666 



GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE 



private beekeeper; but if our government 

 apicultural stations want to do valuable 

 work, and benefit beekeepers, they will do 

 something along this line. 



For inside wintering, evenness of temper- 

 ature is a factor; yet I would sooner allow 

 a free access of not exti'emely cold outside 

 air tlirongh open doors continually than to 



bees successfully ]iacked on their summer 

 stands, and that a friend of his at Rocking- 

 ham (Mr. Pomrank) has wintered outside 

 for years with eminent success. This report 

 widens the area for outside wintering very 

 materially. 



The system I advocate is to see that evei-y 

 colony has a young laying queen, or at least 



Pig. 



-One of the winter cases for four twelve-frame hives with top packing removed. The basket at the 

 side holds the forest leaves which go to make up the rest of the packing. 



maintain an even temperature at the ex- 

 pense of fresh air. I have no doubt some of 

 us have greatly overestimated the number of 

 colonies that should be kejjt in a given space. 

 Hives closely set together obstruct ventila- 

 tion, and the more compact they are, the 

 more one colony disturbs another when its 

 wintering conditions are bad. For this and 

 other reasons I prefer a sand or gTavel floor 

 in a cellar. It conducts sound or vibration 

 less than cement or board, and for the same 

 reason every pile of hives, and, as far as 

 possible, every hive, should be on a separate 

 bench or stand. 



OUTSIDE WINTERING. 



So far as my experience goes, outside 

 wintering under proper conditions is better 

 in all the counties lying directly north of 

 Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. I have stated 

 at some of the New York conventions that I 

 felt sure that bees could be wintered suc- 

 cessfully outside much north of what we 

 have believed. During the past spring I 

 received information from Mr. Harold 

 Ivinder, Rockingham, Renfrew Co., Ontario, 

 where tlie temj)erature often dro]>s to 40 

 degrees below zero, that he has wintered 



not a failing queen, to contract the brood- 

 chamber so the bees fairly well cover the 

 combs in October weather; to pack the bees 

 in this section by the end of September, or 

 even two weeks earlier, and to put four 

 colonies in one outer case. Then in the row 

 T want the first case Avith entrances to the 



Fig. 



-Bottom of Holtermann's winter case. 



side, the next ease no entrance on that side, 

 thus breaking the rows for flying all through, 

 and preventing drifting. I set the winter 

 cases on blocks six to nine inches from the 

 ground. About the apiary, which should 

 not be larger than 45 to 50 ft. square, I put 

 a fence 8 feet higli. 



The later the bees are fed for winter the 

 better, so long as it is done before settled 



