1368 



GLEANINGS IN BEP: CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



day. The strength of the weak, as compar- 

 ed'with the strong colonies in the spring, 

 was as nearly in pi'oportion to their strength 

 the fall pi'evious as could be estimated, the 

 full colonies lieing correspondingly stronger 

 than the nuclei. This lot of weak colonies 

 wintered at least 15 per cent l)etter than the 

 strong colonies wintered outdoors, and con- 

 sumed not more than half as much food jjer 

 colony. All colonies wintered outiloors were 

 in tirst-class condition in the fall with more 

 than 25 lbs. of honey per colony, and well 

 packeil and protected. 



The ailvantages of confining the bees to 

 their hives for cellar wintering are even 

 more marked when it comes to setting them 

 out in the spring. At this season of the year 

 they instinctively long for a flight and to 

 commence the season's work: and, even if 

 the weather is not very mild, soon there is a 

 lot of Ijees Hying about the cellar, while car- 

 rying out is in progress, especially where 

 there are many colonies to handle. By fol- 

 lowing the orthodox methods of cellar win- 

 tering it becomes necessary, or at least de- 

 siraV)le. as taught l^y good authority, to have 

 one or two smokers lighted and ready for 

 instant use; to have on hand a supply of wet 

 rags to close the entrance to hives while be- 

 ing moved: to keep the cellar darkened and 

 the door closed, except to admit the opera- 

 tive in and out in carrying the hives, etc., 

 all of which precautions are undoulitedly ad- 

 visalile in the old-time method of cellar win- 

 tering. By my method of confining the bees 

 while in the cellar, on the 4th of last April I 

 set out 100 colonies with no other assistaucie, 

 taking them from the cellar between four 

 and five feet below the surrounding level 

 and carrying them an average of seven rods 

 to their temporary stands. No smoker was 

 lighted: no wet rags prepared or used, and 

 no bees fiying about the cellar, although a 

 lighted laiiteru hung therein for my conven- 

 ience: no anxiety if a hive was accidentally 

 jarred, anil no extreme caution to prevent 

 the bees from l)eing aroused. I commenced 

 carrying out the l)ees at 6:55 in the evening, 

 and "finished at 11:25 the same evening, or 

 4^ hours" work in cai'rying out 106 colonies. 

 You see there was nothing to do but to pick 

 up the hive, with two strips of board for a 

 temporary stand, and carry it out and set it 

 down. After all were out I ate and relished 

 a midnight lunch, and then adjusted the 

 lioor and alighting-boards. I opened the 

 fronts, withdrew the fioor-boards, scraped 

 the dead bees therefrom with one stroke of a 

 sharp-edged board, and readjusted the floor 

 and alighting-l)oards of the 100 hives, all 

 without having a lighted smoker or using 

 any means of quieting the fjees, in just 52 

 minutes from the time! left the house until 

 I returned, and received but one slight sting 

 in the operation. The operation of adjust- 

 ing the device is so simple in either closing 

 or opening it, and it is done so quickly, that 

 the bees are not aroused Ijy the slight disturb- 

 ance. 



It is not often that we have a winter like 

 the one last past, when bees winter nearly 



or quite as well oiitdooi's as in the cellar. 

 Most of the winters are more or less severe 

 on the outdoor colonies, and some of them 

 are little short of disastrous, as was the case 

 in the winter of 1903, when the losses through- 

 out the North and East reached in many lo- 

 calities as high as 75 per cent and upward. 

 Because of the uncertainty of cellar or spe- 

 cial-repository wintering, the latter method is 

 destined to grow in favor with each succeeding 

 severe winter. Better cellars and greater ease 

 in handling the bees in placing them in and re- 

 moving them therefrom, by reason of l)etter 

 and specially constructed devices to confine 

 the Ijees and do away with the annoyance of 

 dead Ijees littering the cellar fioor, will do 

 much to bring cellar wintering into tlie fa- 

 vor it merits. It is well for the pei'son 

 who contemplates the subject to rememl^er 

 that the saving in honey and bees in one se- 

 vere winter will nearly if not quite pay for 

 all the extra expense of cellar and special 

 etiuipment. 

 Buffalo, N. Y. 



AVINTERING BEES IN CLAMPS. 



Hives Covered with Straw, iuid Buried in 



Sand: No Ventilation Necessary Except 



what Conies I'hrou*;!! the Sandy 



Soil; Spring- Pr<>tecti<m. 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND. 



It is hot this morning, August 20- a morn- 

 ing the least suggestive of zero weather and 

 the wintering of bees; l:)ut it was so last year, 

 and winter followed, so we will prepare as 

 usual. 



With a pencil and a roll of paper I have 

 wandered down to the Pine Lake bee-yard, 

 three-fourths of a mile south of the town. 

 Long before I reached the apiary the low 

 hum of the bees could be distinctly heard; 

 then a little later that well-known (to l^ee- 

 keepers) aroma of the buckwheat was evi- 

 dent: then the birds are gathering in fiocks 

 preparatory for that southern flight to win- 

 ter (juarters. In the distance the katydids 

 could be heard chirping. The leaves are 

 turning golden, as in fall. The.se and many 

 other indications give evidence that the sea- 

 son is nearing its enil, and we can not help 

 asking, "What has the harvest been?" Yes, 

 I live in town, and have no home yard, so 

 my experience for the last six years has been 

 wholly with out-yards. Then I had another 

 reason Ijesides writing for coming out to one 

 of my yards. I said the l)uckwheat was in 

 bloom. Yes. and it has been for the past ten 

 days — a two or three pound fiow per day, 

 anil during all this time there have l)een no 

 surplus receptacles on the hives. The con- 

 sequences are, the lu'ood-nests are just l)ulg- 

 ing out with this early August buckwheat 

 honey for winter stores. It would do your 

 heart good. Editor Root, to raise the covers 

 off some of the 400 colonies here near Re- 

 mus and see the great fat combs of honey 

 the bees are storing and sealing for their win- 



