THB ^CMERICSIN BEE; JQURfiMIL. 



11 



had at the office of the American Bee 

 JouRNAl,. Please give them a trial. 

 St. Charles, 5 Dls. 



PACKING BEES. 



Some Praotioal Advantages 

 of the Sy flit cm. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY SAMUEL RAU. 



On page 788 of the Bee Journal 

 for 1887, is an article on the above sub- 

 ject by Mr. J. A. Buchanan, with which 

 I cannot quite agree. This maj' not 

 seem altogether strange, as we have 

 long since heard that doctors will dis- 

 agree. 



Mr. B. commences by asking, "What 

 is there in the idea of packing bees for 

 winter ?" and says that he voices the 

 answers of a great many bee-keepers 

 in his locality when he says, "Nothing 

 at all.'' Astonishing revelation ! 



Then to clinch the argument on both 

 sides of the problem, he asks : Why is 

 it that we see, after a terrible, long, 

 cold winter, so many reports like the 

 following ? ' I put a splendid apiary in- 

 to winter (juarters ; the hives were 

 thoroughlv packed after the most ap- 

 proved manner, but there are only a 

 few feeble colonies left to tell the 

 story ;' and thereupon concludes within 

 himself that, "when I see such fre- 

 quent reports like the above, it is ' giv- 

 ing away ' the packing system without 

 reserve." 



He then attempts to account for the 

 bees dying in packed hives, during long 

 and severe winters, by saying that the 

 sun cannot revive them sufficiently dur- 

 ing "let up" weather to make cleans- 

 ing flights. Well, that would depend 

 upon how much of a "let up" there 

 was, whether bees in a packed hive 

 could make a cleansing flight or not. 



I do not want my bees to fly out 

 every time a little sunshine strikes the 

 hives, or I might get too much of a 

 good thing ; and just here is where the 

 packing serves a good purpose — there 

 is a more uniform temperature in a 

 packed hive, independent of surround- 

 ing circumstances. But, if my bees 

 are very much in need of a cleansing 

 flight, I remove the covers, during "let 

 up" weather, and allow the sun to 

 shine upon them, and 1 assure you that 

 they wake up soon enough for all prac- 

 tical purposes. 



Bees in a single-walled hive must 

 consume more food to enable them to 

 keep up enough animal heat to keep 

 from perishing in severe weather, and 

 consequently they need more cleansing 

 flights. Then if Old Sol's smiles are 

 too long deferred, it plays sad havoc 

 with the poor bees that are domiciled 



with but 8 of an inch between them 

 and Boreas' chilling frowns. 



It .seems to me that it would be just 

 as reasonable to argue that a house 

 without lining would be as comfortable 

 during winter in our climate, as one 

 that was duly lathed and plastered, be- 

 cause perchance a few rays of the sun 

 would have a more animating influ- 

 ence upon it than if the walls were 

 thicker. But I tliink that most reason- 

 ing people would at once conclude that 

 the cold would influence it as readily, 

 and as there would be a great prepon- 

 derance of cold weather, the bad re- 

 sults would out-^\eigh the good a thou- 

 sand fold. 



I think that it is not best to jump so 

 .suddenly into extreme conclusions, if 

 disaster has at times befallen bees in 

 our extreme climate, that were duly 

 packed, for there are other factors than 

 this one of ]),acking, in the wintering 

 problem, which it is not necessary to 

 enumerate here. 



I have had all the exi)erience that I 

 want, in trying to winter bees in sin- 

 gle-walled hives. I have lost hundreds 

 of dollars worth of precious bees in 

 that way, and I want " no more in 

 mine," of that thing. More than 20 

 years of sad experience in that line, 

 confirms me in the belief that trying 

 to winter bees, unprotected, on the 

 summer stands, is no paying business 

 in this section of the country, to say 

 the best for it. 



I want the brood-chamber contracted 

 according to the size of the colony, 

 with a Hill's device and a good cushion 

 on top, and 3 or 4 inches of good, dry 

 packing around the outside of the 

 hive, using an outer case for that pur- 

 pose, with a water-proof roof and a 

 proper entrance ; then, for some i-eason 

 or other, I can sleep much better at 

 night, when the cold winds howl about 

 my windows, and the merCurv goes 

 below zero. More than that, I want 

 the packing left on until warm weather 

 has come to stay, which is about the 

 time I begin to think of making prepa- 

 rations for putting on the surplus ar- 

 rangements. 



AJter several jears' experience, I 

 find that .spring packing sei-ves a very 

 useful purpose during brood-rearing, 

 and I believe that Mr. Hutchinson is 

 right in recommending spring packing 

 for colonies that have been wintered in 

 the cellar. It makes a good deal of 

 labor, but it will pay well in dollars 

 and cents for the time spent. Our 

 changeable climate often seriously in- 

 terferes -with successful brood-rearing, 

 but by this kind of protection we can, 

 in a measure, counteract these untow- 

 ard circumstances ; and more, where 

 this is done there will be less occasion 

 to talk about spring dwindling. 



Columbiana, 6 Ohio," 



BEE CELLAR. 



Oreat Mortality among Bees. 

 What is the eause of it ? 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY A. PINKERTON. 



I put 156 colonies into the cellar la.st 

 winter, and I think that I carried out 

 between 2 and 3 bushels of dead bees 

 during the winter and spring. Some 

 of the hives seemed to have ten times 

 as many dead bees in front of them as 

 others. Will some one please tell me 

 the cause for this gi-eat mortality of 

 bees in my cellar ? 



I will give a description of my bee- 

 cellar : The size is 17x24 feet, and 7 

 feet high. It is divided into three 

 rooms, \vith building paper, but I leave 

 the doors open between them, except 

 when I am carrying bees in and out. 

 I have one under-ground ventilator en- 

 tering the south room ; it is made of 4r 

 inch tiling. Each of the two north 

 rooms has a ventilator put in through 

 the window ; these are made of boards, 

 and are 4 inches square inside. Then 

 there is one of the same kind on the 

 east side. I put one down on the out- 

 side, with an elbow on it, and run it 

 under the wall ; it comes about 4 feet 

 inside the wall in the bottom of the 

 cellar. In very cold weather I partly 

 close, and sometimes entirely close, 

 both of the north ventilators, but leave 

 the others open. The mercury ranges 

 from 38° to 54°, but generally it is 

 about 44'^. Is such ventilation injurious 

 to bees if the cellar is kept at the right 

 temperature ? I have 122 colonies in 

 the celllar no\v, that I put in on Nov. 

 17 and 18. They are veiy quiet, but 

 there are many dead bees in. front of 

 some of the hives. 



Marshalltown,© Iowa. 



[No ; such ventilation ought not to 

 be injurious to the bees. — Ed.] 



POOR SEASON". 



White Clover Killed and Ba§s. 

 wood Becoming Scarce. 



Written for the Amerir/tn Bee Journal 

 BY. L. G. REED. 



My 45 colonies of bees .are packed on 

 the summer stands. My surplus for 

 the past season was 237 pounds from 

 37 colonies, spring count ; the poorest 

 season ever known in this section ; but 

 my enthusiasm is not chilled any yet, 

 and I shall try and make up next sea- 

 son what I have lost this season ; al- 

 though I do not look for big results 

 any more in this vicinity, until there is 

 a change in the climate. The long, 

 dry summer and cold, snowless winters 



