31 



returns of 100 to 200 per cent are sometimes realized in special cases of 

 good management and favorable conditions. The large returns indicate 

 that bee keeping is an industry which liberally rewards intelligent eflfort, 

 and there is no agricultural pursuit in which accuracy and the determi- 

 nation to do everything required at exactly the right time counts for so 

 much. No similar industry yields such large rewards and no occupation 

 is more exacting in the matter of prom})tness when anything needs to 

 be done. Unless we are sure of being able to do each part of the work 

 at the proper season we should not attempt bee keeping. 



Wintering Bees. 



Of all the dangers and difficulties confronting the bee keeper that of 

 wintering his bees in this latitude and climate, with its sudden changes, 

 was brought most closely home to many this past winter. Some lost 

 every swarm, others eighty per cent. The man who successfully brought 

 through to spring fifty per cent or more of his colonies is indeed to be 

 congratulated. But the extreme and prolonged cold was not the chief 

 cause of this excessive loss. Bees have been known to winter safely 

 under all manner of conditions; in stone jars, thin wooden shipping 

 boxes both shallow and deep, in glass hives and even in hives with no 

 bottom to prevent the wind from sweeping up between the combs. Yet 

 the bees must have maintained their normal temperature. Something 

 besides outside protection is necessai'y to the successful wintering of 

 bees. Certainly one of the necessities of successful wintering is plenty 

 of food, chiefly honey, although Cheshire* states that pollen is essential 

 to strong wintering. He says : " Honey the bees consume to enable them 

 to produce heat and give foi'th energy, and pollen to renew their nerve 

 and muscle waste, selecting the one or the other as nature needs." These 

 footls, it has been demonstrated by experiment, are best arranged in the 

 hive by the bees themselves, and not supplied by slipping into the cluster 

 late in the fall a frame or two of honey. This may act like a division 

 board and separate the cluster. In order to avoid the need of doing this, 

 if a swarm is weak in the fall, feed the bees early in September a syrup 

 of sugar and water, half and half, or extracted honey if you have it. 

 The bees will then deposit the food where they can use it when clustered 

 in winter. 



Another factor of extreme importance is a population of young thrifty 

 bees in a colony. Bees which have worked all summer, gathering honey 

 and raising brood, are worn out, and cannot survive the winter if they 

 do the fall. During the winter bees are quiet, there is no wear and tear 

 upon them. They merely hang in a compact cluster wilhiu the brood 

 nest, moving about onh^ enough to procure food from time to time. 

 Thus young bees, when winter sets in, are capable of resting throughout 

 the cold months, being fresh when spring opens up. 



To summarize: the two essentials are, have plenty of naturally ar- 

 ranged stores, with plenty of young bees. Bees enough to cover six 

 standard Langstroth frames will usually winter well. 



* Frank R. Cheshire, " Bees and Bee Keeping," Vol. IT., p. ^2f), London, England. 



