374 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



November 



WINTERING BEES IN MONTANA 



How B. F. Smith, Jr., Prevents Seri- 

 ous Winter Losses 



By Kennith Hawkins 



Despite the low temperatures of 

 the wind-swept Northwest in winter, 

 B. F. Smith, Jr., one of the most suc- 

 cessful producers of comb honey in 

 Montana, has worked out a plan of 

 applying winter protection to his bees 

 which has reduced losses to one per 

 cent or less over a period of 6 years. 



The methods adopted by Mr. Smith 

 might not work in other than the 

 "dry" climates of the inter-mountain 

 States, but have been proven suc- 

 cessful on apiaries aggregating a 

 total of 600 colonies of bees. These 

 experiments have ' been continued 

 since 1914, being applied the first win^ 

 ter to 320 colonies of bees. For the 

 winter of 1919-1920 the methods were 

 used on 600 colonies of bees, with ex- 

 cellent success. 



The 10-frame hives containing bees 

 are set into pairs by Mr. Smith, the 

 covers removed and a 4-inch tray 

 placed over each hive, this tray hav- 

 ing a bottom of cloth to prevent pack- 

 ing sifting down between the hive 

 frames. The trays are filled with 

 planer shavings and sawdust, loosely 

 packed, and the inner covers set on 

 top. Two thicknesses of paper are 

 placed over the hives, the one next 

 to the hives being a red rosin-sized 

 building paper. Over this is placed 

 one thickness of tar paper, and on 

 top of the hive a thickness of tar pa- 

 per is placed, all being secured in 

 place with lath. 



Since Mr. Smith operates entirely 

 for comb honey, one might expect a 

 little poorer wintering if considera- 

 tion is given to the fact that in most 

 comb-honey operations, the queens 

 are restricted for room and conse- 

 quently there might not be the quan- 

 tity of young bees in the hive in fall 

 that one might desire. However, the 

 loss of one per cent of the bees an- 

 nually in six years, indicates colonies 

 in good condition in fall. 



The packing material is fairly dry, 

 will pack without too many air 

 spaces between the particles. It is 

 easily accessible in Montana. The 

 packing is never put in tight, and be- 

 ing placed directly over the cluster, 

 operates to some extent as an ab- 

 sorbent of moisture given off by 

 the cluster. One thing of import- 



B. F. Smith's bees winter well, in spite of Montana's severe winter climate 



ance is that only a part of the api- 

 aries included in this experiment have 

 wind protection, and the difference in 

 winter losses between those protected 

 and those afforded no protection has 

 been negligible, Mr. Smith says. Any 

 one who doubts that heavy snows do 

 not fall in Montana at times, in spite 

 of the low rainfall in the State, may 

 correct this impression by a glance at 

 the accompanying photographs. The 

 reader should remember that the ex- 

 periment involves the use of some 

 500 colonies of bees. 



A study of the climatological pe- 

 culiarities of Montana affords an in- 

 teresting sidelight on this wintering 

 plan. The average annual rainfall 

 for the State at Bozeman from 1880 

 to 1910 was but 19.29 inches. Heaviest 

 precipitation came in May and June, 

 with fairly heavy average annual fall 

 rains in September and October, over 

 this entire period. 



The average first killing frost, at 

 Billings, near Mr. Smith, comes 

 about September 10, and the last kill- 

 ing frost about May 2, according to 

 reports of the Montana Experiment 

 Station. 



From weather reports, 1919 seems 

 to have been an average season, so 

 far as temperatures are concerned. 

 U. S. Weather Bureau reports show 

 that the mean growing temperature 

 for April was 48.6 degrees F., for May 

 57.6 degrees, for June 69.2 degrees 

 and for July 72.4 degrees. The rnean 

 minimum temperature, for Billings, 

 over a period of 15 years, ranges to 





20.9 degrees F, in January; from -A.6 

 to 21 degrees F in February; from 



15.7 degrees F to 27.4 degrees F in 

 November and from 3.2 degrees F to 



20.8 degrees F in December. 



Mr. Smith succeeds in wintering 

 succesfully in his climate by follow- 

 ing the plans enumerated: Vigorous 

 queens, plenty of young bees in fall, 

 adequate stores, reduced entrances, 

 supers removed, packing applied by 

 shavings above the cluster and a 

 ■double row of wrapping paper sur- 

 rounding all colonies, rosin-sized pa- 

 per within, tar paper without all, 

 paper fastened to hives by nailed 

 lath. Hives are 10-frame, set together 

 for wrapping in pairs, covers are re- 

 moved, inner cover topping off 

 packed super above brood-chamber. 



Best of all is the honey test, and 

 those who are acquainted with Mr. 

 Smith know that he ships many thou- 

 sands of pounds of honey nearly 

 every year. He is located in the 

 Clark's Fork Valley, which is well 

 stocked with bees now. There are 

 many good locations in other parts of 

 Montana and as Mr. Smith is too busy 

 to answer correspondence, informa- 

 tion can probably be gotten by ad- 

 dressing the State Entomologist Ex- 

 periment Station, Bozeman, Montana. 



U. F. .Slliitll liils llic supers Willi alisorl 



heavy 



Ul.lU-IUll .Uhl WI.II'S UVU l.l)lulliLS U'yi.llu'1- 111 



paiier 



DR. MILLER'S MEMORY 



Among the hundreds of letters com- 

 menting upon the death of our old 

 friend, we will give only two, because 

 they indicate the almost unanimous 

 sentiment expressed. Here they are: 



"Your letter received. I am at a 

 loss to find words to express my feel- 

 ings of sorrow to hear of Dr. Miller's 

 death. I wonder who would say he 

 could take his place ! 



"L. W. BENSON, Dewitt, Neb." 



The other is from one of the men 

 best acquainted with him, the man 

 who called him the "Nestor of Ameri- 

 can Beekeeping." 

 "My Dear Mr. Dadant : 



"Your letter of September 14, bear- 

 ing the sad news of the death of our 

 grand old friend, Dr. C. C. Miller, 

 came today. I read it just as I got 

 home from the oflice. Little did I 

 think before I opened the envelope 

 that it contained such sorrowful news. 



"For many years Dr. Miller seemed 

 more like a father to me than as an 



