April, iQog. 



American ^ee Journal 



First, How far will bees fly for wa- 

 ter if forced to do so? That is, if 

 bees were placed in a locality where 

 there was no water within 4 or 5 miles, 

 would they go to water that distance? 

 As a starter, I will say the greatest 

 distance I have ever found bees from 

 their watering place was 2 miles, and 

 but a few trees that distance, and I 

 have found several hundred bee-trees 



in my life. But that by no means 

 proves that they would not go further. 



Second, How far will absconding 

 swarms travel to hunt a future home? 

 I have good evidence to show they will 

 go 20 to 25 miles from their starting 

 place, but how many times they 

 "camped" on the way, "I don't know." 

 L. B. Smi-h. 



Rescue, Tex., Feb. 27. 



Conducted by J. L. BYER, Mount Joy, Ont. 



Condition of the Clover. 



Much has been said about the killing 

 of the clover in some sections, but I am 

 glad to be able to say that it is in good 

 shape so far in our section. Just to- 

 day I heard that it was badly damaged 

 in some of the lake counties, but I trust 

 the injury will not be as extensive as 

 anticipated. 



Ontario's New Apicoltural Station. 



Mention was made a short time ago 

 about the intention of the Ontario Gov- 

 ernment establishing an Apicultural sta- 

 tion at Jordan, Ont. While the writer 

 is aware of the appointment having been 

 made, of a competent apiarist to have 

 charge, yet the announcement has not 

 been officially made as yet, so I will re- 

 frain from making any definite state- 

 ment till the next issue of the American 

 Bee Journal. At the same time I ex- 

 pect to be able to give the Department's 

 program for the inspection work for 

 1909. (See department of "Miscellane- 

 ous News Items." — G. W.Y.) 



Condition of Cellar-Wintered Bees. 



R. F. Holtermann, in Gleanings for 

 March isth, has an article in which he 

 states that the present season has been 

 very bad for cellar-wintered bees. He 

 says, "During my 26 years of experi- 

 ence in bee-keeping there has never 

 been such danger for the bees wintered 

 in the cellar as there is this winter." 

 Then follows a well written article, 

 setting forth the advantages of abund- 

 ance of fresh air for bees in the cellar, 

 especially so at times when the tem- 

 perature goes up to 50 degrees or over. 

 Mr. Holtermann has an ideal cellar, but 

 I suspect there is a great difference in 

 wintering 500 colonies in one place, as 

 compared with say 100 or more in an- 

 other cellar. Anyway, all the cellars 

 around here are of the ordinary kind 

 under the dwellings, with no arrange- 

 ment for ventilation, and while I have 

 been in some of these cellars during the 

 past few weeks, the bees in every case 

 are simply in perfect condition. With 

 the one exception mentioned last month. 



this is the trend of all reports received 

 up to date. 



Only a few days ago, the writer was 

 in the cellar of J. F. Davison, and al- 

 though the bees are in the same place 

 where all the vegetables, etc., are kept, 

 necessitating frequent — in fact, daily — 

 visits to the cellar ; yet I never saw bees 

 so quiet at this late time of the season. 

 We walked among them with a light, 

 looked up in the clusters of most of 

 them, and probably stayed in the cel- 

 lar for 10 minutes or more. Yet this 

 cellar has absolutely no way of get- 

 ting ventilation, except through a win- 

 dow which is opened at nights during 

 warm weather. 



Mr. Sibbald reports the best winter- 

 ing in his cellar that he has ever ex- 

 perienced, and he was telling me a few 

 days ago that on visiting the cellar he 

 found so few dead bees on the floor that 

 it was possible to walk carefully and 

 not step on any; this in spite of the 

 fact of there being 160 colonies in the 

 cellar, and no dead bees having been 

 swept up before his visit. This cellar, 

 I understand, has no system of venti- 

 lation either ; and while I do not say 

 but that abundance of fresh air is 

 helpful under certain conditions, yet 

 I do think that the nature of the stores 

 is a more important factor than the mat- 

 ter of ventilation. My limited experi- 

 ence in cellar-wintering of bees, coupled 

 with a more extensive observation of 

 bees wintering in other people's cel- 

 lars, convinces me most emphatically 

 on this matter. 



