148 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



October 



champion colony of Dresden, Tex., 

 which was reported to have stored 

 1,000 lbs. in one season. 

 —Notwithstanding the extremely dry 

 weather, the honey crop has been 

 above the average in this vicinity, 

 and as a result of the incidental en- 

 couragement, marked improvements 

 in appliances are noticable in many 

 small apiaries, odd sizes of hives are 

 being discarded and the bees placed 

 upon uniform frames. This newly- 

 awakened interest craves further 

 knowledge, and some have already 

 subscribed for the Bee- Keeper and 

 several others avowed their intention 

 of so doing before the advent of long 

 winter evenings. 

 Tittisville, Pa. 



Wintering Bees. 



BY JNO. F. GATES. 



After about 25 years of careful 

 study of the problem of wintering 

 bees, I consider that a well-prepared 

 colony of bees, with right care, is as 

 safely wintered on its summer stand 

 without any protection, as a cow is in 

 a good stable and well fed. This may 

 be called a strong statement, but it is 

 true, for it all depends on care and 

 preparation. Cold never killed a col- 

 ony of bees, any more than millers 

 or worms have. Any spot on earth 

 where bees can collect sufficient stores, 

 is never too cold to winter them on 

 summer stands. I am convinced that 

 bee-keepers in general do not realize 

 the importance of allowing their bees 

 to have white honey for winter stores. 

 AVhen I commenced keeping bees I 

 found but one obstacle to success, and 

 that was the winter problem, and for 

 about a quarter of a century I have 



studied how to overcome it. The at- 

 tention I have given the subject ought, 

 as it certainly has, to reward me with 

 success. Many times in my travels 

 about the country I have made in- 

 quiry about the loss of bees, and col- 

 lected ideas of the cause of their 

 loss. I never could gain much knowl- 

 edge from the bee-keeper's supposed 

 cause of his loss, for each one had an 

 idea of his own, and I could not form 

 a conclusion which would harmonize 

 with their testimonies, but in every 

 case I managed to find out how they 

 did with their bees, and from these 

 facts I draw my own conclusions, and 

 the whole result of all these years, 

 leads me to believe that three-fourths 

 of all the loss of bees in wintering is 

 caused by poor honey, or in other 

 words, the lack of white honey. I 

 will give you an average case. I said 

 to Mr. A. "How many colonies have 

 you?" "19." "How many did you 

 lose last winter?" "36." "What 

 do you think caused those 36 colonies 

 to die?" " Well, Mr. Gates, I don't 

 know, unless it was dysintery ; at least 

 that was the only apparent cause of 

 disease. Some starved to death, but- 

 most that died had dysintery." "Did 

 those that died of dysintery have much 

 honey? " Yes." " Please let me see 

 some of it." The honey that he showed 

 was dark, perhaps all poor kinds 

 mixed, and is bad for bees to eat in 

 winter when they have to be quiet. 

 "How much honey did you get last 

 season?" "1,800 lbs." Mr. A. can 

 you point out those colonies which 

 gave you the largest yields of honey ?" 

 " The 36 that died gave me about all 

 the honey I got." " Why did the 

 19 that are now alive not give you 



