1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



407 



cluster of nails and a round stick 

 shown in the photos is twistrd up un- 

 til the hives are drawn so tightly to- 

 gether that no cold or fi-ost can get 

 in. A piece of insulating paper 

 reaching from top of super ;o bottom 

 of brood chamber, is placed between 

 the hives before they are forced to- 

 gether. A similar wire is aiso run 

 around the supers; a stick slipped un- 

 der the wire and twisted up tightly. 

 In the photo the deep super is packed 

 with forest leaves and the hi'f story 

 with cork. We prefer to have the full 

 depth super on the whole community 

 with double-walled front and roar. At 

 the advent of fruit bloom we take 

 the packing from the supers, crowd ir. 

 a dummy on weather sides of supers, 

 fill the top stories with empty combs 

 and get them by clover time as nearly 

 as possible solid with brood. When 

 clover opens up we put the queens be- 

 low, put on the queen excludeis, then 

 a full super of combs and place the 

 brood on top. At the end of t.m days 

 we take what brood we want for in- 

 crease (we get very few swarms) and 

 cut out the cells in the rest of the 

 combs. Of course, we spread the 

 hives apart at clover time. \\ e pack 

 the supers with any good insulating 

 material that may be handy, re- 

 granulated cork, old forest leaves 

 shredded up fine, finely cut straw, 

 cork chips, forest leaves freshly gath- 

 ered, sawdust and planer thavings 

 mixed. We place them in tlie order 

 we believe to be their relative value 

 in bringing bees through the winter. 

 We fill the supei-s with packing to 

 within and inch and a half of top, put 

 on the honey-boards, put a water- 

 proof paper on top of that <nd cov- 

 ering all the hives. Then the regular 

 covers. Any wet that gets in where 

 covers touch each other is caught by 

 the waterproof paper. 

 Ontario. 



SUNSHINE AND BEES 



By Allen Latham 



This is being written on January 

 13, the coldest day of the year in 

 Connecticut thus far. It is a clear 

 day with the wind right out of ths 

 north, the temperature ranging from 

 14 to 21 above. At 10 o'cIock, when 

 the temperature was about 18. T went 

 to the apiary to look at the thermome- 

 ter, which is thrust through the pack- 

 ing of a small colony which I am ex- 

 perimenting with. Just as I thrust the 

 thermometer back a bee crawi< d from 

 the tube entrance and took tlight. I 

 stepped aside that the bee might have 

 an unobstructed return to rhc hive. 

 In less than three seconds she came 

 back, glad to crawl into the wtrm in- 

 terior of her home. 



Some of my readers may see noth- 

 ing remarkable about the statements 

 in the paragraph above, but I sea 

 enough to warrant writing a few more 

 paragraphs relative to the suggestion.^ 

 which rise. Now we are ordinarily 

 taught that bees cannot safely fly un- 

 less the temperature is at least 50 in 

 the shade and are told that even then 

 the wind should not be blowing. But 

 here a bee flies when the temperature 

 is 22 degrees lower than is safe, and 

 there is a brisk wind right out of 



the north. How is this to be ac- 

 counted for? 



That bee was a healthy, strong he-i. 

 As soon as it felt the chill of the air 

 it returned briskly to the hive. Had 

 it been a sick bee or a weakling it 

 Vvould have flown dizzily about, would 

 soon have lighted on some object, and 

 probably never have returned to the 

 hive. It is true that a general flight 

 of bees when the temperature isi 

 much below .SO, or when the wind i; 

 blowing, is often disastrous. It is 

 not true that healthy bees aie lost 

 when they fly out during a bright win- 

 ter day. 



A few days ago an amateu^- wrote 

 to me expressing regret because he 

 had not been at home a certain day 

 recently when his bees took flight. H,,' 

 had his enti'ances shaded against wind 

 and sunshine. The bees found it diiri- 

 cult to get out and back with the ob- 

 structing boards in place. Many bees 

 were lost because of getting chilled 

 before they could find their way back 

 into the hive. Had the 'jeekeeper 

 been there he would have removed 

 the boards and thus allowed the bees a 

 free pathway. 



Are such boards a detriment, or are 

 they of real value? 



Personally I consider such devices, 

 as a rule, a real menace to the good 

 health of the colony. There may be 

 isolated instances, such as colonies 

 with a northerly exposure, in which a 

 benefit might accrue from the boards 

 being in place ; but under all crdinai'y 

 circumstances those boards are worse 

 than valueless, for they ai'e a source 

 cf harm to the bees. 



