p. 



c 



GLEANED 



E. R 



Fbbruaby, 1917 



J. A., Wis. — 



Should tern- 



p e r a t u r e 



readings b e 

 taken every day in 

 the cellar where 

 bees arc being win- 

 tered ? 



A. If t h e r e 

 are a good many 

 colonies in the 

 cellar, it is advisable to go in quietly, 

 sometimes once a day and sometimes two or 

 tliree times a week. Bees should always 

 be inspected after a sudden change of tem- 

 perature outside. If the bees are roaring, 

 it may indicate that the cellar is too warm, 

 and it may indicate a lack of ventilation, or 

 both. Letting in fresh air at the cellar 

 windows, preferably at night, will quiet 

 down the bees. But it is desirable to let tho 

 air into an adjoining room before it is ad- 

 mitted into the bee-cellar direct. Fresh 

 warm air directly from outdoors has a ten- 

 dency to start up the bees. If let in at night 

 it causes less trouble. 



H. G. A., Ohio. — Do bees hibernate during winter? 



A. Not in the sense that animals and 

 some insects do. When conditions are nor- 

 mal they will go into a quiescent state, dur- 

 ing which respiration is low, and activity 

 practically nothing. When the temperature 

 goes below 57 the clustei' of bees will be- 

 come active, and then the temperature will 

 rise. 



A. J. C, Pennsylvania. — Is tliere any wintering 

 problem in the South ? 



A. While it is less cold in the South than 

 in the North, bees sometimes die of exposure 

 — that is to say, on account of insufficient 

 protection, and a cluster too small, the bees 

 will eat too much, and wear themselves out 

 in going to the fields whenever the air is 

 warm enough, with the result that the colony 

 gradually dwindles. If a colony is strong 

 and well jirotected there is no danger from 

 winter loss except from starvation. The 

 fact that bees can fly out almost every day in 

 some localities in the South has a tendency 

 to start brood - rearing, esi^ecially if they 

 gather a little pollen or honey. When the 

 colony begins to breed, they often consume 

 more than they gather, with the result that 

 the good colonies will sometimes be found 

 starved to death. It follows, therefore, that 

 the average colony in the South requires 

 more winter stores than in the North. 



Q. A. C, Ohio. — What can a beekeeper do profit- 

 ably during cold winter months, providing he has no 

 other business ? 



A. He can nail up hives and frames, and 

 clean floor-boards and hive-bodies that are 

 covered with bee-glue. This can be done by 

 using a hive tool or a putty-knife. He can 

 melt up his old combs and render them into 

 good marketable wax. 



He can scrape and sort out sections accord- 

 ing to weight, marking on the proper mini- 

 mum and net weight, and then put each lot 

 by itself. He can put his extracted honey 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



BY ASKING 



Root 



3 



^^^^^^^^ 



133 



up in bottles or 

 tin ca)is; and if 

 he is a salesman 

 he can supply 

 the local demand 

 before taking 

 any to outlying 

 towns. 



He can read 

 up the back num- 

 bers of his journals and books on bees mak- 

 ing sure he is familiar with all the develop- 

 ments that have turned up during the previ- 

 ous six months or year. The man who does 

 not keep posted in regard to what is going 

 on in his business will lose out. There is no 

 better time for doing this than during 

 winter. 



Occasionally the entrances of the outdoor- 

 wintered colonies will need to be cleaned of 

 dead bees. Melted snow and ice may form 

 over the entrances of some of the colonies, 

 closing them entirely. While light snow 

 does no harm, a wet snow that freezes and 

 seals the entrances may kill the colony. 

 There is a good deal less trouble of this kind 

 in colder climates — where it is so cold, in- 

 deed, that the snow seldom melts during 

 mid-winter. 



When possible, a beekeeper should attend 

 conventions within reach. He will thus 

 learn enough about his business to pay him 

 many times over for his hotel bills and rail- 

 road fare. If he is only a backlotter, and 

 has only a few colonies, perhaps the re- 

 turns in dollars and cents would not warrant 

 him in incurring the expense; but he will 

 derive a lot of pleasure in meeting those 

 who make beekeeping their sole business. 



Or. F. Y., Iowa. — Does warm weather have a ten- 

 dency to keep down the price of honey ? 



A. Some of the commission men have a 

 fashion of saying in the fall that, as soon as 

 cold weather comes on, the price of honey 

 will rise. As a matter of fact, price often 

 sags after the first of January, when the 

 weather turns colder. During September 

 there is a large quantity of fresh fruits on 

 the market. As soon as these are exhausted 

 the demand for honey, jellies, and jams in- 

 creases; and, while the price of honey be- 

 gins to rise after cold weather sets in. this 

 rise is more likely due to the absence of 

 fresh fruits on the market than to the 

 weather. 



C. E. S., Rockford, 111. — 1. Does the odor from 

 common tarred paper irritate or injure bees in any 

 way ? 



2. Would it be advisable to wrap a hive with this 

 material about October 1, let it weather until about 

 the middle of November, and then pack in the winter 

 case ? 



3. Can a queen be introduced by the honey meth- 

 od to a nucleus just as soon as formed, or would it 

 be best to wait ten or twelve hours until the bees 

 have become quiet? 



1. Not that we have ever been able to 

 discover. 



2. It is very often used for the purpose 

 for protecting hives during winter; but if 

 you expect to use winter cases we would put 



