SEPTEMBER 15. 1916 



855 



placing the eappings in the sohir after they 

 have had a day or two of time to drain in 

 the iincapping-box. The Mclntyre plan has 

 the disadvantage of making an extra very 

 bulky implement necessary. We have al- 

 ready more such than we want. The old 

 plan makes no such demand. The solar 

 separates the honey from the eappings 

 without cost, and gives us the wax in a 

 solid nice cake besides. It is true the honey 

 obtained bj^ the solar melting process is not 

 as nice as the honey that drains from the 

 eappings; bat we get it. It answers well 

 for feeding. Tlie comb-honey producer can 

 use it to advantage for feeding back to have 

 unfinished sections finished up. I never 

 have any too much of such honey for my 

 purpose. The honey obtained at the close 



of the season from unsealed combs, togeth- 

 er with this exceptionally heavy honey from 

 the solar wax-extractor, is usually just 

 about sufficient to have the 30 or 40 cases 

 of unfinished honey, which I usually have, 

 finished up by feeding it back to six or 

 eight well-working colonies at the close of 

 tlie season. 



Some years ago we used to wash the 

 honey out of the drained eappings and make 

 vinegar from the sweetened water, either in 

 combination with cider or pure; but honey 

 vinegar does not find favor with the general 

 public. Even the best cider vinegar finds a 

 slow sale, so we have discarded that prac- 

 tice and put the eappings thru the solar as 

 stated. 



Naples, N. Y., Aug. 26. 



BEE -NOTES FROM HOLLAND 



Our Wintering Problem 



r.Y J. TI. J. IIAMELBERG 



As has already been pointed out. our 

 skeps require but little preparation for 

 winter. Whatever may be said against these 

 old-fashioned structures, they surely are 

 ideal winter-homes. I have wintered blacks 

 in them without finding a single dead bee 

 on the bottom-board in early spring. I 

 really consider it a pity that a modern hive, 

 Avithout losing the advantages of easy han- 

 dling and accurate fitting of its fixtures, 

 cannot be made of straw bands, twisted by 

 hand and held together by stripped bark or 

 cane, as is done with skeps. Of course, one 

 could make a board skeleton and have it 

 covered Avith straw all around ; but it would 

 not be the same. Neither would a hive of 

 compressed straw answer as well. It seems 

 that this platting of the straw by hand is 

 .just the thing for the right kind of venti- 

 lation and the proper escape of moisture; 

 but this handwork at the same time pre- 

 vents obtaining the accuracy in dimensions 

 needed for the fixtures of a modern hive. 



For those who keep their bees in hives, 

 the wintering problem off^ers far more dif- 

 ficulties. Our winters can be very cold and 

 can last long, altho in late years we liave 

 had only mild winters. But ray experience 

 is that these mild winters, with their lasting- 

 rains and fogs and sleet, and the thermom- 

 eter still not rising much above 40 degrees, 

 are far more to be dreaded tlian a spell of 

 freezing weather. The comparatively mild 

 temperature causes the bees to move about 

 too much, to consume a great amount of 

 stores, and to commence brood-rearing too 

 early. Besides, iny cxi)erience is that it is 



much easier to protect bees against cold 

 than against moisture. 



All beekeepers have their own fancies 

 and hobbies, and act up to them, and this 

 applies especially to our systems of winter- 

 ing. Some prefer wide entrances, others 

 think they can hardly make them small 

 enough. One believes in leaving plenty of 

 I'oom between the bottom-board and the 

 bottom-bars of the brood-fram&s ; others 

 consider a passage a trifle over a bee-space 

 quite sufficient, etc. It would take up too 

 mucli room to describe the different ways in 

 which bees are wintered in this country, 

 and so I will give only my own, not because 

 I consider it the best, but because I am 

 most familiar with it. 



To combat the danger of moisture gath- 

 ering in the hive I always take particular 

 care to use plenty of absorbing material in 

 and over my hives, which, as is general in 

 this country, are wintered on their summer 

 stands. For absorbing material I Jiave 

 never found anything superior to what is 

 called peat-dust, being the refuse which 

 accumulates in tlie drying and transporta- 

 tion of i^eat. ]t can be bouglit for $3.00 to 

 $4.00 per ton, packed in comj>ressed bales 

 of about 200 lbs. eacli. On either side of 

 the brood-nest I put a follower the width 

 of an ordinary brond-fi'ame, filled witli this 

 material. However, I do not nail up the 

 sides of these followers with thin boards, 

 but tack stout yellow cotton over them, as 

 any moisture is thus more readily absorbed 

 by the peat-dust inside; and these follow- 

 eis, not Ix'iiig tliickor than an ordinary 



