363 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



December 



A good one lasts years, and its cost is 

 so slight that the expenditure may be 

 considered one of the wisest that can 

 be made in fitting up an apiary. 



A veil made of black bobinet or 

 Brussels net, to draw over the hat, 

 and a pair of gloves, preferably of 

 rubber, may be used at first. But 

 whoever has peaceal)le bees and learns 

 even a little about their ways will 

 soon discard the gloves, unless, indeed^ 

 he be exceedingly timid, or one of 

 those to whom a bee sting would be a 

 dreadful affliction. The veil can be 

 safely dispensed with if the gentlest 

 bees are kept. 



Simple and convenient hives,empl()y- 

 iug the Langstroth principle, and with 

 stories and frames interchangeable and 

 so constructed as to insure strait combs 

 will much facilitate the avoidance 

 of stings. 



The use of the bee escape in re- 

 moving surplus honey greatly reduces 

 the risk of being stung during this 

 operation, for it saves muph manipu- 

 lation of combs and shaking and 

 brushing of bees. This useful device 

 is fitted into a slot made in a board 

 the same size as the top of the hive, 

 and the whole, when slipped in be- 

 tween the brood apartment and an 

 upper story or super will permit all of 

 the workers above to go down into 

 the lower story but not to return to 

 the top one, so that in one night it is 

 possible to free entirely a set of combs 

 from bees without any manipulation 

 of the combs, and without smoking, 

 shaking, or brushing the bees. 



Lastly, reasonable care in manipu- 

 lation and a suitable system of manag- 

 ement, which, of course, implies the 

 doing of work in proper season, will 

 with the observance of the foregoing 



points, make the risk of stings exceed- 

 ingly slight. Indeed, intelligent at- 

 tention to the most important of the 

 points mentioned above, with extra 

 gentleness and moderation in manip- 

 ulation, will enable anyone who so 

 desires to avoid all stings. 



INDOOR WINTERING 



A dry, dark cellar or special re- 

 po.-it)ry built in a sidehill or with 

 double-fiiied walls, like those of an 

 ice house may be utilized for wintering 

 bees in extremely cold climates. It 

 should be so built that a temperature 

 of 42 to 45° F, (the air being fairly 

 dry in the cellar) can be maintained 

 during the greater part of the winter. 

 To this end it should be well drained, 

 furnished with adjustable ventilators, 

 and covered all over with earth, 

 except the entrance .where close-fitting 

 doors, preferably three of them, should 

 open in succession, so as to seperate 

 the main room from the outside by a 

 double entry way. The colonies, sup- 

 plied with good queens, plenty of bees, 

 20 to 25 pounds of stores each, and 

 with chaff cushions placed over the 

 frames, are carried in shortly before 

 snow and severe freezing weather 

 comes. 



Any repository which is damp or 

 one whose temperature falls below 

 freezing or remains long below 38° F. 

 is not a suitable place in which to 

 winter bees. When in repositories, 

 the bees have no opportunity for a 

 cleansing flight, nor do they, when the 

 temperature rises outside, always 

 warm up sufficiently to enable the clus- 

 ter to move from combs from which the 

 stores have been exhausted to full ones, 

 hence in a cold repository they are 

 liable to starve with plenty of food in 

 the hive. As a rule, colonies would 



