'60 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



•years with Hoffman and other hanging 

 frames, each kind in a hundred or more col- 

 onies, that they were far superior to either 

 for convenience and intrinsic worth. Our 

 bees do not dwindle so much in spring as 

 When they were wintered on their summer 

 stands packed in chaff. I should prefer a 

 somewhat open outside case so that the 

 moisture might more freely pass off. Absor- 

 bents after remaining in the hive during the 

 winter are usually somewhat damp and are 

 of doubtful benefit for spring protection. A 

 wet overcoat would be much the same pro- 

 tection to a man. Absorbents are also a 

 detriment in shutting off the sun. Honey 

 and wax retain heat well, and in a well-made 

 hive, a good supply of honey, when well 

 heated up, makes comfortable quarters for a 

 swarm until the next sunshiny day, jvovided 

 that day is not too far off. At any rate, after 

 trying both for years, I prefer this occasional 

 warming up to the shade and dampness of 

 the chaff hive. However, for the latitude of 

 Rhode Island, and even farther north, some 

 form of outdoor wintering will probably be 

 best, care being taken in constructing outer 

 cases that they be so open that the sun and 

 wind may dry out the packing. We do not 

 put our bees in the cellar to save honey, but 

 to save bees. The honey saved together with 

 the saving of work in weighing, feeding, 

 looking up queens, uniting, etc., at home, 

 instead of at a distance, helps to offset the 

 extra work of carting back and forth. The 

 immediate labor of setting in and out is 

 rnore than counterbalanced by the saving in 

 hives. It is surprising what a saving it is to 

 keep them in the cellar. Capt. Hetherington, 

 one day last fall, with less than a-half dozen 

 men to help him, put in seventeen hundred 

 swarms. They didn't wear any of the har- 

 nesses described in our bee journals. His 

 teams wore the harness. 



Stabkville, N. Y. March 28, 1889. 



large Combs With Passageways— " Contrac- 

 tion and Quilts" Undesirable. 

 Stimulative Feeding. 



J. A. BUCHANAN. 



fT WOULD be a herculean task to re- 

 count the scores of mistakes I have 

 made since engaging in apiculture. My 

 passionate fondness for the pursuit 

 seems nevier to abate, even under the most 

 trying circumstances: yet it is my decided 

 opinion that I made the greatest mistake of 

 my life by engaging in the business. 



The first frame hive I adopted was the old 

 style, eight-frame, Quinby, which was equal 

 in capacity to a ten-frame L. hive. Since 

 that time I have tested hives and frames of 

 every conceivable size and shape, but none 

 have given better satisfaction, either in win- 

 tering bees or in amount of honey secured, 

 than has this old Quinby hive. In dropping 

 this hive, if I made no mistake, I am sure I 

 have made no more money by adopting other 

 styles. Passageways were made for the bees 

 by cutting out of the combs, vertically, nar- 

 row strips, a little forward of the center. 

 Then strips of wood were placed in the sides 

 of these openings, leaving a bee-space only, 



which prevented the bees from closing them-. 

 These passageways were valuable, not only 

 for the bees to return directly to the main 

 cluster when sudden changes came, but they 

 also permitted the queens, especially of weak 

 stocks, to pass to the opposite side of a comb 

 in extending brood in cool spring weather. 

 These openings extended from within one 

 inch of top bar to within one and one-half 

 inches of the bottom bar. Bees kept in such 

 hives always seemed to have plenty of stores 

 and did not need such close attention as do 

 those in small or shallow-frame hives. This 

 brings me to the subject of contraction. 



Expert bee-keepers tell us that we make a 

 great mistake if we don't contract the brood- 

 nest to the laying capacity of the queen, and 

 force all the honey into the supers, supply- 

 ing the needs of the colony with sugar syrup 

 as the safer food for wintering. Some ex- 

 periments, that I have conducted on this 

 line, convince me that the claim is based on 

 a false assumption. If it will hold good in 

 more northern latitudes, let its advocates 

 hold fast to it; but when we count the cost 

 of feeders, the preparation and feeding of 

 sugar, loss in weight by consumption of 

 syrup for the purpose of elaborating wax in 

 sealing the syrup, together with some loss of 

 vitality in the bees that perform the labor, 

 time required to sell the extra amount of hon- 

 ey, when all these points are considered, I be- 

 lieve the scheme will be found uni)rofitable. 

 But we are asked to believe that this fall 

 feeding induces the bees to rear more brood, 

 which, maturing late, is a great advantage, 

 as these young bees winter better. Another 

 mistake. I find bees hatched during Sep- 

 tember, or even some earlier, winter best. 

 These older bees are hardened off; and when 

 cold weather comes they settle down to the 

 quiescent state more perfectly. 



On the subject of ventilation, I have some 

 facts to record, which seem at variance with 

 much that has been offered on the matter. 

 *'See that the quilts and cushions are tucked 

 down closely over the frames in the early 

 spring, that the heat may be retained for the 

 rapid spreading of the brood," is the oft re- 

 peated advice given by many. Last spring 

 I was called to examine three colonies that 

 had been wintered on the summer stands, 

 having the supers, (seven wide frames filled 

 with sections which were partly full of comb 

 and some honey,) left on just as they were 

 in the fall. This was at the beginning of 

 apple bloom. When I raised the caps and 

 saw the bees hanging in festoons all through 

 the sections, and noticed that new comb was 

 being built, I could but view the sight with 

 wonder and astonishment. To tell the truth, 

 I just felt a little jealous over the affair. You 

 see I had been so busy all the spring "tucking 

 down quilts" to get up steam and start brood 

 rearing in my apiaries, and I felt completely 

 licked by this careless old bee-keeper, who 

 had left his bees in such horrible plight. 

 There were more bees in one of his hives 

 than in any three of my best. I know another 

 bee-keeper who practices leaving the supers 

 on all winter, and his bees swarm very early 

 and winter perfectly. 



Generally, the advice is not to stimulate 

 bees in the early spring by feeding. If I had 



