces are undischarged, un- 

 less distension and discomfort compel them 

 to befoul the hive. Under favorable con- 

 ditions, in which but little honey is con- 

 sumed, and the bees get into a state of 

 semi-torpor, this retention of the forces 

 may continue a long period. Bees have 

 been known to remain five months in win- 

 ter quarters without a discharge, and yet 

 came out vigorous and well. A warm 

 day is chosen to release them from confine- 

 ment, so that when set out doors they can 

 at once enjoy a cleansing flight. It is not 

 always possible however to secure the 

 conditions necessary to enable stocks to 

 endure a whole winter's imprisonment. 

 If they are too warm they become active. 

 Exercise creates appetite, appetite leads to 

 a larger consumption of food, the digest- 

 ive organs become over-crowded, and 

 vent must be had. When once a hive be- 

 comes foul with excrementitious voidinga, 

 it is unwholesome, and things go on from 

 bad to worse. If there is not proper es- 

 cape for the moisture of the hive, or if the 

 winter quarters are damp, mould is deveL 

 oped and the fatal dysentery sets in. As 

 already stated, other causes lead to the 

 same lamentable result. 



To prevent the over accumulation of 

 fceces, means have been adopted to give 

 the bees a mid winter flight. The hive 

 has been taken into a warm, well- 

 lighted room, and opened, so that the in- 

 mates might sally forth, and reUeve them- 

 selves. Or a box covered with wire-cloth 

 has been fitted to the top of the hive, and 

 the bees have been permitted to have a 



