1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



We could not get him to make any sort of 

 speech, but he would answer questions, as 

 many as you might ask. His experience 

 was rather in favor of the Heddon hive. 

 He had some trouble with pollen in the 

 sections, but it was only after he had lifted 

 up the first tier of sections, and put another 

 tier under it. Where new swarms were 

 hived into a single section of the Heddon 

 hive, he said the bees did go right into the 

 boxes, and put all their honey there, filling 

 the shallow brood-chamber almost solid 

 with brood. When he attempted to build 

 up colonies in the spring, however, in the 

 shallow brood-chamber, he did not succeed 

 so well. 



HOW SHALL "WE "WINTEB OUR BEES? 



INDOOK VS. OUTDOOR WINTEKINO. AND THE AD- 

 VANTAGES OF THE FORMER. 



T X my report of the Ohio State Bee-keep- 

 m ers' Convention in last issue, I made 

 ^t mention of Mr. H. R. Boardman and 

 ^ his manner of securing comb honey. 

 Our older readers will remember that 

 Mr. Boardman has been for many years one 

 of the most successful men, if not ^/;e most 

 successful in wintering bees intlie Northern 

 States ; and, in fact, he winters hundreds of 

 colonies, winter after winter, without any 

 loss worthy of mention ; we can therefore 

 afford to read with much care the following, 

 which he read to us in the form of an essay, 

 at the convention : 



AN ESSAY, READ AT THE OHIO STATE CONVENTION, 

 COLUMBUS, JAN. 11, 1888. 



There has always been a feeling of Insecurity in 

 bee-keeping as an occupation, on account of the 

 uncertainty of wintering. This question settled, 

 and some sure and reliable way of wintering pro- 

 vided, the business will be placed on a firm basis 

 beside the other industries. 



The ground has all been gone over so many times, 

 that it would seem useless to attempt to present 

 anything new or interesting; and yet the winter- 

 ing problem has not reached its solution. Indoor 

 and outdoor wintering have their advocates, and 

 both alike have their record of successes and fail- 

 ures. Outdoor wintering is among my earliest, and, 

 I may also say, my saddest experiences in bee- 

 keeping. The most important factor in the winter- 

 ing problem is climatic influence. There are others 

 important that come within our control; but the 

 influences of the weather we can at best only 

 modify. 



Cold does not kill the bees; but jt comes in con- 

 tact with the warmth produced by the living colony 

 inside the hive, and condensation of moisture en- 

 sues. 



Moisture, combined with the cold, furnishes one 

 of the most demoralizing and destructive condi- 

 tions with which we have to contend in outdoor 

 wintering, both upon the bees and the stores. 

 When a colony is so prepared that an excess of 

 moisture accumulates within the hive, the stores, 

 both honey and pollen, especially if unsealed, are 

 contaminated by these conditions, and rendered un- 

 fit for the bees; and no amount of packing or pro- 



tection against the cold will improve these condi- 

 tions. A large per cent of the loss of colonies that 

 have been specially prepared for outdoor wintering 

 is undoubtedly the result of improper preparation. 

 Colonies exposed to the severest cold, in climates 

 much colder than ours, often winter in good con- 

 ditiOQ without any protection whatever; even when 

 subjected to the most reckless exposure in old di- 

 lapidated hives, crumbling to pieces with age, and 

 split and seamed from bottom to top, colonies have 

 wintered year after year, for many years, while oth- 

 ers, protected in the most careful manner, accord- 

 ing to the most approved methods of modern bee 

 culture, have died. 



We are pei-plexed and astonished at such results. 

 The existing conditions were not those anticipated. 

 The only conclusions are, that the favorable condi- 

 tions in such exposed colonies that wintered well 

 overbalanced the unfavorable conditions; and, also, 

 in such protected colonies that perished, there was 

 a preponderance of unfavorable conditions, or, in 

 other words, that such exposed colonies were in 

 more favorable condition for wintering than the 

 carefully protected colonies. This sounds strange, 

 but is it not trueV 



I have often observed, that if the stores are of 

 good quality, and remain in good condition, that 

 the bees will also keep in good condition and winter 

 well; while if the stores are in bad condition, no 

 amount of protection from the cold will avail in 

 preserving the health and vitality of the colony. 

 Even stores of inferior quality, if in good condi- 

 tion, are not necessarily fatal to the bees, if other 

 conditions are favorable. Mr. Hutchinson, in Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal, page 650, says, " I have yet to lose 

 a colony having cane-sugar stores, and wintered in 

 a warm cellar, and by the method I now employ." 

 Does Mr. H. know that the same colonies would 

 not have wintered well by any other reasonable 

 method? 



Mr. R. L. Taylor, at the Chicago Convention, re- 

 ported in A. B. J., p. 776, says: " I am confident that 

 I can winter any fair colony well, on stores, which 

 are certainly good, by any of the approved meth- 

 ods." Who doubts his ability to do the same? Mr. 

 Taylor also says, " I am satisfied that I can not win- 

 ter a colony well on stores that are decidedly poor 

 in quality, by any method with which I am acquaint- 

 ed." Who can tell me how to do it? Stores may be 

 so decidedly poor in quality that bees would not 

 winter upon them by any method; but I have an 

 abundant evidence that stores decidedly poor in 

 quality, if preserved in good condition, will not 

 necessarilj' produce serious results, if aided by 

 other favorable conditions. 



I am aware that the results of indoor wintering 

 are far from being uniform, and are often very far 

 from being satisfactory. Disastrous losses are not 

 Infrequent, even with apiarists of experience. Suc- 

 cess depends as much upon the careful attentioQ 

 to details of preparation as does outdoor wintering. 

 Indoor wintering is my preferred method. It en- 

 ables me, by my present methods, to secure all of 

 the conditions favorable to wintering, both to the 

 bees and the stores, with more certainty, and, at 

 the same time, with less labor and expense, than 

 the methods employed in outdoor wintering. 



VENTILATION. 



In the construction of my first bee-house I gave 

 much attention to the ventjlatjon. I had ventilal;- 



