FEBRUARY 1, 1914 



99 



working on the peacli bloom on the further 

 side of the orchard, I having- some work 

 there which caused me to take note of the 

 fact ; but I never thought to observe if they 

 were working on the trees near the shed; 

 but since the trees have fruited 1 have 

 studied over the matter. 



By the way, if any beeman wishes to set 

 a good variety of peach he can not miss it 

 on the Carman. It gets ripe here about 

 rhree weeks ahead of the Alberta; comes on 



the market after early peaches are gone, and 

 if Que for canning or dessert. It is an early 

 and prolific bearer, and very hardy in bud. 

 The orchard shown is five years old, and 

 IJroducing its first crop of any consequence. 

 We are able to market every peach at home 

 at $2.00 per bushel, and the people cry for 

 more. Next spring, if we have indications 

 of a good peach crop I shall scatter the 

 hives tln-ough the orchard and note results. 

 Washington, Ind. 



COLONIES WINTERED OUTSIDE RUNNING SHORT OF STORES 



BY A. C. GILBERT 



No doubt, owing to the very mild weath- 

 er up to Christmas, thousands of colonies 

 of bees will die before March from lack of 

 stores in the northern sections of the United 

 States if not looked after. None of our hives 

 have racks on during the winter, as they are 

 all removed in the fall when all colonies are 

 examined to ascertain that all have a suffi- 

 cient amount of stores. At the time of re- 

 moving the racks, small cobs are first laid on 

 the top-bars a la Dr. Miller, over which a 

 piece of cotton cloth or burlap is covered; 

 then the chaff tray or cushion is placed in 

 proper position. At any time in the winter 

 any colony can be examined very easily by 

 lifting off the chaff tray or cushion and 

 turning up the covering a little from over 

 the top of either end of the top-bars; and 

 as the bees will generally be closely clustei'ed 

 at this season of the year, the amount of 

 stores and number of bees can be ascertained 

 very readily. Some colonies will be found 

 to cover a large portion of the combs; often 

 less, and perhaps some may not occupy one- 

 third of the combs. The last mentioned may 

 have several combs of honey to spare. At 

 the same time it will be a great benefit to 

 such a colony to have the frames of honey 

 removed and the division-board moved up, 

 thereby making them far more comfortable, 

 and putting them in better shape to pass 

 through the rest of the winter, also lessening 

 their chances of being robbed. 



We have saved many of the largest colo- 

 nies by dropping in two or three combs of 

 honey along in Tebruary and March on even 

 a cold day without harming them in the 

 least by the operation. Some very populous 

 colonies which apparently have a great 

 plenty of honey in the fall run short, espe- 

 cially in a mild winter, when so much more 

 is consumed. 



One season we lost several of the largest 

 colonies in the yard from staiwation along 

 in March. Since examining them as stated 



we have lost rone. It would be a good idea 

 to heed the editor's warning in the Dec. 15th 



issir«. Don't let your bees starve. 



SXOW-COVERED COLONIES. 



We doubt whether it is a benefit to have 

 the snow drift entirely over the hive. From 

 what experience we have had it is best not 

 to have much snow around the hives if it 

 can be avoided — that is, to have it come up 



^,. ^.', "W ^^* 



A peach tree that blossomed in cold weather, and 

 did not produce a good crop because so far away 

 trom the bees they could not reach it. 



