THE AMEBIC AI^ APICULTURIST. 



253 



same day, in the same kind of cages, 

 and liave the same food, in fact, 

 every way aUke and both shipped to 

 one address and the cages bound to- 

 gether, sometimes one will reach its 

 destination in perfect condition while 

 the other queen and every accompa- 

 nying bee will be dead. 



This has been known to happen in 

 a few instances the past season. Who 

 can tell what caused their death ? We 

 must confess our inability to solve 

 the mystery. 



PREPARING BEES FOR WINTER. 



Most of our bees are all " fixed 

 up " for winter. We have fifty colo- 

 nies in eight L. frame hives; having 

 sides one-half an inch thick. These 

 hives, or rather brood-chambers, are 

 placed inside of an outer-case. The 

 first thing done was to nail strips 

 three-fourths of an inch thick to the 

 bottom board, thus bringing the bot- 

 tom of the frames an inch and a 

 quarter above the bottom-board and 

 leaving plenty of room under the 

 combs for a free circulation of air, 

 and for dead bees and the dirt that 

 usually collects in winter. The outer 

 cases of our hives are in three sec- 

 tions. The bottom one is ten inches 

 deep, the middle one six inches, and 

 the top one or the cap, is also 

 six inches deep. The two bottom 

 sections are placed over the brood- 

 chamber, the cushion or mat placed 

 on, and then the sawdust or other 

 packing applied until it is at least 

 four inches deep over the top of the 

 frames. Ventilating holes one inch 

 in diameter were made in the caps 

 under the roof-boards and over the 

 packing. 



This method is similar to those 

 given in the October number by 

 Messrs. Pond, Russell, and Bingham 

 for^WiNTERiNG Bees. 



We would not pay any one twenty- 

 five cents per hive to guarantee our 

 bees to come out all right in the spring. 

 All of our colonies have a good 

 quality of food, plenty of young bees, 



and are well packed, so we have no 

 fear about their wintering. 



Bees packed as above described 

 will not only winter well but will 

 spring well also, as when properly 

 prepared for winter they are also 

 prepared for spring. We regard the 

 packing more important for spring 

 than for winter. More bees die after 

 the twentieth of March than from 

 December to March ; such has been 

 our experience, at least. 



Mr. Doolittle's suggestion to win- 

 ter a part of the bees in the cellar 

 and a part on the summer stands is 

 good advice. About forty of our 

 colonies will be placed in the cellar, 

 the temperature of which will be kept 

 at nearly 45° until about February 20, 

 when we shall try to raise it and keep 

 it up to 55°. 



We shall watch the reports of " Old 

 Prob.," and when he says " a cold 

 wave is coming down from Alaska," 

 say about Nov. 20 or 25, then the 

 bees will be placed in the cellar post- 

 haste. By the way, " Old Prob. " is 

 not always reliable in his predictions. 

 Two years ago about the 23rd of No- 

 vember, he predicted that a big snow 

 storm was raging in the far west mov- 

 ing east and was being followed by a 

 cold wave and zero weather. We 

 were somewhat frightened and placed 

 all of our bees in a bee-house pre- 

 pared for them, but the cold wave 

 did not come, and from that time, 

 November 25 to January 15, the 

 weather was so warm that the bees 

 took a flight nearly every day and we 

 felt like thrashing old Prob. for mak- 

 ing a false report. 



Then winter set in and the bees did 

 not fly again until March 29. Those 

 in the bee-house wintered splendidly, 

 although the thermometer registered 

 60° nearly all of the time the first six 

 weeks they were in. 



Teasel is the best cultivated plant 

 for producing honey. It yields a 

 honey that is quite liquid, very sweet 

 and almost white. 



