1906 



GLEANiNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1371 



FKi. 3. — E. D. Towxs^:xl)■.s 



getting a whiff 

 of fresh air will 

 cause the l)ees 

 to make quite 

 a demonstra- 

 tion; but they 

 will not leave 

 their hives then. 

 Just at night, 

 when it is too 

 late for the bees 

 to liy, remove 

 the rest of the 

 earth and straw. 

 Thus far the 

 uncovering has 

 been done the 

 day before you 

 expect a good 

 day for them 

 to liy. The next 

 morning the 

 bees will all l)e"' 

 clustereil i n 

 their hives, and 

 can be set on 

 their summer 



stands without a single bee flying. After 

 trying several different plans of removing 

 bees from clamps, the one described above 

 is decidedly the best. It might give some 

 timid bee-keeper courage to try this plan 

 to know that we wintereil 300 colonies last 

 winter in clamps without the loss of a single 

 good one, and that we will winter 450 of our 

 600 colonies this way next winter. 



Fig. 2 shows four of the pits at the Kal- 

 kaska yard, just after the bees (nearly 250 

 colonies) were set on their summer stands — 

 not a single dead colony, that is, all that 

 were in a normal condition when put in 

 came through in good conditi(ju. 



BUILDING-PAPER FOR SPRING PROTECTION 

 OF BEES. 



If you will look at the half-tone. Fig. 8, 

 you will see our mode of protecting bees dur- 

 ing spring with building-paper. The ideal 

 way, ami the way we do when we are sup- 

 plied with those | -thick board, brood-nest 

 covers, is to remove the hive-cover and place 

 one of these thin covers on. then fold the 

 paper around the hive nicely, as the half-tone 

 Avill show, then nail on four lath at the bot- 

 tom. Put your hive-cover on, held down 

 with a stone or brick, as the wind is more 

 likely to blow covers off" when papered. 

 With this protection, even in the coldest 

 weather in April, the bees will be clustered 

 clear across our teu-frame hives, just as they 

 do in chaff' hives, with the additional advan- 

 tage over the chaff' hive of the benetit of the 

 sun heat during the day. 



Although this cut shows white paper, we 

 prefer a dark color, and have been using 

 with perfect success an oiled paper 30 inches 

 wide. A piece 4(1 inches long is about right 

 for a ten-frame hive, while paper 32 inches 

 wide might do for eight-frame hives. 



Remus, Mich. 



PLAN OF PKX^TECTING HiVES Willi PAPKK INT 

 THE SPRING. 



A BEE-HOUSE ENTIRELY ABOVE THE 

 GROUND. 



Two Compartments for Beess, Separated by 

 a Tliird One. to be V^eA in Controlling 

 the Temperature : the Advantag-e in Plae- 

 inja; the Colonies in the Spring on tlie 

 Same Locations they Oocujiied the Season 

 Before. 



BY H. R. BOARDMAX. 



The bee-keeper who makes bee-keeping 

 much of a bu.-iine.ss soon tiuds that he needs 

 some kind of Ijee-house. not only for winter- 

 ing the l)ees. Ijut also for the convenience of 

 much of the work. The important object of 

 indoor wintering is to reduce the risk of 

 losses. The saving in stores is by no means 

 a small item, but not easily estimated, as 

 well as preserving the stores by protecting 

 from the cold. It is to some extent the so- 

 lution of the wintering problem here in the 

 North, and divests the lousiness of much of 

 its uncertainty and risk, and places it on a 

 more permanent basis: yet not all make a 

 success of wintering indoors. 



With an ideal l)ee-house I am certain some 

 would come short of success in wintering. 

 A low temperature I regard as an unfavor- 

 al)le condition: moisture and a low tempera- 

 ture combined, doubly so. I have never 

 l)een able to maintain a uniform tempera- 

 ture in the bee-room, nor have I found it es- 

 sential to successful wintering. A high teiu- 

 perature is safer than a low one. and the 

 bees will be easier to control when a warm 

 spell comes. Ventilation I consider neces- 

 sary only in controlling the temperature. 



TEMPERATURE. 



From 45 to 50° I consider nearly right— 45 

 in the fore part of winter and 50' in the lat- 

 ter part. 