When I say the boai-ds are a 

 source of harm I do not refei- to the 

 loss of bees that might occur in case 

 the bees had a flight in the absence ot 

 the beekeeper, but I refer to harm 

 that results from their pi-esence upon 

 any sunny day. I ventui'e to say that 

 there are no animals that are more in 

 need of sunshine than are honeybees. 

 Sunshine is a tonic to bee life, it is 

 the natural panacea for all the ills of 

 bees. Nothing so invigorates a colony 

 of bees as a sunny, day. 



I like to have the sun shine into the 

 entrances of my hives. What if it 

 does entice a few bees to fly out? Ten 

 to one all healthy bees that fly out 

 succeed in returning. Those that do 

 not return would have died in the hive 

 within a few days anyway. Pei-son- 

 ally I prefer to have bees die outside 

 rather than inside the hive. Dead 

 bees in the hive have absolutely no 

 value, and when accumulated in 

 quantity are extremely detrimental to 

 the welfare of the colony. It is quite 

 possible that a colony exposed to the 

 full glare of the sunlight all througii 

 the winter might have a few less live 

 bees the middle of March than if it 

 had had its entrance shaded. But 

 would it be true that the same colony 

 would have less bees three weeks 

 later? 



Eight thousand bees that are vig- 

 orous the first of March wil' carry 

 along a colony better than 18,000 that 

 are sickly. By the end of thrt e weeks 

 only a thousand or two of the eight 

 will be gone, whereas 14,000 or l.'i,- 

 000 of the 16,000 will be gone. By 



the 10th of April the colony which 

 has had the invigorating effect of 

 sunny winter days will be better ofl: 

 than that colony which has not had 

 the benefit of sunshine. After thirty- 

 six years of experience in winterin,? 

 bees outside, I now have absolutely no 

 use for boards to shade the entrance. 

 I like the sun to be on those hives not 

 less than four days of every week of 

 the year. 



Last winter (1919-20), one of the 

 most disastrous to bees for a genera- 

 tion, there were some six weeks dur- 

 ing January and February when the 

 sun scarcely appeared to view. Day 

 after day of clouds with a low tem- 

 perature. For eight days at a 

 stretch we did not have ten minute.s 

 of continuous sunshine. Bee.-; could 

 not carry out their dead ; the dead ac- 

 cumulated about the entrance. Colo- 

 nies were unusually strong in old 

 bees, as no fall flow of honey had 

 killed off the field force. By the 1st 

 of February nearly every colony had 

 its entrance completely covered with 

 dead bees. In some cases the dead 

 lay two inches deep about the en- 

 trance. Then came a sleet storm 

 which sealed the entrances with ice. 

 The result was awful. 



This winter mild temperatures and 

 sunny days have allowed the bees to 

 can-y out their dead on the average 

 of twice every week since the first of 

 December. The hive bottoms are to- 

 day as clean as in summer, except 

 for a few capping-gnawings. Bees 

 are so snappy that they fly out into 

 the cold air with impunity, at once 

 returning when they feel th; chill. 

 Let the sunshine in. 



WINTERING BEES IN THE SOUTH 



By L. B. Smith 



Having had many years of experi- 

 eiice in wintering bees in a warm cli- 

 mate, much the same as Southern 

 California, I thought a few lines on 

 that subject from me would be per- 

 missible, especially as I am asked that 

 question frequently. 



This will, if used, appear a little out 

 of season, but most real beekeepers 

 save their Journals and read them at 

 their leisure time; it may be useful 

 to them later on. I don't think, but 

 know, the very best place for all 

 combs is in care of the bees, here in 

 this warm climate, let that be winter 

 or summer. 



I have many colonies now tiered up 

 four and five stories high, with full 

 depth bodies, and I will have as 

 strong colonies, or stronger ones, in 

 these tiered up hives, as the m.in who 

 has gone to the extra trouble and ex- 

 pense of removing and caring for 

 these combs. 



As for perfect wintering, I would 

 not give five cents to have every col- 

 ony insured. "Oh!" says one, "haven't 

 you read what Prof. Jiggs say; of the 

 winter problem in the South, or our 

 Government Expert, Jimmy Jones, 

 has said?" Sure, I have read most 

 evei-ything published in the various 

 books and journals, for many years, 

 concerning bees. 



With all due respect for our Gov- 

 ernment experts and professors (they 



