May 18, 1899. 



AMERICAN PEE JOURNAL. 



309 



bee-keepers to size up the conditions affecting their inter- 

 ests in the immediate future. 



But, first, let us glance at the conditions that have pre- 

 vailed in the recent past. Winter weather came earU- in 

 November, and has had but few interruptions up to the 

 present time (April 11). The days when bees could have a 

 flight have been few, and the spells of confinement have 

 been long ones. I am speaking, of course, about bees win- 

 tered out-of-doors. Great losses are reported from almost 

 every place, and it is quite likely that the colonies that have 

 survived are weaker in numbers, and their stores nearer 

 the point of exhaustion than is usually the case at this time 

 of the year. Those persons who do not examine their colo- 

 nies early in the spring will, no doubt, meet with many sur- 

 prises if they examine them now. Like myself, they will, 

 I presume, find some colonies dead with plenty of honey in 

 what would seem to be easj' reach ; some colonies will be 

 found consuming the last little patch of honey in the hive, 

 and in some colonies will be found some little patches of 

 brood with honey so remote that you will wonder how the 

 bees live and j'et keep the brood alive. 



In view of the weakened condition of manj' colonies, 

 and the deficiencj' of stores, it seems that more than usual 

 care will have to be exercised in order to get a large force 

 •of workers in time for the harvest. For myself, I am study- 

 ing the methods lately given by Mr. Doolittle and C. P. 

 Dadant, in the American Bee Journal and other bee-papers, 

 believing that if anybody can tell how it is done they can. 



And now as to the way my own bees have wintered. 

 One in nine of my colonies is about the extent of my loss. I 

 have less bees than I had last fall, but, as a partial compen- 

 sation, I know more. I had hardly a loss that was not 

 avoidable, and 3'et these losses were all in hives of the 8- 

 frame dovetailed size. My colonies in hives taking frames 

 11 '4 and 11 inches deep have all come thru in safety, as 

 have those in 10-f rame dovetailed hives, and those in two 

 sections of a sectional brood-chamber hive, each section of 

 which is 7;?s inches deep. But I am not blaming the size of 

 hive much for my losses. 



A part of the colonies lost were too weak to winter with- 

 out uniting or having the space in the brood-chamber con- 

 tracted, and I did neither. Two colonies were smothered 

 by dead bees at the entrance, and the others, with one ex- 

 ception, had consumed all of their stores. The bees in that 

 one hive had eaten their way to the top-bars right up thru 

 the centers of the combs, and starved, it seems, because it 

 was too cold for them to move the cluster two inches either 

 way. A cake of candy laid on the frames in time would 

 have saved the colony, and several others might have been 

 saved in the same way. 



The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be that, 

 while it is not impossible, or even difficult, to winter bees 

 iu the 8-frame dovetailed hives with complete success, yet 

 they will winter with less work and less worry in the 10- 

 frame hive, and hives that take a deeper frame. All this 

 may have been settled to the satisfaction of many bee- 

 keepers long ago, but I remember that there was a good 

 deal of controversy over the matter in my early bee-keeping 

 days, hence mj' experiments. Whether the advantages of 

 8-frame hives when the bees are storing honey, will com- 

 pensate for their disadvantages in wintering, is a matter 

 that each one must decide for himself. Would it not be 

 well for those who think they must use hives of standard 

 depth to make a compromise by using the 10-frame hives 

 when the flow comes? I borrowed this idea from Doolittle. 



I wish to modify what I have said about wintering, to 

 the extent of saying that I lost one colony wintered in two 

 stories of the 8-frame dovetailed hives. I wintered other 

 colonics in two-story hives with perfect success. The honey 

 in the one mentioned was all in the upper storj', and there 

 was an abundance of it, as much as four full frames of it, 

 well distributed, was found after the bees had died. The 

 colony was excessively strong thru the working season, and 

 I can account for it only bj' supposing that the queen had 

 exhausted her reproductive powers so early as to prevent 

 the rearing of young bees for the winter. When I made my 

 first examinations in March, the colony had dwindled to a 

 small cluster — too small to maintain the necessary heat 

 thru the cold weather that followed. 



