52 



I'HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



REPLIES by Prominent Apiarists. 



Wintering Bees in a Pit, 



Query, No. 186.— About Dec. 1 I put my 

 bees into a pit :) feet deep, and put cloth in 

 the bottom. I placed 1-inch blocks under 

 the corners of the hives, paclted corn-fodder 

 between the hives and the sides of the pit, 

 then covered all with dry straw, and over 

 that a cover of boards. Over the boards I 

 put another cover of straw. The bees keep 

 up a continual hum. By letting a ther- 

 mometer down through a box which con- 

 nects with the bottom of the pit, I find that 

 the temperature varies from 35° to 45°. 

 Will it do to leave them there for the winter? 

 —J. R., Dec. 24. 1885. 



Yes, if it Iveeps tlry in the pit. At 

 any rate do not take them out till a 

 warm day.— Dadant & Son. 



I have had no experience in putting 

 bees in pits, but I think that I would 

 leave them just where they are.— H. 

 D. Cutting. 



I should rather the tempt ..cure 

 would remain evenly at 45°, but 3'P 

 to 4.'y- is as well as I could control my 

 house-cellar in which I have wintered 

 bees successfully. A continual hum 

 is always heard in a cellar containing 

 bees, and if of the right kind, it 

 denotes that they are wintering well. 



— G. M. DOOLITTLB. 



Unless they could be placed in a 

 higher temperature, I would not dis- 

 turb them ; and even if they could, I 

 doubt the advisability of disturbing 

 them, especially if the temperature 

 does not fall lower than 35°.— W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



If you had said that the tempera- 

 ture varied from 40° to 4.5°, I should 

 say all right. I do not like it as low 

 as 3-5^. In making a pit, why not 

 make it all under ground and cover 

 it so deeply that you can keep the 

 temperature from 45° to 48° ? Do not 

 fear a little gentle hum ; it is a note of 

 contentment.— A. J. Cook. 



I have had no experience in this 

 kind of wintering, but I should think 

 tliat the temperature might answer. 

 If the "continual hum" be from a 

 large number of colonies, and resem- 

 bles the sighing of the wind among 

 pines. I should not be afraid of it ; 

 but if it be a continual " zip, zipping," 

 I should feel a little uneasy.— C. C. 



MiLLEK. 



I do not like your repository at all ; 

 however, if I was in your place, I 

 should pile on more straw or earth, or 

 something to raise the temperature 

 about 10°, and keep it more uniform. 

 Bees may become noisy and restless 

 in a high temperature, and no diar- 

 rhea result ; but if from a low tem- 

 perature, " look out." — James Hed- 

 don. 



The experiment of keeping bees in 

 clamps during the winter months has 

 been tried with more or less success. 

 While I do not think that plan the 



best, I should advise in this case to 

 leave the bees alone and not disturb 

 them at all, for fear that disturbance 

 would cause great excitement and 

 injure them more than to leave them 

 where they are.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



" The continual hum " began with 

 the packing, and they keep it up 

 because of the great excitement and 

 disturbance it occasioned. They 

 were aroused from the condition of 

 hibernating sleep which they had en- 

 tered on Dec. 1, and it will now be 

 doubtful if they will get settled so as 

 to enter it again. I tliink that they 

 will be as safe where they are as any- 

 where. Dec. 1 is too late to pack bees 

 in this latitude. They cannot be 

 packed even in October without some 

 disturbance. But the rustling of a 

 lot of corn-stalks in packing would 

 thoroughly arouse them at any time. 

 All operations about the hives in the 

 fall should be conducted as quietly as 

 possible, and all jarring carefully 

 avoided.— G. L. Tinker. 



flien to love Bees, 



Query, No. 187.— Would it be safe to 

 move my 2;i colonies of bees .30 miles in 

 January, on a sled '/ or would it be better to 

 move them in the spring, on a wagon, after 

 they have had a cleansing (light y— W. G., 

 Wis. 



Move them in the spring. — H. D. 

 Cutting. 



The latter way would be my choice. 

 —James IIeddon. 



I should prefer the latter method.— 

 C. C. Miller. 



I should prefer to wait until spring. 

