TH® JEMBRICKN BE® JOIJRNKIL. 



699 







not less than 40 per cent, over any 

 other colony at the time of trial ; but 

 it involves double the woj'k. 



On the whole, shallow reversible 

 frames promise to be far the best, anil 

 I believe that we have not yet half 

 learned to appreciate the reversible 

 frame. 



Custer Park, Ills. 



WINTERING BEES. 



Preparing; tlie Bees for their 

 JLoiig^ Confinement. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY KEV. STEPHEN ROESE. 



The Bee Journal makes its weekly 

 visits with great accuracy, and comes 

 richlj- laden with its precious contents 

 of valuable instruction and advice, 

 from the bee-keeping fraternity from 

 Maine to California, cultivating, like 

 an electric current, a feeling of sympa- 

 thy and good-will toward all who love 

 this honest industry and art. 



But the summer is now ended, the 

 harvest is past, and the time is now at 

 hand for bee-keepers to be preparing 

 their bees for winter, which is a mat- 

 ter of great importance ; for in fall 

 management and winter care lie the 

 bee-keeper's success for the coming 

 season. Bees that winter well in a 

 dry cellar or bee-house with 35°, and 

 not over 40°, of temperature, will 

 come out healthy and strong in the 

 spring, and beginners (and older ones 

 not excepted) in the pleasant and 

 profitable occupation should be very 

 careful, and not allow one colony of 

 bees to go into winter quarters with 

 less than 35 pounds of sealed honey ; 

 and to be sure that each hive is placed 

 on the scales, and not guessed at. 



September is the best month and 

 time for this preparation, to examine 

 and find out the conditions of each 

 colony. Later, when frosts have in- 

 jured tlie houey-flow, and bee-pasture 

 is scarce ; where bees will be trouble- 

 some and annoy both bees and bee- 

 keeper — while this work of examina- 

 tion and preparation for winter is 

 going on, and often causes a general 

 demoralization of the whole apiary, 

 not a hive should be opened unneces- 

 sarily, or left open by neglect ; for if 

 one bee is allowed to enter a strange 

 hive, or get a tastj of honey not its 

 own, in a short time robbing at 

 wholesale will be the order of the da}, 

 and the strongest colonies cannot re- 

 sist it ; and with what fury and terror 

 this warfare is carried on, many bee- 

 keepers, without doubt, have witnessed 

 and experienced ! 



One who has read of, or has been 

 an eye-witness of the great Battle of 



the Wilderness, will be able to form a 

 faint idea of the terrific warfare, when 

 bees have begun robbing in good 

 earnest. I have often wished, on such 

 occasions, that I had never seen a bee. 



Preparing tlie Bees for Winter. 



The way I prepare my bees for win- 

 ter is as follows : I begin earlj- during 

 the extracting season. When shaving 

 oft" the cappings from the cells that are 

 sealed over, I punch a hole through 

 the frame in the center, 2 inches from 

 the top-bar, for a winter passage, and 

 put away at the same time the best 

 frames of straight combs all sealed 

 over, placing them in vacant Sim- 

 plicity hives, 2 inches apart, for further 

 use in winter preparations. On find- 

 ing a colony with frames nearly empty, 

 I take one or more without brood and 

 replace them with full ones set aside 

 for this purpose ; and if the colony is 

 strong, I take from it one or two 

 combs with brood, and give them to 

 weak ones, thus making them all 

 equally strong, or as nearly so as I 

 can. But I make it a point to do this 

 work with great despatch, having 

 everything ready and on hand ; the 

 smoker filled with dry, rotten elm 

 wood, and also the honey-knife, if 

 needed to cut liits of brace-comb on 

 the outside frames and side-wall of the 

 hive ; and also a small chisel or old 

 file to pry loose the frames, if need be. 

 In less than three minutes the work of 

 examination and preparation is com- 

 pleted. 



My next work is to contract the 

 hive-entrance according to the strength 

 of the colony, and guard the same 

 closely for several days, until all dan- 

 ger of robbing is over. The partly 

 empty combs thus taken out, I extract, 

 placing them in a Simplicity hive ; and 

 toward evening I put the same on a 

 hive of bees having no upper storj' ; 

 during the night the bees will take 

 every particle of honey out and carry 

 it down, and in the morning the combs 

 will be all dry and clean, ready to put 

 away for winter. 



I use no enameled sheet for winter 

 covers on the frames ; burlap is my 

 favorite cover for winter, or binder 

 twine is still better. 



Watching the weather closely, I 

 store all my bees away for winter just 

 before the first hard freezing — before 

 the combs get frosty ; after arranging 

 them all in tiers, one above the other, 

 but so as not to rest the upper tier on 

 the lower, taking tlie cover ofl' from 

 each hive. I spread on the burlap 

 cover, 3 inches of sawdust, which will 

 answer a three-fold object, viz : 1. It 

 will keep the bees warm. 2. It will 

 keep them dry, and absorb the mois- 

 ture. 3. It will admit air, as it is 

 porous. 



The hive-enti'ance I regulate accord- 

 ing to the strength of the colony, and 

 in two weeks I go into the bee-house 

 to see if the entrances are clogged up 

 with dead bees. If so, I have a hook 

 of strong wire, and reach gently into 

 the hive and draw the dead bees out. 



If the mercury- is at zero, I stop up 

 the ventilator with a bag filled with 

 sawdust, for this purpose, and take the 

 same out when the atmosphere is 

 milder. With this care my bees win- 

 tered remarkably well last winter ; 

 they came out strong, and I lost, of 

 all I put out in the spring, only 3 colo- 

 nies by spring dwindling. During the 

 cold weather in M.ay I heated bricks, 

 and placed them, during a cold night, 

 above the frames, to prevent the young 

 brood being chilled, and I shall do 

 likewise in the future. 



Improvements In Bee-Keeping. 



I think that" every intelligent bee- 

 keeper ought to be thankful for 

 modern improvements in bee-keeping, 

 and the light which has dawned upon 

 the times and age in which we live ; 

 for since the introduction of the mov- 

 able comb-frame, by the venerable 

 Father Langstroth, and the Simplicity 

 hive by Mr. A. I. Root, bee-keeping is 

 no longer a task to be dreaded ; but it 

 is now a work that is pleasant, easy, 

 entertaining and profitable, and, what 

 is more — honorable. In spite of the 

 " Wiley lie," which was wilfully in- 

 tended to cast a gloom and dark 

 shadow over so honest a pursuit, in 

 which many intelligent men and 

 women are engaged, the art of bee- 

 keeping is still progressing, prospering 

 and developing more. 



Only a fiend and villain could do as 

 Wilej' did, wounding the feelings of 

 over 300,000 bee-keepers in this coun- 

 try, and many more in the Old World ; 

 and then trying to smooth it over, 

 calling his wicked act a harmless 

 " pleasantry," and complaining that 

 bee-keepers are continually "picking" 

 at him. He maj', conscience smitten, 

 take home the truth that he deserves, 

 and he has not heard the last of it 

 yet, for with all his education, wisdom 

 and scientific knowledge, he leaves 

 unclaimed the standing ofier of $1,000 

 rewaril oflered by a noble defender of 

 this honest enterprise. In this section 

 of country the " Wiley lie " has taken 

 no strong foothold — only once in a 

 while a traveling salesman will tell 

 the merchants what he has seen in the 

 papers, that bee-keepers manufacture 

 C(mib, honey, and all, without the aid 

 of the bees. 



In closing I will sav that we are 

 truly living in an age of wonders, con- 

 sidering the progress of science and 

 art during the last 50 years ; and since 

 the days of Hcrr von Berlepsh and his 