Decatur Co., Iowa. 



Report of Wisconsin Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



Queenie Jeanette is the title of a prettj- song in sheet 

 music size, written by J. C. Wallenmeyer, a musical bee- 

 keeper. The regular price is 40 cents, but to close out the 

 copies we have left, we will mail them at 20 cents each, as 

 long as they last. Better order at once, if you want a copy 

 of this song. 



[Continued from patre 2'>1.] 



Cellar-Wintering of Bees. 



In a cave or cellar prepared f<ir the purpose in which I 

 have quite successfully wintered for several years, the tem- 

 perature is controlled by the use of air-tubes thru which 

 fresh air can be admitted without disturbing the bees. My 

 cellars are constructed mostly under the surface of the 

 ground, with not less than three feet of earth over, and on 

 all sides, except the doorways, which have three tight-fitting 

 doors. The fresh-air tubes are 10 inches square on the in- 

 side ; they go in under the doorways, and have one or two 

 elbows to prevent the light getting to the bees. 



I have another and a smaller air-tube for each cellar, 

 which is six inches square, and goes down thru the center 

 of the roof. From this tube the thermometer is suspended 

 bv a string. Each air-tube is supplied with a slide cut-off 

 to wholh' or partly cut ofl-' the circulation of air. I keep the 

 temperature as close to 45 degrees as possible. A high tem- 

 perature will, I think, prevent dampness. 



Bees should be prepared for winter in September, and 

 put into the cellar the first cold weather in November, 

 usually from the Sth to 20th. 



I place my bees in the cellar on a long frame made of 

 2x6, and one foot above the cellar-bottom. Each hive is 

 raised above the bottom-board by sticks one inch thick 

 placed under each end of the hive. I usually place the hives 

 in tiers one above another five high. I leave all covers 

 sealed down to prevent rats and mice cutting combs. I dis- 

 tribute rat-poison around in the cellar. I do not usually go 

 into the cellar more than once during the winter. If the 

 bees are put into such cellars in good condition the winter 

 loss should not exceed 2 or 3 percent. 



The}- should be removed from the cellar during soft 

 maple bloom. I think it advisable to take them out in the 

 evening after dark, and place them on stands regardless of 

 where they stood the previous season. Their movements 

 the next morning will be very gradual for the first hour or 

 two, marking location, etc. No loss of queens will be 

 caused by bees mixing. A. G. Wilson. 



Vernon County. 



Benefits of Attending Bee-Conventions. 



Preparatory to the opening' of my paper I wish to say 

 that the smiling faces and the friendly greetings of mem- 

 bers of this convention are worth_v of note. How is it with 

 you, my brother bee-keeper ? Does it not inspire you with 

 fresh courage ? Is there not something in the pleasant vis- 

 age of each that not only says •' Welcome." but "we have a 

 feast of the knowledge gained in the past 12 months for you 

 and for all ?'" 



Again, have we not been housed up and perplext with 

 other cares and duties, and allowed ourselves to become 

 stale in the bee-industry ? Can you think of any place 

 where you can become more thoroly aroused, filled with 

 more enthusiasm, than at the annual convention ? How 

 otherwise can we expect to get the different modes practiced 

 by our best bee-keepers ? So rapid is the progress that we 

 cannot afford to live in the backwoods in this nineteenth 

 century. At our conventions we are encouraged with 

 papers' and discussions to add to the knowledge imparted by 

 the research and inventive skill and methods of our most 

 prominent bee-keepers. Each succeeding year brings be- 

 fore us scientific apiculture comparativel}- of to-day's crea- 

 tion. Practice has been shown the best fitted to obtain the 

 best results. 



Then. I consider it a duty that we impart all knowledge 

 gained from year to year, to our friendly bee-keepers. We 

 learn at our annual meetings that bee-culture is being rec- 

 ognized as an important factor in the commerce of the 

 country, and if properly fostered and encouraged it will 

 soon grow to large proportions. Every industry in the 

 country is represented annually or semi-annually — dairy- 

 ing, agriculture, florticulture, horticulture, manufacturing, 



