THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



259 



direct jar is given to the hive. The 

 disturbance is manifested, usually, by 

 an increased niurniur from the hive, 

 and with some colonies bees will ap- 

 pear at the entrance. 



ANSWER BY JAMES HEDDON. 



When I think there is no more 

 chance for tliorough flight I put them 

 in in any temperature we happen to 

 have that is too cool to fly, and take 

 them out when they can have a safe 

 fly at once. 



ANSWER BY PROF. COOK. 



We never put our bees in cellar 

 till November. Usually about the 

 15th or 20th. I like to have them 

 in before it becomes very cold. One 

 year I put them in November 3rd 

 and it was none too early. Usually 

 November 20 is early enough. 



ANSWER BY R. R. M. STEVENSON. 



I winter on summer stands. The 

 temperature seldom goes lower than 

 about 25° or 28°. The coldest 

 weather ever experienced hereabouts 

 since 185 7 was last winter, which was 

 17° or thereabouts above zero. I 

 never disturb them unless they are 

 flying, and they are seldom confined 

 more than ten or twenty days through 

 the entire winter. Last winter the 

 first drone eggs were laid March 1 2 

 or 13th. My bees are now bringing 

 in honey from the asters. The tem- 

 perature to-day is 80° in the shade. 

 The honey flow ceases in about 

 three weeks. 



Pocomoke, Md., Oct. 10, 1886. 



ANSWER BY C. C. MILLER. 



I put my bees in cellar some time 

 in November, sometimes by the tenth, 

 oftener two weeks later. 



I would not object to the temper- 

 ature being 32° at the time of taking 

 in, if it had not been continuously 

 cold before. In fact I thiuk should 

 like it as cold as that if the bees had 

 had a fly the day before. 



ANSWER BY W. M. WOODWARD. 



I place my bees in the cellar as soon 

 as I see that winter is surely coming; 

 but not until the ground begins to 

 freeze or a cold snap has set in. I 

 never placed them in the cellar when 

 it was not below freezing and see no 

 sign of any harm to them on that score. 

 I prefer the air to be pretty cold in the 

 cellar, as it quiets them down better to 

 work among. Put them in at night as 

 quietly as possible and shut them up 

 to stay. I give no top ventilation and 

 only a very little at the side near the 

 bottom. This is done through a stuffed 

 pipe opening out doors. No current is 

 ever allowed in the cellar and no bees 

 have ever been lost in it yet. Cellar 

 very dry. Temperature unknown. 



C'uater, 111. 



WIND-BREAK. 



QUKSTIONS I? Y A PRACTICAL BKEKKEPER. 



1. Do you think a "wind-break" of 

 boards, say a fence eight or ten feet 

 higli on the norih side of the apiary, 

 of any advantage as a winter protec- 

 tion? 



2. If a heavy snow comes and covers 

 the hives, or enough merely to block 

 the entrances, would you remove it iu 

 either case? 



8. Suppose the bees are iu single- 

 walled hives, is there not more danger 

 of tiie colony smothering and the 

 coml)S moulding than there would be if 

 they wei'e in double-wall hives? 



4. How often during the winter 

 should the hives be visited and the 

 dead bees removed that seem to clog 

 the entrances? 



5. Should you visit your bee house 

 or cellar in winter (say two months 

 after the bees were put in) and tind a 

 few uneasy colonies, as indicated by 

 the bees moving about the entrances, 

 or by the front of the hives being 

 daubed by their discharges, would you 

 advise removing these colonies on the 

 first warm day lor a flight, or would 

 the other colonies be damaged by the 

 disturbance more than would be gained 

 even should the few uneasy colonies 

 be saved ? 



6. Do you shade the entrances to 

 your hives iu winter? 



7. As you winter bees mostly on the 

 summer stand, and allow ventilators 

 through several inches of packing, 

 how large an entrance do you leave 



