550 



.AMERICAN BEE lOURNAL, 



Augr- 28 1902. 



all that had been done, and report on the same, with sugges- 

 tions and advices. Prof. Mally finished by remarking 

 what a grand State Texas is for such a pursuit, and men- 

 tioned the wonderful things that could be done ; also, how 

 he expected to see to it that Texas bee-keeping should be 

 brought up to a high standard. He will keep bees upon his 

 extensive truck and fruit farms in East Texas, and in a 

 few years expects to have a large number of colonies of 

 bees. 



The president, Mr. Udo Toepperwein, spoke a few 

 words of thanks in behalf of the bee-keepers, for the pleas- 

 ure afforded them by Prof. Mally "s address. Pres. Toepper- 

 wein also appointed a committee of three, viz., L. Stachel- 

 hausen, F. L. Aten, and Mrs. C. R. West, to investigate 

 and report upon the college apiary. Later, they reported 

 as follows : 



REPORT ON COMMITTEE OX ST.A.TE APIARY. 



"Your committee has investigated the apiary upon the 

 College grounds, and has found 16 colonies of bees in good 

 and healthy condition, a very neat honey-house, and in it 

 all necessarj- implements for the apiary. Our opinion is 

 that the small sum of money at the command of Prof. 

 Mally was invested in a very proper way for the purpose of 

 creating the apiary, the object of which is to serve as a me- 

 dium of instruction in apiculture to students of the College. 

 Especially were we pleased with the orderly and system- 

 atic arrangement of the whole. 



We hereby recommend that more monej- be expended 

 on this apiary so that it will contain at least 50 colonies 

 and the necessary implements, as we think that the present 

 number of colonies is not sufficient for the proper carrying 

 on of experiments. L. Stachemhausen ) 



. Frank L. Aten '- Committee. 



Mrs. C. R. West ) 



[Contiaaed next week.) 



\ Contributed Articles. 



Preparing Bees for Winter-When and How. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent writes me that he desires to do the best 

 he can with his bees at all times of the year, and that he 

 has been benefited much by my writings. He still wishes 

 to benefit by them by me giving an article in the American 

 Bee Journal regarding when to prepare bees for winter. He 

 says his neighbor tells him that December is soon enough 

 to get the bees ready for winter, but he has been wondering 

 if it was not too late. 



Well. I will do the best I can in the matter, but I will 

 say that we do not all see alike in regard to the time when 

 bees should be prepared for winter. Many seem to think 

 that the latter part of November or December is early 

 enough to prepare bees for winter ; but some of our best 

 apiarists have learned that the best results in wintering can 

 be secured only when preparations are begun early in the 

 season, so that the inside of the hive need not be disturbed 

 after cold weather arrives. Therefore all colonies are to be 

 looked after as soon as the honey harvest is over, to see 

 that they have good queens, and that there is plenty of 

 brood in all stages, for this brood is to produce the bees 

 which are to live through the winter months ; and if, for 

 any reason, there is not plenty of brood at the end of the 

 honey harvest, it is easy to tell what the result will be the 

 following spring. 



If any colonies are found that have been short of brood. 

 the queen should be changed for a good one. and brood from 

 those which have an abundance be given them so that thev 



can build up so as to be sufficiently strong in bees before 

 cold weather sets in. If b}- any means, after all our pre- 

 cautions, the 20t;h of October finds us with weak colonies, 

 they should now be united, for it is useless to attempt to 

 winter very small colonies unless we have some special 

 place to put them in. which has proven during the past 

 to be sufficiently equal to the wintering of such small colo- 

 nies. 



Again, we wish to know that all have honey enough, of 

 good quality for winter. Good quality in honey has much 

 to do with the safe wintering of our pets : in fact, I believe 

 more than any one thing which can be named : and he who 

 does not pay any attention to this matter cannot expect to 

 succeed to any great extent. 



But what is good quality in honey ? may be asked. If 

 we look to Nature for an answer — that Nature which pre- 

 served our bees all through the thousands of years before 

 man began to keep them for the profit in them — we shall 

 find that, as a rule, the honey which a colony left undis- 

 turbed by man has in store, is that which has been on the 

 hive long enough so that it is thoroughly ripened, having 

 that rich, good quality we all like so well. Now such honey 

 as this cannot be gotten just at the close of the season, 

 where the extractor has been used till the very last thing, 

 as many novices, and even older ones, persist in doing, leav- 

 ing only the thin, watery stuff which comes at the time of 

 the year when extracting is usually left off, for the bees 

 to live upon. In my opinion, upon the injudicious use of 

 the extractor has been chargeable much of the loss of bees 

 in wintering during the past quarter of a century ; for in 

 nearly every instance where we have heard of large yields 

 of honey taken with the extractor late in the season, we 

 were almost sure to hear of a corresponding loss of bees by 

 the same persons the next spring. 



To overcome this difficulty it is better to set aside 

 enough combs of thoroughly ripened and sealed honey dur- 

 ing the season to winter our bees; and then, when the 

 honey-yield is over, exchange combs with the bees; extract- 

 ing all that is left in the combs taken this late from the 

 bees, if we so desire, or carry it over in the combs to help 

 build up the colonies in early spring, if this seems better in 

 our sight. In this way we are sure that the bees have such 

 honey as they ought to have to winter on. Of course, this 

 applies only to those who are prone to extract too closelj- 

 during the earlier honey-flows ; but it is a good plan to 

 work a few colonies for such combs of thoroughly ripened 

 honey to be used in case of emergency, no matter how the 

 bees are worked. Each fall finds me with.an average of at 

 least two full combs of such honey for each colony calcu- 

 lated to be wintered over. 



Another reason why we should not put off' preparing 

 the bees for winter till cold weather comes, is that, if we do 

 this, they cannot well get their winter stores near and 

 around the cluster in time for them to settle down into that 

 quiescent state so conducive to good wintering, as they 

 should do pricr to November 10th to ISth. To arrange these 

 stores, and properly prepare them, requires warm weather, 

 hence all will see the fallacy of putting off caring for them 

 till cold weather arrives. 



To be sure that all have enough honey for safe winter- 

 ing, this can be ascertained by weighing a hive filled with 

 empty combs, of the same pattern as those which the bees 

 are in ; or the frames can be taken out and the honey 

 "counted off," as many prefer to do, myself among the 

 number, as this gives you the whole of the wintering mat- 

 ter in only one manipulation. 



To be absolutely safe, 30 pounds should be allowed for 

 each colony to be wintered on the summer stands, and 25 