 Bees can be moved as safely on a 

 wagon as on a sled. — G. M. Doo- 



LITTLE. 



I should wait until spring ; still I 

 am not certain that moving them in 

 winter would injure them. — W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



I have known it to be often done 

 with no harm, but theoretically I 

 should prefer to wait till spring. — A. 

 J. Cook. 



I cannot speak for your climate, 

 but I used to select a time when snow 

 was on the ground to go into the hills 

 on the Kentucky River to get bees, 

 hauling tliem on a sled over the 

 roughest road imaginable, without 

 any apparent injury to the bees. They 

 were in boxes and " gums," and were 

 contined by tying a coffee-sack over 

 the open ends of the " gum." This 

 was 25 years ago. — G. W. Demauee. 



You had better move them in the 

 spring. We tried sleds to our hearts' 

 content. The jarring is not contin- 

 uous, but very hard when there is 

 any, unless the sleighing is extra- 

 ordinarily good. Besides, it excites 

 the bees and does them no good. — 

 Dadant & Son. 



Wait till spring, by all means. Any 

 disturbance of a nature such as mov- 

 ing them now would create, will 

 inevitably injure them greatly by 

 breaking up their clusters, and caus- 



ing them to eat disproportionately, or 

 die out in detail.— J. E. Pond, Je. 



Bees may be safely moved on a sled 

 in January, if extra precaution is 

 taken not to jar them in handling or 

 moving. If it was more convenient 

 for me to move them now than in the 

 spring, I would do it, although the 

 spring is the best time usually to 

 move bees. The moving of bees in 

 winter should be intrusted to no one 

 but an experienced apiarist, one who 

 can handle hives of bees as no one 

 else can.— G. L. Tinker. 



Cleansing Foul-Broody HiTes, 



Query, No. 188.— My bees have the foul 

 brood, and I expect to use phenol at once to 

 cure them. I cured one of the worst cases 

 I had last summer, by using Mr. Doolittle's 

 plan. I would be satisfied with his plan if 

 there was an easy way of disinfecting or 

 purifying the old hives, which I am not able 

 to throw away : I have no kettle large 

 enough to boil a whole hive, and it is a big 

 job to knock a hive to pieces and boil each 

 piece. Is there any way of washing out the 

 old hives with carbolic-acid water so as to 

 purify them ? I suppose I have 25 colonies 

 that are affected, but I wish to feed phenol 

 in honpy and water to all, 8o as to cure it 

 throughout my entire apiary of 120 colonies. 

 —Texas. 



When you have them cured by the 

 use of phenol, tell us all about it in 

 the Bee Journal.— G.M.Doolittle. 



I should think that the farmers 

 living near you keep something to 

 scald their hogs in. Here I could 

 borrow a " hog-box," i. e., a large box 

 with a sheet-iron bottom, so as to be 

 set over a furnace. In such a boiler 

 you could boil two or three hives at 

 a time. Quick-lime added to the 

 water would make it more effective. 

 — G. W. Demaree. 



You can use a sponge and apply the 

 solution, but be extra careful to 

 saturate every spot. I would prefer 

 a kettle or tank and give them a good 

 boiling. If you are very careful and 

 will do your work well, you can cure 

 it.— H. D. Cutting. 



I have never seen a case of foul 

 brood, but if phenol is effectual, why 

 not paint the hives with a solution V — 

 C. C. Miller. 



I cannot say, but why not try wash- 

 ing the hives well with either carbolic 

 acid or salicylic acid dissolved in 

 alcohol ? I presume this would dis- 

 infect the hives. — A. J. Cook. 



We are no authority on this, having 

 never seen a case of foul brood. 

 Several French apiarists claim to have 

 cured foul brood by smoking the bees 

 and hives with dried thyme. — Da- 

 dant & Son. 



It seems to me that it would cost 

 less to procure a kettle or pan that 

 would hold a part of a hive at a time, 

 than to use as much carbolic acid as 

 would be needed. A pan two feet 

 square and 4 inches deep, would scald 

 every part of my hive by turning the 

 parts. — James IIeddon. 



The plan detailed by Mr. Frank 

 Cheshire gives a complete history of 

 the phenol cure. Phenol is simply 



