THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



261 



For ttie American Bee Journal 



Facts in Wintering Bees. 



O. E. COOLEY. 



As 'the subject of wintering liees 

 successfully seems to be as far from 

 satisfactory solution as ever, I will 

 give my experience of 13 years. 



I began with the box-hives, occa- 

 sionally getting a few pounds of sur- 

 plus houev. When putting them into 

 the cellar 'for the winter, I placed the 

 liives bottom up ; the bottom being 

 left entirely open all winter. I lost 

 only one colony in that condition, and 

 that dietl of starvation. 1 have used 

 a hive similar to the Langstrotli. 



I prepare bees for wintering as fol- 

 lows : As soon as tlie clover and bass- 

 wood season is over, examine every 

 colony ; remove the supers from all 

 the colonies not having honey enough 

 to carry them through the winter ; 

 and if at the end of the season they 

 still have not stores sufticient for win- 

 ter, feed immediately of good ex- 

 tracted clover honey. This is all the 

 preparation for winter that I ever 

 make. I never extract tlie honey and 

 feed sugar ; never make holes through 

 tlie coinbs for winter passage ways ; 

 never take out frames and put in 

 division-boards ; and never use cush- 

 ions, chatf, or packing of any kind, 

 but simply let them remain "just as 

 tliey stood on the summer stands. 

 The tops of the frames come nearly 

 flush with the tops of the hives. I 

 spread a sheet of cotton cloth over the 

 top, upon which the board cover is 

 placed. The cover is simply a Hat 

 board that tightly covers the top of 

 the hive. The bees soon wax the 

 cloth tightly to the tops of the frames, 

 leaving but little or no upward venti- 

 lation, and no chance for the bees to 

 pass over the tops of the frames at all. 

 If any one should ask how the bees 

 could pass from one frame to another 

 as their honey is consumed, I would 

 reply, by going around between the 

 outside of the frames and the inside 

 of the hive, which has an open space 

 of nearly % of ,ai) inch wide, which 

 makes just as convenient a passage 

 way as one would be over the top of 

 the frames. 



The entrance to most of my hives is 

 % of an inch wide, running the whole 

 width of the hive, and is left open in 

 winter the same as in summer. This 

 is all the ventilation they have. The 

 cellar used for 11 years was 1.3x20, and 

 7 feet high,dugin dry ground. It never 

 froze, and had no ventilation, except 

 what was given by opening the door 

 occasionally. The temperature was 

 usually about 3.50. What was the re- 

 sult V I never have lost but one col- 

 ony of bees that did not starve to 

 death, and that had been queenless so 

 long that half the colony died before 

 putting them into the cellar. The 

 average number of colonies I have 

 wintered for the past 11 years, was 

 about .")0. In the winter of 1879-80, I 

 wintered 103 colonies, and all came 

 out alive, and all but 3 were in good 

 condition. Two years ago I wintered 

 14 colonies in a cellar 10x12x6 feet 

 high, and lost none. In the same 

 cellar, the year 1881, 1 wintered 32 col- 



onies without loss. Although the 

 winter of 1SS2 and 1883 was the coldest 

 for years, and the temperature for 

 weeks, in my cellar, being 12^ to iry^ 

 below freezing, yet my bees wintered 

 without loss. 



I have given as briefly as possible 

 my method of wintering bees, also 

 the result. I have no theories to ad- 

 vance on the subject, nor any pet hob- 

 bies to ride ; but I will just say that 

 my opinion is that our bees would 

 often give us very much more satis- 

 factory results both during the honey 

 season and in wintering, if we would 

 just let them alone. 



Eidgeway, Iowa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



What Causes Bee-Diarrhoea ? 



JAMES F. WOOD. 



This question yet remains unan- 

 swered. Many say that dampness is 

 the cause ; others claim that it is pol- 

 len eating. I do not believe tliat 

 dampness, cold or conlinement causes 

 it ; and as to the pollen theory, I can- 

 not give any facts at all. I have al- 

 ways wintered my bees in the cellar, 

 without the loss of a single colony 

 from disease, until this winter. I be- 

 lieve the cause of bee-diarrhcea, in 

 many cases, is in the kind of honey 

 that the bees have for winter stores. 



In support of the above, I will first 



£ive the condition of my own bees. 

