(Entered at th^ Pust-ciiijrc at Cbicago as Becond-Clasa Mail-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a 4"ear, by George W.York & Co., 3.34: Dearborn Street. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL, MAY 2, 1907 



Vol, XLVII— No, 18 



IKK 



Litotes 

 Coimncnfs 



.^ 



Spring Protection of Bees 



The editor of the Bee-Keepers' Review is 

 quite enthusiastic about protecting bees in 

 spring by wrapping the hives with tarred felt. 

 It N. E. France is correct in saying that a 

 colony protected by tarred paper will have 

 double as much brood as an unprotected one 

 when warna weather comes, it may well be 

 worth while to make trial of such protection. 

 Although the protection should be given im- 

 mediately when the bees are taken from the 

 cellar, there are still some cold days due for 

 many this spring. 



One may make a jumbling job of fastening 

 on the covering, and Editor Hutchinson gives 

 what seems to be an excellent way in the fol- 

 lowing : 



The usual method of putting on the felt is 

 to fold it down over the hive and fasten it by 

 tacking a strip of thin wood along the lower 

 edge on each side of the hive, but I have tried 

 a plan that I like better, viz., that of tying 

 it on, putting a piece of wool twine, or some 

 coarse twine, around the hive in two places 

 and drawing it up as tightly as possible, then 

 tying it. The only difficulty with this method 

 of fastening on the paper, is to keep it in 

 place while the strings are being put on and 

 tied. Ordinarily it would require the services 

 of two or three persons, but I hit upon a 

 scheme whereby one man can do the act easily. 



The felt is a yard wide. Cut it off in lengths 

 just long enough to reach over the top of the 

 hive and down each side to the bottom. Then 

 cut out pieces just the size of the end of the 

 hive. The piece that is to go in front of the 

 hive should be cut on a slight circle on one 

 edge, and this edge turned down so as to 

 leave a place open at the bottom for an en- 

 trance. To hold the paper in place while it 

 is being lied, I tacked a block to the side of 

 the top-bar of a brood-frame (of course, any 

 stick will answer) at each end. I had the 

 blocks at such a distance apart that when the 

 felt had been folded over the hive, as one 

 would fold paper over a package that was 

 being done up, these blocks would just nicely 



V 



spotted with dysentery, a bee-brush dipped in 

 water should be used to clean them up before 

 giving them to the bees. 



slip over the end of the hive. Then by press 

 ing one end of the stick up, and the other 

 down, any amount of pressure could be 

 brought to bear— enough so that the stick 

 would remain in place and hold the felt in 

 place while it was being tied. 



I made two of these sticks with blocks 

 nailed on, one for each end of the hive. Lay 

 the large piece of felt over the top of the hive, 

 set the end-piece up against the end of the 

 hive, place the knee upon the top of the hive, 

 fold down the felt around one end exactly as 

 you would fold paper in doing up a package, 

 put on the stick to hold it in place, turn to 

 the other end of the hive and serve it the 

 same. Have the strings cut ofl the right 

 length, put one around, draw it up tight, tie 

 it, then put on another string in the same way 

 down near the bottom of the hive, remove the 

 sticks, and the work is done. 



Five cents worth of tarred felt will cover a 

 hive, and with this method of putting it on 

 there is not much likelihood of its being in- 

 jured, and it can he piled away and saved to 

 use another spring. 



Using Combs on Which Bees Died 



" Can combs on which bees have died dur- 

 ing winter be given to healthy bees in the 

 spring?" is a question that arises annually, 

 and is answered thus in Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture: 



Every year about this time a good many 

 inquire whether it would be safe to put live 

 bees on combs from which bees have died. 

 We should have no hesitation whatever if 

 they are not badly soiled with dysentery 

 stains; and there would be no danger even 

 then after settled warm weather comes on. 

 Even if the stores were so inferior as to be 

 responsible for the death of the colony dur- 

 ing winter, such stores would probably do no 

 harm to bees that are permitted to have a 

 flight one or Hvo days in a week in early 

 spring. Combs very badly soiled with dysen- 

 tery should be set aside and not used until the 

 bees can fly every day; and even then we 

 would not give more than one to a colony at 

 a time. If they are well sealed and badly 



Why are Bottom -Starters Necessary ? 



This question is raised by the editor of the 

 Bee-Keepers' Review in the following para- 

 graph : 



Bottom-starters are favored by a few bee- 

 keepers ; and I will say this : If you can't get 

 the combs firmly attached to the bottom-bars 

 without the use of bottom-starters, then use 

 them by all means. I have no use for them. 

 As I have said before, no man by looking at 

 my finished sections could tell which side up 

 they "grew." I would like to visit some 

 bee-keeper who can't succeed without bottom- 

 starters, and see his sections before he gives 

 them to the bees — see them as he gives them 

 when trying to succeed without bottom-start- 

 ers. If the section is not filled full, of course 

 the comb may not be attached at the bottom — 

 I would not expect that it would. If it is 

 filled full w/iij don't the bees attach the comb 

 all around* They do with me and with hun- 

 dreds of bee-keepers that I have visited. 



In the absence of anything authoritative on 

 the subject, it may do no barm to make a ten- 

 tative answer to Mr. Hutchinson's " why." 

 There are some who believe in having their 

 bees somewhat crowded in supers, and bees 

 thus crowded will, other things being equal, 

 fill out sections more plumply, fastening them 

 well to sides and bottoms. If you want to 

 see outside cells next the wood filled and 

 sealed, allow only one or two supers of sec- 

 tions to a strong colony in a heavy honey- 

 flow, so that the supers will be literally 

 crammed with bees. You may, however, 

 overdo the business, compelling the bees to 

 build a lot of bur-combs between the sections. 



Others, however, think that the advantages 

 gained by thus crowding are offset by disad- 

 vantages. They think there is a loss in hav- 

 ing bees so crowded that all can not have 

 room and to spare at their work, especially if 

 the crowding reach the point where the bees 

 turn part of their honey into clumps of white 

 wax to be practically wasted. Another thing 

 is, that some desire to have just as many colo- 

 nies as possible go through the season without 

 making any attempt to swarm, and to favor 

 this the bees must have abundant room, and 

 with this abundant room in the supers some 

 sections will not be well built down without 

 the persuasive itffluence of bottom-starters. 



Mr. Hutchinson's advice is good: If you 



