19U6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



997 



co-workers adds daily to our psychic ircome. 

 We are so very busy that we have very lit- 

 tle time to spend with them, and we have 

 finally formulated our ideals for our own 

 bee-keeping, and that is to keep bees for 

 honey and for ' ' fun. ' ' We shall have plenty 

 of honey for our own table,and just enough 

 to bestow on the neighbors so they will not 

 get tired of it; and fun enough to season 

 life with an out-of-doors interest and the 

 feeling that no summer day is likely to pass 

 without a surprise. 



THE VALUE OF DOUBLE- WALLED HIVES; 

 PROTECTION FOR SUPERS. 



Experience Proving that in Some "Localities," 

 at Least, Such Protection is Necessary. 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ, 



In Gleanings for Dec. 1, 1905, the editor 

 requests those who have had experience to 

 report on the effects of protection or no pro- 

 tection to the hives— that is, for instance, 

 the difference between double-walled and 

 single-walled hives. 



In my locality it makes a considerable dif- 

 ference throughout the whole season. In 

 this latitude wintering is done out of doors. 

 It would be difficult to have either cellar or 

 special repositories in the ground cool 

 enough through the whole winter to winter 

 successfully. 



Our winters consist of an alternation of 

 bright warm spells of weather and cold, 

 raw, rainy, or snowy days. During the 

 warm days when the sun shines on the hives 

 the bees are apt to come out in considerable 

 numbers. Sometimes the air is yet too 

 cold, and they are chilled before being able 

 to get back. Others go too far in quest of 

 pollen or nectar, and never return; so a 

 large number are lost, and in some winters 

 the colonies are reduced so much as to be- 

 come nearly worthless. A doubled-walled 

 packed hive vdll do away, at least nearly so, 

 with that kind of mischief. The heat of the 

 sun will not reach the bees at once, but be 

 stored up in the packing, and reach them 

 later and only gradually. 



Another cause of loss is due to the brood- 

 rearing that invariably takes place during 

 the warm days. In single- walled hives a 

 large portion of it gets chilled during the 

 next cold spell, owing to the inability of the 

 bees to cover all of it. In double-walled 

 hives the loss is at least considerably re- 

 duced, though not always entirely. The 

 double walls help the bees to keep the whole 

 interior of the hive sufficiently warm. 



After a favorable season the colonies go 

 in!x) winter quarters quite strong; and if the 

 winter is open, quite an amount of brood 

 will be raised. In fact, the colonies are 

 frequently stronger in bees at the opening 

 of fruit- blossoms than they were in the pre- 

 ceding fall. Under such circumstances they 

 are often ready for the sections before the 

 weather is warm enough. Then the pro- 

 tection to the supers is exceedingly valua- 



ble. The colony with a protected super will 

 go to work in it, while the one with an un- 

 protected and too cold super will be unable 

 to take possession of it, and then put all the 

 honey possible in the brood-nest, sulk a 

 week or two, and finally swarm. For me 

 the protection of the supers has often made 

 the whole difference between a crop of 

 swarms and a crop of honey. 



Perhaps some explanation on the ' ' locali- 

 ty " should be made here. With you North- 

 ern people the spring does not come until 

 the snow is all melted— that is, quite late in 

 the season. At that time the days are long 

 the sun quite high, and the weather gets 

 good and warm at once, and stays warm. 

 In this latitude the case is different. The 

 spring begins early, but drags along through 

 a succession of warm and comparatively 

 cold spells of weather. The maples begin 

 to blossom irregularly in March, and some- 

 times as early as the middle of February, 

 and the apple-trees about the 1st of April- 

 but quite cold spells and frosts, and oc- 

 casionally a regular freezing day, may come 

 as late as the 20th of May. Under such cir- 

 cumstances the necessity of ample protec- 

 tion is seen at once. 



Even during the summer the nights are 

 often quite cool -in fact, cold enough to 

 compel the bees to abandon the supers dur- 

 ing at least the latter part of the night. It 

 must be remembered that the summer 

 nights are longer here than further north. 



I began bee-keeping with single- walled 

 hives. My work with the bees was done al- 

 most altogether at night, as another occu- 

 pation was taking all my day time. One 

 day, for some reason that I do not remem- 

 ber now, instead of going to the apiary aft- 

 er supper I waited until near daylight the 

 next morning. When I opened the hives I 

 found the supers empty of bees. Then, to 

 use a rather slangy expression, I "saw a 

 great light," and decided right there and 

 then that henceforth the supers would be 

 protected as well as the brood-nests through 

 the entire season. That was sixteen or 

 eighteen years ago. 



Considering the fact that most of the 

 honey- ripening and comb- building are done 

 during the night, the importance of having 

 them sufficiently protected is evident. 



A single- walled hive exposed to the hot 

 sun may be so warm during the day that 

 the bees are compelled to quit work to a 

 certain extent, and then when the night 

 comes the radiation may be such that the 

 supers become too cold for the work— a 

 double loss. A proper shading would pre- 

 vent the first trouble entirely, and the sec- 

 ond to some extent. A double wall packed 

 will not let the hive become too hot in the 

 day, because it takes time for the heat to 

 get through it. The packing will retain the 

 heat and then keep the bees warm during 

 the night. All this is, of course, a question 

 of locality, or, rather, climate. Owing to 

 the elevation above the sea, East Tennessee 

 has cooler nights than the countries situated 

 under the same latitude at a lower level. 