 ,ast spring I removed one colony to a 

 location about 5 miles from my home 

 apiary, where bees gathered much 

 more honey than in my location ; but 

 usually the bees died with diarrhcea 

 in its worst form, in early winter. As 

 I never had a colony suffer from the 

 disease, I thought I could winter them 

 on this honey, if i prepared them as I 

 did the rest of my colonies. I moved 

 this colony home in October, and to 

 my surprise, before any of the colo- 

 nies were put in the cellar, it and all 

 its increase had the diarrhcea, while 

 the others were free from the disease. 

 I brought one of the afflicted colonies 

 from the cellar a few days ago ; the 

 bees had nearly all left the hive,andlay 

 dead in front of it. I shook what re- 

 mained, from the combs, and on ex- 

 amination, found the combs perfectly 

 dry, and very little pollen in the cells. 

 What pollen there was, was all in the 

 outside comb, and the honey was re- 

 moved from over it ; but it did not 

 appear to have been removed. The 

 honey was very black, and tasted 

 much like cheap molasses. 



Mr. Ileddon will attribute my loss 

 to pollen, but I sliall keep this honey 

 and give it to colonies that will not 

 have to be moved, and I shall be very 

 careful that it contains no pollen. I 

 shall also take more bees to this place 

 anotlier season, and remove the pollen 

 from some, and hope to get at the 

 truth of the matter another winter. I 

 do not think that moving bees in the 

 fall causes disease. 



To illustrate this, take the experi- 

 ence of W. W. Cary & Son. They are 

 situated in a poor location for honey- 

 producing ; move a great many colo- 

 nies away during the latter part of 



the summer and early fall, to secure 

 stores for winter. In the fall, they 

 are all moved home and wintered in 

 the bee-cellar. 1 never heard of them 

 losing a colony until last winter. Then 

 they lost only'two. These were away 

 in a location where they gathered a 

 peculiar kind of honey. I .saw the 

 hives in the spring; tliey were daub- 

 ed with excrement, while the re- 

 mainder of his apiary was free from 

 disease. It could not have been from 

 moving them, as a large portion of his 

 colonies were moved at the same time. 



I saw an apiary of over 100 colonies 

 in which aliout half were Italians, 

 and the rest blacks. The blacks win- 

 tered very well, while tlie Italians had 

 the diarrhwa so as to seriously reduce 

 their numbers. They were wintered 

 in a bee-house. The Italians gath- 

 ered a superior article of honey ; and 

 hence, had white honey for winter, 

 while the blacks had black honey. 



In view of these facts, it appears to 

 me as if the kind of honey the bees 

 have for winter, has something to do 

 with successful wintering. I do not 

 see how dampness had any thing to do 

 with ray colony, as the hives were dry ; 

 besides, they were diseased before 

 winter came. How can I apply the 

 " pollen theory " to these cases V 



North Prescott, Mass. 



Northeastern Kentucky Convention. 



This convention was held at Cov- 

 ington, Ky., for the purpose of organ- 

 izing a i)ee-keepers' association. Quite 

 a number of bee-keepers from sur- 

 rounding counties were in attendance. 

 Mr. Peter McVean was chosen chair- 

 man, and Geo. W. Cree, secretary pro 

 teni. 



Upon taking the chair, Mr. MeVean 

 stated that the object of the meeting 

 was the organization of a bee-keepers' 

 association, thebetter to secure a gen- 

 eral co-operation by which the indi- 

 vidual members would be able to se- 

 cure readily the benefit of the general 

 experience. lie was confident that 

 the interests of those engaged in bee- 

 culture in the northern part of Ken- 

 tucky would be forwarded. 



After the preliminary work of or- 

 ganization, the meeting adjourned till 

 1 o'clock. 



On re-assembling, the chairman 

 called for an expression of opinions, 

 and a number of members discussed 

 the best form of organization, and the 

 most suitable plan of operation. The 

 general drift seemed to be that the 

 association would be highly advanta- 

 geous, and all were confident in the 

 assertion that its establishment would 

 be permanent and popular. 



It was accordingly decided to make 

 a permanent organization, and the 

 balloting for officers resulted as fol- 

 lows : President, Peter McVean; 

 Secretary, G. W. Cree; Vice Presi- 

 dents, Rev. V'. .lohnson. Jacob White, 

 A. B. Hyraer, Alex. W. Stith. N. B. 

 Wilson, W.T. Gibson, John T. Con- 

 ley, C. Riggs, W. C. Phillum, W. F. 

 Coffin. 



On motion, Messrs. G. W. Cree, 

 Alex. W. Stith and T. A.Crigler were 

 appointed a committee for the purpose 



