150 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



October 



reared in the old and new combs, the 

 progeny of one mother, that specimens 

 were preserved in alcohol and placed 

 in my collection, but with the inten- 

 tion of submitting the "sample" to 

 editorial inspection, I find that in 

 traveling, the bottle has been broken 

 and the bees destroyed. Specimens of 

 Apis Dorsata, from Java, the sting- 

 less bee of South America, and others 

 highly prized, have suffered a like 

 fate, hence I may, instead, record an- 

 other phase of "failure in bee-keep- 

 ing." Cause, as usual, carelessness. Is 

 it not possible that at about this stage 

 (20 years) the combs became worthless 

 for breeding, and the sidewalls are 

 gnawed away, cocoons removed and 

 new wax added in reconstruction ? If 

 not, why were the workers reared in 

 the twenty-year-old comb smaller than 

 those of the venerable colony first re- ■ 

 f erred to ? 

 Titusville, Pa. 



Wintering Bees. 



BY CHAS. H. THIES. 



The best methods. of wintering our 

 bees is again before us. While our 

 bees in Southern Illioois require more 

 attention than do bees in California 

 and other warm countries, yet I am 

 glad to say that if bees in Southern 

 Illinois are fairly well protected, and 

 supplied with plenty of good honey 

 we need have no fear or loss. The 

 past winter was a tolerably cold win- 

 ter here. In March, 1894, I bought 

 the bees of a small apiary that had no 

 attention given them of any kind. 

 They were not only left without any 

 kind of packiug, but their hives were 

 full of holes, with lots of upward ven- 

 tilation. When first seen I was sur- 

 prised that they lived at all. 



Two of the principal requirements 

 for successful wintering are plenty of 

 good honey and a dry hive. There 

 are also other smaller items which re- 

 quire attention to have the best suc- 

 cess. Some of them I will here men- 

 tion. A dry hive is surely needed, 

 but a warm hive is very desirable, one 

 that will not let in cold winds. Also 

 the back of the hive should be raised 

 a little, say two inches, which not 

 only hurries the water off the hive 

 covers, but also tends to drain off any 

 moisture that may collect in the hive. 

 The bees should be covered with some 

 loose, open material. On top of this 

 place an empty super filled with soft 

 forest leaves. I say soft leaves, 

 as I believe them to be warmer. 

 Large, flat leaves will not do, as they 

 will pack down solid and not allow 

 the moisture to escape. 



Many claim that only large, strong 

 colonies should be wintered. I have 

 found that small colonies can be suc- 

 cessfully wintered, but their hive must 

 be made to suit the size of the colony. 

 A small cluster of bees in a large hive 

 will never do, as the bees on the out- 

 side of the cluster will surely chill 

 and consequently starve. What seems 

 to be necessary is that the bees en- 

 tirely fill the hive ; crowd them. To 

 have a goodly number of young bees 

 to go into winter with is also very de- 

 sirable, not only that I think they 

 winter better, but they live longer in 

 spring when they are most needed. 



Just now I am having a splendid 

 honey flow, which is always pretty 

 sure with me, even if no honey is ob- 

 tained in the spring. Our fall honey 

 is always of a good quality, conse- 

 quently we always get sufficient good 



