230 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



year. He knew nothing of spring 

 dwindling nor of bee diarrhoea. 

 'Whenever, at the approach of winter, 

 his hives were heavy enough, they 

 were good for the next season, and 

 there was no doubt about it. Why 

 does not this same rule hold good 

 with us modern beekeepers ? 



Since the introduction of the mov- 

 able-comb system we have learned 

 that the most honey can be pro- 

 duced above a shallow brood-cham- 

 ber. We have adopted, therefore, the 

 Langstroth hive, which has frames 

 just deep enough for safe wintering, 

 with a brood-chamber large enough 

 to accommodate a good prolific 

 queen and with a large surface for 

 supers immediately above it. 



Those shallow brood-frames are 

 an encroachment on the natural in- 

 stinct of the bee, but they answer 

 our purpose. We deprive the bees 

 of those stores which mother nature 

 teaches them to place above their 

 brood and we must arrange in some 

 manner to give them a plenty within 

 easy reach of their cluster during 

 winter. Every comb in their brood- 

 chamber should be well filled with 

 honey, with the heaviest combs near- 

 est the cluster. The best covering 

 of the brood-chamber is straw or its 

 equivalent as an absorbent and a good 

 non-conductor of cold. And if the 

 brood-chamber is covered with 

 boards, /. <?., the boards being next 

 to the cluster, they should have an 

 extra covering to guard against the 

 cold. The entrance should remain 

 open to its full width and the hive 

 should have a slant of at least two 

 inches so that all the water created 

 during cold spells has to run out. 



Oil-cloth over the brood-chamber 

 is as unnatural a covering as a rubber 

 blanket would be on our bed. There 

 would be no end to the moisture. ■ 

 The one would gi\'e us rhevmiatism 

 while the other would bring mouldy 

 combs, sour honey and dysentery to 

 a colony of bees. 



When preparing bees for winter, 



the presence of pollen, honey dew 

 and even sweets from cider mills is of 

 no moment. The only essentials 

 are a good strong colony within easy 

 reach of the cluster and a dry abode. 



Cincinnati^ Ohio, Sept. 2, 1886. 



[. F. Bingham. 



The first requisite to successful 

 wintering is 30 lbs. net early stored 

 honey, which has remained capped 

 all summer in the hive in which the 

 bees are to winter. The next is a 

 loose or movable bottom-board on 

 which between the combs and said 

 bottom-board can be placed a rim, 

 the shape of the hive and two inches 

 high, on which said hive shall stand. 



This will give an open space of two 

 inches between the bottom of the 

 combs and the bottom-board or bot- 

 tom of the hive — for the bees to clus- 

 ter in and to drop should a few die — 

 and for the free circulation of air to 

 expel such dampness as may occur. 

 In this rim, on one side should be a 

 long and high entrance. Thus fixed, 

 nothing more can be done, but to 

 take them into a deep, warm cellar 

 where there will be no frost or light 

 on the approach of the first snow 

 storm or cold weather. Don't wait to 

 let them have a fly after snow goes 

 off; for a colony will rarely fly, even 

 in a mild day, after snow falls or win- 

 ter sets in, until January or February. 

 They do not care to fly ; so will not. 



If not put in a cellar of the kind 

 described, leave them in the yard and 

 enclose in a small house which will 

 hold two or three colonies and pack 

 with fine hay or chaff seven inches 

 deep all round and beneath, and 

 from twelve to fifteen inches over the 

 top of the frames. No hive cover 

 nor ventilation need be given except 

 a spout eight or nine inches long 



