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employ." Does Mr. H. know that the 

 same colonies would not have wintered 

 well by any other reasonable method ? 



Mr. R. L. Taylor, at the Chicago 

 convention, reported in the American 

 Bee Journal for 1887, page 777, says : 

 " I am confident that I can winter any 

 fair colony well on stores, which are 

 certainly good, by any of the approved 

 methods." Who doubts his ability to 

 do the same ? Mr. Taylor also says : 

 " I am satisfied that I cannot winter a 

 colony well on stores that are decidedly 

 j)oor in quality, by any method with 

 which I am acquainted." Who can 

 tell me how to do it ? Stores may be 

 so decidedlj' poor in quality that bees 

 would not winter upon them bj' any 

 method ; I)ut I have an abundance of 

 evidence that stores decidedly poor in 

 quality, if preserved in good condition, 

 will not necessarilj- produce serious re- 

 sults, if aided by other favorable con- 

 ditions. 



I am aware tliat the results of in- 

 door wintering are far from being 

 uniform, and are very far from being 

 satisfactory. Disastrous losses are not 

 infrequent, even with apiarists of ex- 

 perience. Success depends as much 

 upon the careful attention to details of 

 preparation as does out-door wintering. 



In-door wintering is my preferred 

 method. It enables me, by my pres- 

 ent methods, to secure all of tlie condi- 

 tions favorable to wintering, both to 

 the bees and the stores, with more cer- 

 tainty, and, at tlie same time, with less 

 labor and expense, than the methods 

 employed in out-door wintering. 



In the construction of my first bee- 

 house, I gave much attention to the 

 ventilation. I had ventilating-tubes 

 put in for the purpose. This was based 

 upon theory. I have been compelled 

 to change my views very much upon 

 this subject. 



Mj- ventilators are now all taken 

 out, being worse than useless, and I 

 now employ no special means of ven- 

 tilation whatever for my bee-rooms. 

 But the most ample ventilation is given 

 to each colony by leaving tlie bottom 

 of the hives entirelj- open, and placing 

 them upon stringers, one upon another, 

 with an open space between, in such a 

 manner that each hive is directly over 

 the open space below. This gives 

 what I term downward ventilation. It 

 also affords an opportunity for all dead 

 bees and rubbish to drop out of hive. 



Of course, it would not be a matter 

 of prudence to leave the bee-rooms 

 closed throughout the season, disre- 

 garding all circumstances. I visit them 

 on tours of inspection as often as I 

 think occasion requires, and at the 

 approach of warm weather I freq\iently 

 leave the doors and windows open at 

 evening and morning, in order to keep 

 the temperature from getting too high. 



There have been, during the past 

 few years, some extravagant notions 

 in regard to proper temperature of 

 bee-houses and wintering repositories, 

 and some immoderate reports and 

 statements have been made that are 

 well calculated to mislead even those 

 of some experience. Some of tlie ad- 

 vocates of high temperature for win- 

 tering have gone to unwarranted ex- 

 tremes. I am myself convinced, liy a 

 liberal experience, that a high temper- 

 ature is important to the welfare of 

 the country, late in the season after 

 brood-rearing has begun. But 50^ to 

 55° I shall explain as the maximum, 

 and 60° as the extreme of high tem- 

 perature. It is well to avoid extremes 

 of temperature, but I am not quite 

 sure that uniformity is essential or 

 even beneficial. I should prefer that 

 the temperature go not below the 

 freezing point, nor remain very long 

 near it. But I liave never been able 

 to discover any very serious results 

 from a low temperature, if not too 

 long continued. 



The use of ai'tificial heat in bee- 

 rooms in winter has attracted some 

 attention. I have had considerable 

 experience in its use, and at one time 

 I became quite enthusiastic over it. 

 But I do not attach as much impoi'- 

 tanee to it as formerly. There are 

 times during a long cold spell when it 

 may be employed with benefit. I dis- 

 pense with it in several of my apiaries 

 entirely, and the comparative results 

 in wintering show but little diiferenee. 

 I prefer to have the rooms perfectly 

 dry, and sometimes I use lime on the 

 floors to secure this condition. 



East Townsend, Ohio. 



SUNDRY ITEMS 



About Bee« and Bce-Keeping; in 

 New York. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY JAMES EVANS. 



The winter of 1886-87, with me, 

 was disastrous. I had packed my bees 

 carefully in chaft', although rather late, 

 but the same as I had done previousl}^, 

 and I lost all but 2 colonies, and those 

 were in poor condition. I then bought 

 black bees in box-hives, and trans- 

 ferred them to frames of the Gallup 

 size, and waited for results. 



The spring ojiened fairly well, but 

 bees barely lield their own until nearly 

 June 1, Ijy which date strong colonies 

 gave eveiy indication of swarming ; 

 but at tliis time Alsike clover began to 

 bloom, and I had about 2 acres near 

 by. From that time for nearly four 

 weeks swarming was entirely given 

 up, and all the liees were entirely de- 

 voted to the Alsike. The 2 acres 



yielded about 100 pounds of surplus 

 honey, besides what was used in the 

 brood-chamber. 



About July 1 Alsike and timothy 

 was cut for hay, and better hay I never 

 had. It was to most farmers a new 

 thing here, but all were pleased, of the 

 many who inspected it, and some has 

 been sown, as a direct result. I vote 

 for Alsike every time. 



I produce only comb honey, and I 

 have ready sale for all that I can 

 spare, at 16 to 20 cents per pound. My 

 yield per colony, spring count, was 

 nearly 62 pounds per colony, mostly 

 to be credited to the Alsike, without 

 which I should have had much greater 

 increase, as there was just yield 

 enough to stimulate brood-rearing 

 freely, but less surplus, for after July 

 and sweet clover bloom we had verj- 

 unfavorable weather — damp days and 

 cool nights and mornings. Bees could 

 not work freely, and they barely held 

 their own for the remainder of the 

 season, making it difficult to breed up 

 nuclei and small colonies, so that many 

 colonies went into winter weak in bees 

 and with poor stores. 



My strongest colonies I packed out- 

 doors in chaft", the hives raised about 

 8 inches from the ground, over a box 

 of leaves. The weaker colonies were 

 put into a cellar wliere they could be 

 looked after and fed when necessary, 

 which I do b}- using partly-filled sec- 

 tions on top of the frames, covered by 

 two thicknesses of carpet. 



Fastening Foiiiidatlon and Rlpeulns 

 Honey. 



As to foundation, I use as little as 

 possible in the sections — a V-shaped 

 strip about 2 inches long by 1 inch 

 wide at the base. I fasten it in the 

 sections by using a stift' putty-knife, or 

 a thin chisel, working where the sun 

 can warm up both sections and foun- 

 dation, with a little honey at hand to 

 moisten the knife or chisel. 



To start the bees in the section-case 

 (I tier up), a few partly or wholly 

 tilled sections with comb, in the center 

 of the case, is better than anything 

 else that I know of. 



To ripen lumey, I leave it in the 

 hives quite late, and by putting on 3 or 

 more cases, bees soil the upper and 

 finished ones but little, if any. To 

 take off honey easily and rapidly, on a 

 cool evening I take the cover off of 

 the hive, and in the morning the filled 

 cases will be mostly free from bees, 

 and can, without smoke or disturlj- 

 ance, be renioved bodily, and the hives 

 covered again befiire the bees are fly- 

 ing, and thus avoid robbing. After i 

 taking it from the hives, I pile the ' 

 filled cases 10 or 15 high, in a warm \ 

 room, and cover them with cloths, 

 when the few uncapped cells soon 

 thicken so much that they will not 

 break or leak. 