I might say that in the two cases 

 just illustrated, the bees are almost en- 

 tirely on sugar syrup, and bees thus pro- 

 vided for, will winter in almost any old 

 place, while others show signs of dy- 

 sentary early in February even if they 

 are in the most approved cellar. 



The Bees Wintered Outdoors. 



As to the bees wintering outside, from 

 reports to hand, I would judge they, too, 

 are coming through in fine shape. Our 

 bees here have not had a good cleansing 

 flight for 4 months, although today 

 (March 23) nearly all colonies flew a 



little. The day was bad, however, and 

 I would have been better pleased if 

 they had not come out at all, as a cola 

 wind was blowing from the north, and 

 many bees dropped in the water which 

 is around the yards in some places this 

 spring a bit too plentiful to suit me. We 

 have had more trouble from water in 

 the yards this season than I ever ex- 

 perienced before, owing to the peculiar 

 weather conditions ; but little snow on 

 the ground, the frost has penetrated 

 quite deep, and as the snow in the fence 

 corners and other places melts, the re- 

 sultant water spreads all over and has 

 this spring come around hives that have 

 been in the same place for years, and 

 were never before bothered. Straw 

 was scattered around as much as pos- 

 sible, but surrounding areas could not 

 be reached and many bees were lost. 

 Bees will rise from snow, but if they 

 fall in icy water they are down and 

 out. 



Referring again to how our bees are 

 wintering outside, I am glad to say 

 that although they have not had a 

 cleansing flight, yet they seem to be in 

 first-class condition ; and as far as I 

 know there is not a colony dead in the 

 lot. Of course, there is lots of time for 

 losses yet, but it is encouraging to know 

 that they are in good shape so far, as, 

 when that is the case, the chances are 

 fair that they will be in the same cou 

 dition in 2 months from now. 



Editor Root is very much in favor 

 of a sealed cover over bees wintering 

 oiitside, but I, for one, cannot agree 

 with him on this question, in at least 

 so far as our cold climate is concerned. 

 He says that with a sealed cover the 

 moisture condenses on the sides of the 

 hives and then runs out at the en- 

 trances. It will run out until it freezes, 

 as it is sure to do in a real cold snap, 

 as we are liable to get here in our sec- 

 tion. Even if the entrances do not 

 freeze shut, the sides of the hives 

 will get coated with ice, and that is 

 a condition not to be desired. 



In answer to a correspondent, Mr. 

 Root says, "It is almost impossible to 

 keep these absorbents from becoming 

 very damp, and freezing in winter." 



During our coldest snap this past 

 vvinter, having just read a like expres- 

 sion of Mr. Root's, for curiosity's sake 

 I went and looked at the packing of 

 the hives in two of the yards. In one 

 of the yards the packing consisted of 

 about 12 inches of wheat chaff over 

 each hive, the hives being of the double- 

 walled type. The covers are of the 

 gable pattern, and over the chaff there 

 would be a space of about 10 inches 

 deep. Over the chaff was loosely placed 

 an inch board, and examination showed 

 the under side of the board in every 

 case to be frosty all right, but the 

 dampness in no case extended over an 

 inch or two in depth in the chaflf, and 

 in all cases everything was perfectly 

 dry and cosy next to the bees. With- 

 out a space for the air to circulate 

 over the packing, the absorbent mater- 

 ial will get damp, but, as can be readily 

 seen, this condition is readily avoided. 



A few years ago, during an exces- 

 sively cold winter, nearly all the bees 

 around here that were wintered with 

 sealed covers, perished, while those with 



