1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



67 



we meant was the double fists, and we sup- 

 posed that was the language until we saw 

 "doubled-up fist" instead. At this point 

 we stand corrected; but on the iiBportance 

 of the winter nest, and letting bees make it, 

 and feeding the bees early enough so they 

 can make it, we do not take back one word 

 — especially so as our correspondent de- 

 scribes the conditions in his hives exactly 

 as we find them, viz., that when it is cold 

 his bees go down below the honey. And 

 why ? for the very purpose of getting their 

 bodies together. When the weather warms 

 up, the cluster spreads on the sealed honey 

 just as they do in Medina. 



We should be glad to have this question 

 discussed by those correspondents who have 

 opened up their bees during mid-winter, 

 time and again, to see how the clusters are 

 placed. In the mean time, while we have 

 had letters confirming our position regard- 

 ing the winter nest, we place just one of 

 them, from a fellow-countryman of our cor- 

 respondent, before our readers. He evident- 

 ly has much the same conditions as those 

 surrounding Mr. Byer; and yet his experi- 

 ence has been exactly ours as the reader 

 will observe. He writes: 



THE WINTER NEST BETTER THAN SOLID 

 COMBS OF HONEY. 



BY J. I. BEAUHRB, C. E. F. 



I have read with interest the article by E. 

 R. Root, "The Winter Nest of a Colony," 

 page 19, Jan. 1. I have had similar experi- 

 ences for a good many years, viz., that bees 

 wintered on combs as described by Fig. 1 

 came out every year ahead, both in condi- 

 tion and amount of honey consumed, of 

 those that were wintered on solid combs of 

 honey. It seems to me that the bees spend 

 more of their energy in heating these thick 

 combs of honey. Bees will not waste their 

 vitality in generating heat when they are 

 separated by only a thin wall. But if they 

 are wintered on combs that are solid with 

 honey from the top-bar to the bottom-bar 

 they will eat more honey in order to gener- 

 ate the necessary heat needed to warm up 

 this solid mass. 



Some bee-keepers notice this condition in 

 wintering bees, but they do not pay enough 

 attention to it; and some, even if they do 

 pay attention to it, are not able to find out 

 the cause. 



A few years ago I read an article in Glean- 

 ings about the wintering of bees on solid 

 combs of honey. If I am not mistaken it 

 was a very hot argument between C. P. Da- 

 dant. Dr. C. C. Miller, G. M. Doolittle, and 

 several others whose names I do not remem- 

 ber. Being much interested in this I start- 

 ed out the following winter to find out for 

 myself. The preceding fall I had six eight- 

 frame colonies, three of which had solid 

 combs of honey, and the other three, combs, 

 as described in Fig. 1, p. 19. At one time I 

 thought that the colonies in the last three 

 hives would run short of stores: but on the 



1st of April, the following spring, when I 

 got them out of the cellar I was surprised to 

 note the ditTerence. The three colonies of 

 lot No. 1, wintered on solid combs of honey, 

 had eaten nearly twice as much. The colo- 

 nies in lot No. 2, the preceding fall, weighed 

 less than those of lot No. 1; but after win- 

 tering over, they had more honey to con- 

 tinue brood-rearing. The temperature in 

 the cellar ran between 43 and A.Q degrees all 

 through the winter. 



Since that year I have always tried to get 

 the brood-nests in the same shape as de- 

 cribed in Fig. 1, and I have always had suc- 

 cess. Each of the combs next to the wall 

 on each side of the hive is nearly solid with 

 honey, the next two combs in the same or- 

 der have a clear spot of about five inches in 

 height and 8j^ inches in length, the top 

 having the form of an arch. 



Ottawa, Can. 



[Our Mr. Bain, who \\i s had much expe- 

 rience in wintering bees outdoors at Medina 

 and elsewhere, says he has repeatedly found 

 that bees have died where the winter nest 

 has been disturbed or eliminated entirely, 

 just as cold weather came on. We have re- 

 peatedly observed the same thing; and Mr. 

 Beauhre has had the same experience. — Ed.] 



NON-SWARMING STOCK. 



An Extended Record of the Progeny of a Queen 

 Whose Colonies Rarely Swarmed. 



BY E. 8. MILES. 



In the fall of 1896 I purchased two queens 

 of a well-known breeder, and introduced 

 them to a couple of weak colonies, one of 

 which, however, starved the winter follow- 

 ing, as this was before I knew that a weak 

 colony would consume nearly, if not quite, 

 as much stores as a normal colony. The 

 other colony came out strong in the spring, 

 built up rapidly, and did so well in every 

 way, besides storing more surplus than the 

 average, that I was very favorably impress- 

 ed with the queen; and when the bees win- 

 tered again perfectly, and were able to se- 

 cure enough for a living, while all of my 

 other colonies had to be fed between fruit- 

 bloom and clover, I decided that this queen 

 was the one I wanted for restocking my 

 yard. 



As this colony had not swarmed, and 

 showed no signs of it, I was compelled to 

 try my hand at queen-rearing. Up to this 

 time I had been a believer in nature's ways, 

 as a great many writers at that time laid 

 great stress on the value of queens reared 

 under the natural-swarming impulse, ex- 

 plaining further that the only perfect queens 

 were those reared by nature's methods, etc. 

 However, I then had the good fortune to 

 get a copy of that masterly book, " Scientif- 

 ic Queen-rearing," by G. M. Doolittle, in 

 which we are told how to rear the best of 

 queens without violating nature. So I de- 



