684 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



November, 1921 



THE VALUE OF WINDBREAKS 



Natural Windbreaks 'Best if Avail- 

 able. Hon/ to 'Build a Good Port- 

 able Windbreak 



By E. R. Root 



IT is only with- 

 in the last few 

 years that 

 proper emphasis 

 has been placed 

 on the value of 

 windbreaks for 

 outdoor winter- 

 ing or springing. 

 Several promi- 

 nent beekeepers, among them Dr. C. C. Mil- 

 ler, I think, have said that, if they had to 

 choose between windbreaks and packing, 

 they would take the former. I personally 

 know one or two eases where bees, in single- 

 walled hives, well screened by windbreaks, 

 have wintered successfully where bees in the 

 immediate vicinity in packed hives out in 

 the open have died. This should not be con- 

 strued as an argument that packing is of no 

 value. There are many facts to prove that, 

 other things being equal, a well-packed col- 

 ony in the spring or winter will consume less 

 stores, winter better, and have more brood, 

 than colonies in single-walled hives. But 



the ideal com- 

 bination is a 

 good windbreak 

 and a sufficient 

 amount of pack- 

 ing. Deep snows, 

 if not dense 

 enough to freeze 

 up the entrance, 

 are also very 

 helpful. The engravings herewith submit- 

 ted, in connection with the legends beneath, 

 will show that we practice what we preach. 

 We pack and windbreak both. 



Nature will very often furnish natural 

 windbreaks that are much superior to any- 

 thing man can put up where there is noth- 

 ing. A sidehill gradually slanting down 

 from the north to the south, with shrubbery, 

 fence, or trees on top, makes an ideal wind- 

 break. Sometimes a location can be found 

 where the hill on the windward exposure is 

 in form of a semicircle. Cases in point are 

 the apiaries shown in Figs. 1 and 2, these 

 being well protected by a hill. The small 



W» ' * ^ 



Fig. 1. — This is a natural windbreak on the lee side of a hill. Additional protection is afforded by a picket 

 fence, some farm buildings, and a small orchard on top of the hill. It should be clearly understood that a 

 hillside facing the south is not necessarily a good place for wintering unless some kind of obstruction is 

 on the top of the hill to prevent a north wind from sweeping over the hill and down on the bees. The hill- 

 side where the bees are in this case has a southeast exposure. Over on the east side, about 300 feet away, 

 is another hill on top of which there are some buildings and a row of evergreens. Bee have wintered well 

 in this spot for ygafs in wl)f^t ip known .as the Leister' yard, gwped by Adam Leister, who furnishes us 



bees every year, 



