66 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb. 1 



very common condition here in Ontario, 

 and I have not the slightest doubt that 

 nearly all bee-keepers here in this Province 

 who winter outdoors, or who have visited 

 apiaries wintered outside, will bear me out 

 when I say that I have not misstated con- 

 ditions in any way. The remedy is obvious. 

 See that the combs in the center are filled 

 with good stores at least half way down; 

 pack the bees away comfortably, and don't 

 worry about the clustering-space for the 

 bees. 



In view of my experience, and what I 

 have noticed with others, I can not put the 

 stress on the "cold slabs of honey" idea 

 that some do; and while the theory ad- 

 vanced seems reasonable, yet results are 

 more convincing, and I think we are prone 

 to forget that a very small clustering-space 

 is necessary in real cold weather. Indeed, 

 the writer of the article we are commenting 

 on says that the cluster of a strong colony 

 will be reduced down to a space about equal 

 to that of the doubled-up fist. Personally 

 we incline to the view that no strong colony 

 gets into a space that small; but the small- 

 er the cluster, the stronger the argument 

 that only a small clustering-space is neces- 

 sary. That bees do not at will come up 

 among sealed combs in moderately cold 

 weather is a mistaken idea — at least, my 

 bees do not refuse thus to accommodate 

 themselves. A few days ago, when the 

 thermometer was below zero I carefully lift- 

 ed the corner of different sacks of packing 

 on top of the hives, and, turning up the 

 quilts, looked down between the frames. 

 The frames in these hives have top-bars but 

 %-inch wide, so a good view could be ob- 

 tained. All the colonies thus examined 

 showed bees in from six to eight spaces, 

 and the clusters in the most of them were 

 about half way or more up the combs — said 

 combs being 12 inches deep. Above the 

 bees the sealed stores showed in evidence 

 plainly; but in so far as I could see with 

 such a slight examination, the bees were 

 for the most part below the honey. To-day 

 the weather is milder (20 above zero) , and a 

 visit to those same colonies shows that the 

 bees are clustered right under the cushions 

 at the top of the combs, so at least four or 

 five inches of sealed honey are covered by 

 the bees with the weather as it is. 



This past fall, while talking with H. G. 

 Sibbald, one of our most successful winter- 

 ers, he told me the amount of feeding he 

 had done to his 450 colonies in preparing 

 them for winter; and while I do not feel at 

 liberty to state the quantity, yet all can rest 

 assured that it is not likely there is a comb 

 in the whole outfit that is empty of stores 

 half way up to the top-bars. I do not think 

 he is worrying about the matter of cluster- 

 ing-space, and it will be a big surprise to 

 me if he loses a single colony from any 

 cause in the line of stores. Then what 

 about friend jNIcEvoy? He limits the num- 

 ber of combs for the bees, and has every 

 comb solid in September, so whatever clus- 

 tering-space in the way of empty comb the 



bees have is made after that date. His rec- 

 ord in wintering is too well known to need 

 any comment. 



This article is too long already, and I will 

 close by repeating that all a set of combs 

 like the one illustrated needs to make them 

 an ideal winter nest is the addition of 15 or 

 20 lbs. of sugar syrup about Oct. 1st. 



Mt. Joy, Ont., Can. 



[There are two conditions that might 

 cause our correspondent and ourselves to 

 come to different conclusions. The first is, 

 that it is somewhat colder in Canada than 

 in the locality to which we referred; second, 

 we judge by what he says that he has ab- 

 sorbing cushions on his colonies, and not 

 the sealed cover, which we use. At all 

 events, we have every reason to believe that, 

 under like environments, if the two of us 

 could look over the same set of bees we 

 would come to exactly the same conclu- 

 sions: and, even under different conditions, 

 we see evidence in Mr. Byer's article that 

 goes to show that bees prefer the winter nest 

 ?/ they can have it. For example, turn to 

 the third from the last paragraph. When 

 the thermometer was below zero, Mr. Byer 

 says, "So far as I could see with such a 

 slight examination, the bees were for the 

 most part below the honey." Exactly! and 

 just what we have contended all along. 

 When it turns very cold they will seek out 

 these empty cells below the honey if they 

 can find tliem. When it warms up they 

 will move up on the sealed honey, just as 

 Mr. Byer describes. There is no difference 

 between us on these points. 



In the next to the last paragraph he refers 

 to Mr. McEvoy as having "every comb 

 solid in September; so whatever clustering- 

 space in the way of empty combs the bees 

 have is made after that date." This is our 

 practice, when we have time to feed early 

 enough; and so far Mr. McEvoy is doing 

 what we would do. It is probably true in 

 Mr. McEvoy's case, that the clustering- 

 space is made after the combs are fed up 

 solid; for from the first of September till it 

 turns continuously cold the bees can make 

 quite a nice little winter nest; and in our 

 locality they will form one about like the 

 one we illustrated in Gleanings by about 

 Dec. 1. If the bees are fed early enough 

 (and all bees should be fed early when pos- 

 sible) they will make their own clustering- 

 space, and that clustering-space will be 

 about right as cold weather comes on. 



The fact that bees in a natural or undis- 

 turbed state will make this space shows 

 that we ought not go contrary to nature. 



In one place our correspondent has mis- 

 read us. He quotes us as saying " that the 

 cluster of the strong colony will be reduced 

 down to a space about equal to that of the 

 doubled-up fist." What we actually said 

 was this: "When the temperature pulls 

 down to below zero, a strong colony will be 

 compressed into a space about equal to a 

 doubled-up fist. ' ' Notice, we put in the con- 

 dition. But we will frankly say that what 



