726 



GLEANINGS' IN BEE CULTURE 



should have a telescope cover reaching down 

 as near the bottom of the hive as possible, 

 with an inner cover with a %-inch space 

 between the two, and a canvas over the 

 frames in cold weather. This arrangement 

 tends to keep an even temperature in the 

 hive in hot weather as well as cold, and will 

 save wrapping of hives in spring and fall 

 to keep them from sudden changes in tem- 

 perature, which is one of the very impor- 

 tant things to guard against. 



I cannot lay too much stress upon this 

 cover for the hives, for to me it seems only 

 secondary to the hive itself. Bees can stand 

 a vast amount of heat ; but cold drives them 

 into a cluster immediately, with consequent 

 inactivity, hence the need of this telescope 

 cover to equalize the temperature in the 

 hives, thereby making it possible for the 

 bees to spread out over the frames of brood 

 at all tim6s. 



The bottom-boards in use at the present 

 time are positively the greatest detriment to 

 successful wintering in Minnesota of all the 

 fixtures we have among our hive appliances. 

 Such bottom-boards should be used only 

 during the honey-flow, say from the middle 

 of May to the middle of August, and should 

 never be used in coJd weather. Of this I 

 will go more into detail presently. 



I have said before that every hive should 

 have a feeder attached Aug. 15. Now, tliis 

 does not mean that one kind of feeder is 

 just as good as another, because that is not 

 true. 1 like best a plain box feeder, the 

 same size as the hive and 3V2 inches deep, 

 placed under the hive-body. At the front 

 of this feeder is a partition one inch back 

 from the end wall, and coming up flush with 

 tlie top of the feeder, practically touching 

 the frames as they hang in the hive. This 

 makes an inch-wide space, the width of the 

 hive, running from the frames down to the 

 bottom-board entrance. This arrangement 

 makes the feeder practically robber proof, 

 as stranger bees coming into tlie hive nuist 



go up among the frames before they can 

 reach the syrup. You can readily see how 

 easy it is for the bees to defend such an 

 entrance. 



In the bottom of the feeder place a care- 

 fully fitted piece of wire screen j'lst wide 

 enough to spring into the lower corners on 

 each side and round up to the top of the 

 feeder in the center. For the eight-frame 

 hive size it takes a strip 14 inches wide and 

 just long enough to fit the feeder absolutely. 

 Care must be taken that no bee can get 

 under this screen. This is the best float I 

 have ever seen, simple, inexpensive, and 

 easily removed. 



This feeder can easily be made 'n com- 

 bination with a bottom-board by extending 

 the bottom two or three inches beyond tne 

 front end and nailing cleats on the under 

 side, which, when the feeder is turned bot- 

 tom side up, will make the ordinary bottom- 

 board, while the 3V2-iiicli-deep feedt-r itself, 

 now underneath, makes a fine hive-siand. 



After this feeder is turned up and brought 

 into play on the loth of August it should 

 not again be changed until warm weather 

 next spring. I venture to say that nine- 

 tenths of the beekeepers would say, " When 

 all feeding is done Oct. 1, turn the feeder 

 down and set the hive on the regular bot- 

 tom-board, thus making the hive warmer." 

 There is where they would make a mistake. 

 It is not shallow space under the frames 

 that keeps bees warm. It has just the op- 

 posite etfect. It keeps them cold by crowd- 

 ing them up among frames filled with win- 

 ter stores, spreading them out in thin layers 

 until those on the outer edge perish in gi-eat 

 numbers. 



Within the empty box, 31/^ inches deep, 

 all snug and tight under the frames, with no 



chance for cold air to sweep under from 

 front to rear, as with the ordinary bottom- 

 board, the bees will cluster and hang down, 

 as it is their nature to do, and none will be 

 crowded out for lack of i-oom. Thus will 



