October, 1917 



G li E A N I N G S T N B R R CULT U R E 



753 



TO PACK OR NOT TO PACK 



Interviews with Many of the South- 

 em Beekeepers on this Question that 

 is so Important at the Present Time 



By Grace Allen 



TO pack or 

 not to pack 

 — - tliat is 

 1 h e question. 

 Whether 'tis 

 hetter — but, no; 

 1 refrain. But 

 1 do want lo 

 plunge right in- 

 to this wintering' question. There have 

 been a number of interesting and courteous 

 replies to my request, page 624, August, 

 for experiences or opinions. They have 

 come from honej'-piVDducers and queen- 

 breeders in different southern states, and T 

 shall just quote extracts from most of them, 

 so letting them speak for themselves. 



From North Carolina comes testimony to 

 the value of packing. Mr. L. Parker, of 

 Benson, North Carolina, writes : " Tho I 

 have never experimented with Avinter pack- 

 ing very much, yet I have to some extent. 

 What I have tried has been perfectly satis- 

 factory, bees usually coming out from 19 to 

 50 per cent stronger than the ones that were 

 not packed. I think it well pays to use 

 winter packing." 



Mr. F. L. Johnson, Mount Airy, North 

 Carolina, whose father has an article on 

 this subject in this number of Gleanings. 

 page 761. writes: " There is no doubt but 

 'that winter packing will pay every bee- 

 keeper in this section. I have not tried the 

 packing very nauch, but have seen enough 

 of the results to know that it will pay for 

 the extra cost and time." 



And Mr. H. B. IMurray, of Liberty, North 

 Carolina, offers the following: "We have 

 packed our bees in the past, some, and think 

 it pays very mucJi. We use different meth- 

 ods — board coverings, pine straw around 

 hive and on top, fastened with wire or 

 strings, body shaped like hive-body, with 

 felt or rubber covering, which is a I'eal ideal 

 way — a little expensive. I suppose that, 

 for a m.an with three or four hundred colo- 

 nies to start, the pine-sti'aw plan would be 

 h?st. We control several hundred colonie.«. 

 and use the above methods as most conven- 

 ient to our yards." 



On the othn- hand D. T. Gasler. Kandle- 

 man. Ncn-th Carolina, says: "Some years 

 ago 1 packed my bees in the fall with wlieat 

 ctiaff for tAvo or three winters. Then my 

 apiary got so large I left some unpacked, 

 and I could not see that the packed ones 

 came out enough ahead to pay me to pack 

 them. So I quit. The main th.ing is to 

 have plenty of bees and plenty of stores, 

 and they will come out 0. K. here Avhere 

 we don't often have over ten days at one 

 time but that bees can take a flight. As 



for myself, be- 

 ing a queen- 

 Ijreeder and tak- 

 ing out queens 

 a n d chanaing 

 t hings around so 

 much, I try to 

 wint e r some 

 very weak, and 

 lose some one Avay and another." 



Mr. Bruce Anderson, of Winston-Salem, 

 North Carolina, who sent in a partial report 

 of his experiments last month, has recently 

 very kindly loaned me liis note-book, filled 

 with all sorts of interesting data as to work 

 done in yard, weather conditions, opening 

 and failing of different flora, and so on. 

 From this little book T figure that his avei- 

 age honey production this season from hives 

 in winter cases was 371/2 pounds, while that 

 from hives not in cases, tlio with supers of 

 leaves and wrapped in paper, was 36 

 pounds. 



Mr. G. H. Merrill, writing from Pickens, 

 South Carolina, says : " Last winter was 

 the first experience I have had in packing. 

 The colonies that Avere not packed Avintered 

 just as Avell. But I am planning to pack 

 some this fall, as I have a yard that has no 

 protection from the north Avinds." 



From Cordele, Georgia, comes an inter- 

 esting letter from Mi\ J. J. Wilder, the 

 well - knoAvn successful honey - producer 

 whose fifty or more yards count up into 

 thousands of colqnies. Either winter pack- 

 ing is profitable thruout this entire country, 

 or there is a line dividing the section where 

 it is profitable from the section where it is 

 not. Evidently Mr. Wilder assumes this 

 line is north of his part of Georgia, for he 

 says he is too far south to be abfe really to 

 lielp out in this discussion — a remark some- 

 Avhat impressive of itself. But, continuing, 

 he tells of tAvo apiaries up in the Blue Ridge 

 where he spends his summers — tho not his 

 Av inters. 



"Jt is about as cold there as anywhere 

 in the South," ho writes. " Winter 'before 

 last some of thovse colonies Avere lost. It 

 was a very mild Avinter too. Last Avinter 

 Avas a severe one and no colonies Avere lost, 

 and they made a great crop of honey this 

 year. So severe cold Avas not the cause of 

 the loss. Then, too, the past spring Avas 

 cold there; trees Avith full-grown leaves were 

 frozen, and the forest hangs Avith dead 

 leaves even yet as a result. Yet the bees 

 liaA-e made good, and I ncA-er saw the like 

 of beautiful Avhite honey during the seven 

 years I have been going up there. 



" So 1 could not and Avould not advocate 

 winter protection, {'urtlier than plenty of 



