1894. 



THE AMERICAN BEE- KEEPER. 



than those beside them in the hives. 

 One thing was in favor of the good 

 hives, most of those in boxes were 

 new, being last year's swarms, and 

 short of stores, while the good-hives 

 colonies had plenty of stores, and 

 young queens. Now these boxes and 

 all were right out in open ground, ex- 

 cept that grass and weeds had grown 

 up all about them. 



The situation will be better under- 

 stood when you remember that this 

 is a dry climate. The ground is bare 

 and often dusty most of the winter, so 

 you will see that these colonies re- 

 ceived much heat through direct rays 

 of sun, and the heat radiating from 

 the ground. 



Last winter we had bees out-doors 

 entirely unprotected, and with sup- 

 posed sealed covers. One lot of seven- 

 teen colonies was in a little deep val- 

 ley in the foot-hills. The first cover 

 over them was a plain thin board 

 cleated, with bee space between it and 

 the top bars of frames; above this 

 was a regular rimmed outer cover, 

 same as illustrated in the K. D. hive 

 in both the Review and Gleanings some 

 time ago. This gives about one and 

 one-half inches space between the 

 covers. The inner cover become wet 

 to some extent and warped so as to 

 give a little top vent. Right behind 

 the hives on the north and northwest 

 was a big rock and hill. The rocks 

 piled up almost perpendicularly for 

 fifty feet or more. Thus the sun 

 would beat down upon the hives, and 

 also generate and reflect heat from 

 these rocks, so that almost every clear 

 day those bees were warmed through. 

 There being the two covers on, the 

 outer one slightly telescoped and 

 close, there could not be any decided 



top ventilation, but where the venti- 

 lation lacked, the heat came to the 

 rescue. Not one colony perished al- 

 though one or two were very weak to 

 start with in the fall. 



Another apiary was an open ground. 

 The hives were placed in double rows, 

 back to back, fronting east and west. 

 These were left with the summer 

 quilts on, and a slightly telescoping 

 cover close on these. Most of the 

 duilts were more or less ragged The 

 most of them had more or less top 

 ventilation, but none having very 

 much. Cases were about the hives, 

 taking ten and twelve hives to a case, 

 half on one side and half on the other. 

 These cases came just about two in- 

 ches above the brood chamber, and 

 had removable roofs sloping both 

 ways. About two inches of space was 

 between the hive and outer case. 

 This and the space between hives were 

 packed with chaff, and about two or 

 three inches of chaff on top. Thus 

 the winter case cover lay upon the 

 chaff at the eaves, but rose to about 

 six or eight inches in the center, to 

 give the pitch to the roof. 



Here the loss was about five or six 

 out of fifty seven so far as winter los- 

 ses were concerned; more, however, 

 were lost by spring dwindling. This 

 dwindling we will discuss farther on. 

 Another lot previously mentioned in 

 a hive within a hive and sawdust 

 packed, because of much shade and 

 covering, and being so situated that 

 the sun could not penetrate the hives, 

 suffered greatly with moisture and 

 the loss was about two-thirds. This 

 lot was not quite so strong to start 

 with, which had something to do with 

 the difference in loss. 



Six colonies were put up-stairs in 



