1891 



glp:axings in bee culture. 



173 



I love to hear Jane I'ead about Home and Our 

 Neighbors. One white man says. " Mr. Root 

 got no use for a negro : don't believe he will 

 take anj- notice of a letter from one." 

 Whistler. Ala. Doc Sixgi.eton. 



[Friend S., your friend is very greatly mistak- 

 en in saying that I hav(^ no use foi- lettei'S from 

 our " colored friends." On the contrary, I 

 hav(^ been more pleased to get your letter and 

 kind words than any others that I often get 

 hold of. May God bless you and your people in 

 bee culture, in getting an education, and in 

 learning to take care of yourselves. We give 

 the letter just as it was received.] 



Qa^ QaEg3Fi0]\[-B@^, 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



Question 179. Arc hccK H^hicli have been 

 ivintered in tlic reJhir (in ]i<trdij as those ii^intei- 

 cd outdoors f 



I think so. 

 Louisiana. E. ('. 



I think not. 

 Illinois. N. C. 



Yes, if well wintered. 

 Wisconsin. S. W. 



P. \j. VlAI.LON. 



J. A. Gkeex. 

 S. I. Fkeeborx. 



From all that I can ever see, they are. 

 California. S. R. Wii,kix. 



I know of no reason whv they should not be. 

 Ohio. N. W. ■ H.'R. KoAKDMAX. 



I doubt it very much. They aie certainly 

 more subject to spring dwindling. 

 Ohio. S. W. C. F. MuTH. 



I do not know: do you'.' So far as I can see, 

 they art!. 

 New York. C. (t. M. Dooi.rrn.E. 



Yes. sir; the bees ai'e just as hardy. Cellar- 

 wintered bees may have more brood than they 

 can take care of after being set out. 



Michigan. S. W. James Hkddox. 



They say not. The few 1 have liad in the 

 cellar seemed to compare^ favorably with those 

 wintered out. 



Ohio. N. W. E. E. Hasty. 



I think noit: but if jjroperly wintered and 

 cared for in the spring, they will do as well, and 

 fi'equentlv better, than ihose wintei'i'd outdoors. 



Ohio. N. W. A. n. Masox. 



I think so. if wintei'cd as well. When they 

 seem weak, something was wrong with the cel- 

 lar, the food, or the bees. 



Michigan. C. A. J. Cook. 



Hardly: yet there ai'e plenty of seasons when 

 they fare just as well as those, wintered out of 

 doors, hut we occasioniilly see a season when a 

 number of bees die shoi'1 1 v after being taken out 

 of the cellar. 



Illinois. N. W. Dadant & Sox. 



Those that winter both wavs the same winter 

 can tell better than I. But from what [ hear 

 ti-om others, those bees wintei'ed in cellars ai'e 

 more liable to dwindle in spring. 



Wisconsin. S. W. E. Fhaxce. 



Hardier, jn'ovided they have wintered better: 

 less hardy, provide(i it is the opposite. The 

 constitution of the bee will stand a certain 

 quantity of hardshi]): and when that has been 

 endured, it dies. 



New Yoik. C. P. H. Eiavood. 



Yes, though I once thought differently; but 

 if put into outer cases when taken out of the 

 cellar, they seem to do as well as those wint(^red 

 out. Hence, wintei'ing in the cellai' does not 

 seem to weaken theii- constitution, when treat- 

 ed the same as thos(^ wintered out. 



Vermont. N. W. A. E. Manum. 



Bees set out of the cellar in March may not 

 be; but keep tlKMu in until warm weather comes 

 to stay. One year a freeze came April 5th, and 

 killed outright a pear-tree in bloom, and many 

 colonies. Those in the cellar, put out after- 

 ward, were stronger than those wintered upon 

 t heir summer stands. 



Illinois. N. W. C. Miis. L. HAimisoN. 



I don't know. I don't know any reason why 

 not, if the air is good in the cellar. Indeed, if 

 the air is as good — but tliat "if" — I see no rea- 

 son why they should not be a little hardier in 

 the cellar, for endurance of too much cold en- 

 feebles. Still, I have an uncomfortable suspi- 

 cion that, for some leason, outdoors may be 

 hardier. 



Illiiu)is. N. C. C. Miller. 



I understand from the question. "'Are bees as 

 hardy t(i w ithstand spring changes'?" I think, 

 after wintering in a cellar with a temperature 

 of .50°. and ijlacing them upon the summer 

 stand before settled weather, the bees will not 

 withstand changes so successfully as those 

 wintei-ed outdoors. The secret is. to hold them 

 in until there is but little danger from those 

 changes. Chaff hives might enable them to get 

 along successfully, but I have but little faith in 

 that plan. 



New York-. E. Ramblei:. 



[Well, for once we have got a question where 

 there is Hof unanimity. It starts out. '" I think 

 so." and then, " I think not." and so on. Then 

 it becom(>s a|j|)ai'ent that locality has some- 

 thing to do with it. Our good ifriend Muth. 

 away down in Cincinnati, prefers his bees out- 

 doors. Doolittle thinks that, where he is, one 

 is as good as the other. Prof. Coolc agrees. 

 Friend France, with his gi'eat big tenement 

 hives, as I should suspect, prefers outdoor win- 

 tering. So you see it depends on the size and 

 kind of hive. And then friend Manum sug- 

 gests that, when taken out of the cellar, they 

 should have outside protection. And, by the 

 way. some good tViend declares that the best 

 way in the world to winter bees is to |)ut them 

 in chaff hives, and then cairy the chaff hives 

 into the cellar. When you carry them out in 

 the spring they will have' the chaff-hive pro- 

 tection. Mrs. Harrison says it de|>ends on how 

 late you leave th(Mn in the cellar. Taking a 

 thin-walled hive right out of the cellar, and 

 leaving it exposed to h(>avy frosts oi' severe 

 freezing, is not just the thing. Dr. Miller has 

 an uncomfortable suspicion. If he were in our 

 locality, 1 think this "suspicion" would be 

 still more unconifoilable. Rambler winds up 

 as if he had heard what all those have said 

 that go before him. Fi'iend R.. it must be on 

 account of so much " lambling " that you have 

 gathered up so much wisdom. You know 

 about the rolling stone. Well, if yon did not 

 get the "moss." jn'obably the ivisdo)n is worth 

 about as mucli.l 



