1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



291 



to sell, and opposite each name the amount 

 and kind, with also the style of package. 

 When this came out it had, in addition to 

 the list, much information concerning honey, 

 with some good directions to dealers for 

 storing it; and a few emphatic statements 

 proving the falsity of the stories about man- 

 ufactured comb honey. About 2000 of these 

 pamphlets were sent out by the secretary 

 and some of the larger producers, to grocers 

 and commission men. 



This year they propose to enlarge this 

 pamphlet, giving the entire list of names, 

 with both those that had honey and those 

 that had not, and also a greater amount of 

 reading-matter to make it more complete. 



Instead of the convention bearing the ex- 

 pense, almost enough advertising was se- 

 cured from the different manufacturers and 

 dealers present to pay for the printing. 



It was the idea of the convention that a 

 much larger number of these should be sent 

 out, so that still more good might come 

 from it. Mr. York suggested that, if a 

 number of them were sent to the publishers 

 of some of the larger bee-journals, with the 

 necessary postage, they could then be mail- 

 ed, with a printed letter from the secretary 

 to the entire list of Michigan subscribers. 

 He said that this was done in Illinois recent- 

 ly, and that the association membership was 

 thereby increased by one hundred. 



The question-box brought forth a discus- 

 sion which centered almost entirely on the 

 subject of wintering. The following points 

 may be of general interest: 



One man had bees in a tight single-walled 

 hive, with the cover sealed down, and, 

 though the entrance was filled with ice; the 

 bees came through in good order. 



Fourteen hives were placed in a cellar, and 

 because they annoyed the people living in 

 the house above, the entrances were stop- 

 ped with carpet-rags. All wintered well. 



Cover the hives with snow, for the bees 

 that are in cold exposed hives will consume 

 so much more honey as to bring on dysen- 

 tery. There will be little danger of smoth- 

 ering. 



If a hive is old, and has not been painted 

 much, sufficient air will pass through the 

 wood to keep the bees. A hundred colonies 

 of bees need less air than the average man. 



Put an absorbent packing above the bees, 

 and an air-space above the packing. Do 

 not put oil or enamel cloth under the pack- 

 ing. 



Put the best honey in the center of the 

 hive when wintering in severe weather. 



The temperature of Bingham's bee-cellar 

 is about 35, though it sometimes goes as low 

 as 30 for several weeks. A damp atmos- 

 phere in the cellar requires a higher temper- 

 ature. 



The shock of taking bees out of the cellar 

 in the spring is anobjection to cellar winter- 

 ing. 



Propolis makes an excellent flux for sold- 

 ering lead and copper, and will do for brass 

 and tin, though not for iron. 



If a new empty super is put below one 



nearly filled, the upper one is likely to be 

 left unfinished. When the empty one is 

 above, the filled one below should be taken 

 off before it becomes travel-stained. Swarm- 

 ing is greater when the empty one is put on 

 top. 



It pays to remove filled sections in the 

 center of the super when not advisable to 

 tier up. Change the capped sides to the 

 outside in the two outer rows, if necessary. 

 Judge colonies according to their individual 

 conditions. H. H. Root. 



WINTER flights; WHEN THEY ARE AND ARE 



NOT ADVANTAGEOUS; OPINIONS 



HARMONIZED. 



I AM not sure that there is any thing in 

 the articles in this issue on the subject as 

 above that is not in harmony with what I 

 have advocated in reference to these winter 

 flights except this: That the general opinion 

 has gone abroad that these winter flights 

 are never to be advised. This, I think, is 

 wholly wrong; and in so far as these cor- 

 respondents may share this opinion I would 

 disagree with them. Mr. Hatch and Mr. 

 Townsend live in a colder climate than we 

 do here in Medina, or that of a large pro- 

 portion of bee-keepers who winter indoors. 

 So this whole question is one that hinges 

 very strongly on locality. If the tempera- 

 ture of the cellar can be kept at 45 through 

 almost the entire winter, the cellar reason- 

 ably dry, and the ventilation fair to good, a 

 winter flight may involve only unnecessary 

 labor on the part of the bee-keeper; but I 

 can not think it would do any harm even 

 then if the bees are taken out and allowed 

 to fly and return the same day. 



As nearly as I can ascertain, some of our 

 correspondents who have advised against 

 the practice supposed that I have advocated 

 leaving the bees out several days or a week. 

 Of course, brood-rearing would be started if 

 the weather were warm, and there would 

 surely be trouble in the cellar when put 

 back, as soon as the first cold spell came on. 



I think we all agree, 1, that a winter 

 flight that involves several days is not only 

 unnecessary but positively harmful; 2, that 

 winter flights are probably unnecessary in 

 cold localities when the temperature of the 

 cellar can be maintained at a uniform point, 

 and where it does not warm up much if any 

 until it is about time to put the bees out 

 permanently. 



But in localities where it warms up much 

 outdoors, as it does here in our locality, 

 the temperature in the cellar is quite sure 

 to vary from the nice ideal of 45 up to 50 and 

 possibly 60. The bees during these rises of 

 temperature are quite apt to be stirred up 

 to activity, consume more than the usual 

 amount of food, and as a consequence their 

 intestines become distended. The remedy is 

 obvious— a winter flight of one day. 



I will say to our friend Mr. Townsend that 

 we one winter kept half our bees in the cel- 

 lar until the time of putting them out. To 

 the rest we gave the benefit of a winter 

 flight about a month before they were set 



