1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



525 



a kind and useful strain of bees. Some of her 

 progeny I regard with a degree of actual affection, 

 but thej' don't drop. 



The season has been very good here. There were 

 some heavy losses in wintering, but the spring 

 opened well— no dwindling, and no spell of scarcity. 



The How of honey still continues satisfactory. No 

 big report will you see from uie, however. The 

 bass wood is about two miles away, and my bees 

 are a kind that don't "drop." How can I induce 

 them to load a little heavier? Joki, H. IlAimEK. 



Lancaster, Wis., July )ii, 1684. 



Friend 1>., I am sorry to say that we liaveu't 

 any bees tliat "• drop " just now. VV^e have 

 not had any rain of any account for six 

 weeks or more, and wehaveahnost forgotten 

 how they look when tliey "■ drop '' all around 

 the entrances, and theii iiufl awhile until 

 they 5,'et breath enouji,h to j^-oin on foot. But 

 tliey did ''drop "during- the apple and locust 

 bloom, and also when white clover was (»ut. 

 They comnienced it a very little when bass- 

 wood lirst opened, but now they swing in 

 '' gaily and nimbly," just as yours did. May 

 be you have not had a right good yield of 

 honey. It needs so much nectar in the 

 flowers, that a bee can load up so it is pretty 

 hard work to lly ; then when he comes near 

 his hive he will swing around on a curve, and 

 finally sort o' tumble near the entrance. 

 .May be you are inclined to smile a little 

 about this dropiiing business, but 1 think 

 there arc i>l('nt> of our readers who have 

 seen it exactly as 1 have described it. 



HOW I WINTER MY BEES. 



HOW FRIEND POND WINTERED THE COLONY THAT 

 STORED 73 T.BS. OP HONEY FROM APPT.E-BT-OOM. 



fAVING received several communications from 

 the readers of Gleanings, inquiring for the 

 system of management that enabled me to 

 get 73 pounds of honey from a single colo- 

 ny from apple-bloom, I know of no better 

 way of answering than through these columns, as 

 by that means one answer will serve for all. I will 

 premise by saying that my system is neither now 

 nor in many respects original. I use the Simplicity- 

 Langstroth frame and hive; winter on summer 

 stands, and have done so for many years, without 

 losing a single colony wintered on the L. frames. 



For my answer I will give the system or method I 

 used with the colonj- 1 got 73 lbs. of honey from, as 

 it was the method adopted with all. 



Last September the frosts killed the goldenrod, 

 and consequently I began my winter preparations 

 sooner than usual, as I ordinarily wait till after 

 goldenrod has bloomed. About the middle of last 

 September I removed three frames from the hive 

 (a common ten-frame Simplicity), replacing thena 

 with chaff division-boards. T then began feeding 

 dilute sugar syrup, to keep the queen laying as late 

 as possible. By the middle of October I had so ar- 

 ranged, by use of the extractor, that the upper half 

 of each of the seven frames was filled with sealed 

 stores thi'oughout their whole length. As soon as 

 the weather became cold enough to force the bees 

 into a cluster I changed the frames so that this clus- 

 ter occupied the right-hand side of the brood-cham- 

 ber. I then put on a Hill device, covered the bees 



in well with a thin blanket of woolen felting, such 

 as is used for drying in paper-mills; any light po- 

 rous blanket will answer the purpose equally well. 



After covering them in so that not a single bee 

 could get above the blanket, I put on an upper sto- 

 ry, and filled it with forest-leaves (dry, of course), 

 pressed lightly down. I used a cover with a li^-inch 

 hole bored in each end. The entrance I left open, 

 about 8 inches in width. Nothing was done to this 

 hive during the winter, which, by the way, was un- 

 usually severe. About the first of March 1 looked 

 the bees over a little, found them lively, and ap- 

 parently doing well. 



About the middle of March, oii a warm pleasant 

 day I opened the hive, found the bees in good 

 shape, the combs clean, and partly filled with brood 

 in all stages, and quite a number of young bees in 

 the hive also. As there was still plenty of stores, 1 

 removed one of the division-boards, replacing it 

 with a thinner one, and inserted a frame of empty 

 comh. In fovn- or five days this was filled with eggs, 

 and I renioved the other thick division-boai-d, re- 

 placing it with a thin one, and inserted another 

 frame of empty comb. I then led a small quantity 

 of syrup every day until fruit-bloom. I kept the 

 l)ees covered in warm all the time, but did not re- 

 move the Hill device till about April 1. 



When fruit-bloom Viegan to show itself on my ap- 

 ple-tiees I removed the blankets, etc., put on a zinc 

 honey-board over the frames, put ten frames of nice 

 comb into the upper story, and covered them well 

 with blankets. It was on Saturday that I pOt in the 

 empty frames. Sunday was pleasant; but Monday, 

 Tuesday, and Wednesday, it rained and snowed all 

 the time. Thursday morning was ushered in by a 

 bright beautiful sun, and it continued pleasant and 

 warm the remainder of the week. On the following 

 Saturday afternoon I extracted 73 lbs. of as nice, 

 clear, and beautiful honey as I ever saw, and at the 

 same time removed two frames of brood from the 

 lower story, replacing them with frames of fdn. 



The queen presiding over this colony was re.ired 

 by J. B. Mason, Mechanic Falls, Me., and is a pure 

 and purely mated Italian. 



The method above given is my usual plan of win- 

 ter preparation and management^ and 1 have no 

 fears or dread of any oi-dinai-y winter. Others 

 might not succeed by following in my footsteits. It 

 proves a sale bridge, however, for mo to travel 

 over, and I shall continue traveling over it until it 

 bi'caks down; and then, even, I shall look some 

 time for a cause before I lay it wholly to the bridge 

 itself. I believe that success in wintering can be 

 gained only by keeping as nearly as possible an 

 even temperature, whether it be zero or 40 degrees 

 above, and by allowing excess of moisture to pass 

 out from the hive. If thorough and complete venti- 

 lation can be gained by using the entrance alone, 

 then perhaps it may be safe to hermetically seal the 

 hives at the top; but the difficulties to be overcome 

 in that direction are so great, and the temperature 

 so changeable, that I am of the opinion that it is far 

 safer to allow just such ventilation as I use. Oth- 

 ers may differ from my practice and my theories. 

 To all such I say, the facts are enough for me. 

 Foxboro, Mass., .Tuly, 1884. J. E. Pond, Jr. 



I do not know that I would have any thing 

 to add to the al)ove, unless it were that I 

 should treat tiicm in the same way, only us- 

 ing a chaff instead of an ordinary hive made 

 of inch boards, as I presume the above was. 



