430 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



believe there is more money in bees than in 

 cows, if a person will farm a little for them. 

 Those who have asked me whether it would 

 be advisable to move an apiary had better 

 look the matter up carefully for themselves, 

 though I believe a person would not make a 

 mistake by locating on the Missouri anywhere 

 above Yankton. 



Marion, So. Dak., Apr. 7. 



ABOUT WINTERING BEES. 

 Is There Any Thing New on This Subject? 



BY HENRY ALLEY. 



It is so long since I have written any thing 

 upon apiculture for publication in any bee- 

 paper that possibly many of the readers of this 

 article may have forgotten the fact that I ever 

 existed. Now that the spirit moves again, I 

 shall try to give the readers of Gleanings 

 something new about wintering bees. I have 

 never been in favor of wintering bees on the 

 " hot-bed " plan ; that is, I have not believed 

 in keeping bees through the winter in a place 

 where the temperature is continuously main- 

 tained at a high point, say from 40 to 50°. 

 That is too much on the "hot-bed" plan for 

 me. I believe in placing bees in winter quar- 

 ters in the fall as late as possible, or certainly 

 not until winter is about to set in. Here that 

 time is about the middle of December. On 

 the other hand, I want to take them out on 

 the approach of spring, and that with us is 

 about the 20th of March. 



My objection to wintering bees in a high 

 temperature is that they can not safely be put 

 on the summer stands in the spring until the 

 temperature averages as high outside as that 

 in which the bees were wintered in, or kept in 

 from four to live months. The change from a 

 warm to a cold place works just the same on 

 bees as it does on tender vegetables grown un- 

 der glass. Remove the glass, and down go the 

 plants. Place the bees on the summer stand 

 too early, and down go the bees — spring dwin- 

 dling. I have tested both the vegetable and 

 the bee experiment, and know what I am 

 talking about. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I am ready to write what 

 I started to write when I commenced. In the 

 fall of 1896 I arranged, as an experiment only, 

 a small place to winter bees in. The room is 

 about ten feet long, six wide, and five high. 

 There is room for about 30 hives of bees if the 

 winter-cases are removed. The wall on the 

 west side is about 6 inches thick. The other 

 sides are double, the inner wall being only 

 heavy building - paper, while the outside is 

 l)oarded and shingled. There is a double roof 

 to the building, and a ventilator opening to 

 the south between the two roofs ; not much 

 ventilation at the bottom. Floor is the plain 

 earth. The last two years the bees were put in 

 about the middle of December ; every colony 

 catne out both years in fine condition, though 

 thi first year there was no ventilation at the 

 top of the building, and a few combs molded 

 a little. This year the bees were removed on 

 the 9th day of March, and the six days fol- 



lowing were warm and summer-like. I judged 

 that there were about two quarts of dead bees 

 in all, and every comb as bright and clean as 

 in the fall. Some of the colonies commenced 

 to carry in pollen inside of 24 hours — a fact at- 

 testing the perfect way the bees had wintered. 



Now comes the point and the theory I wish 

 to emphasize upon. There was no such thing 

 as an even temperature in the bee house dur- 

 ing the two winters. I did not want such a 

 thing to be so. I wanted the temperature to 

 vary inside as it did outside, only not to such 

 extremes. When it was at zero outside I 

 found it at 20 degrees inside, and that was just 

 as I desired it. Nor did the temperature go 

 above 45° through the winter. There will be 

 no spring-dwindling here, and I can show as 

 fine a lot of bees as can be found anywhere in 

 Massachusetts. 



If the winter problem had not played out, I 

 should expect some of the "hot-bed" bee- 

 men to pitch into me for expressing senti- 

 ments like the above. But facts are facts, and 

 the laugh is on my side, as my theory and ex- 

 periments have proved a complete success. 



Wenham, Mass. 



LARGE VS. SMALL ENTRANCES. 



The Advantages of Large Entrances; Dr. C. C. 

 Miller's Reply to G. M. Doolitlle. 



Evidently there's sporting blood in the 

 editor's veins. He is spoiling to see Doolittle 

 and me join battle (see p. 166), a battle out of 

 which he may not come entirely unscarred 

 himself, occupying as he does middle ground, 

 where bullets may strike him from both sides. 

 Doolittle doesn't seem to care for any increase 

 of size of entrance, while I want big opening 

 fore and aft, and also at the sides, while the 

 editor stands in the middle, pleading for en- 

 largement only front and rear. 



A good many years ago, as I have told more 

 than once, I stood watching Adam Grimm (it 

 makes me just a bit sad to think some of the 

 younger friends don't know who Adam Grimm 

 was) as he was putting surplus boxes ( sections 

 were not yet) on his hives. He tilted up the 

 cover at the rear, leaving quite an opening so 

 the air could pass entirely through the brood- 

 chamber, saying to me with much emphasis, 

 " I consider that very important." For years 

 I did the same thing, shoving forward the 

 super containing wide frames, so as to make 

 an opening of '4 to yi inch between the two 

 stories at the back. I should have continued 

 it to this day if it had not been that the sec- 

 tions near this opening were too much delayed 

 in being finished. But a notable increase of 

 swarming occurred simultaneously with the 

 closing-up of that ventilating-space, and I 

 have always thought the two things were 

 closely related as cause and effect. 



Mr. Doolittle goes back to the time of box 

 hives, and says there was plenty of swarming 

 then, although all hives were raised from the 

 floor-board. But it must be remembered that 

 there might be, and that there generally were, 

 reasons enough for swarming in spite of abun- 

 dant opening below. And I have some lin- 



