THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



147 



.'5. Plenty of food. This is an indispens- 

 able reiiuisite ; and is where many have fail- 

 ed. Years ajzo, we used to frequently see the 

 advice that " tlie lower half of the center 

 combs ou;L,Hit to be empty to give the bees a 

 place to cluster." No attention should be 

 i)aid to such nonsense. If every comb is 

 solid honey, so much tlie better. Mr. Wm. 

 Foos. of Iowa, several years ago advanced a 

 theory that wiienever bees became short of 

 stores, though lacking (luite a little of being 

 out, tliey seemed to realize what their coudi- 

 dition might be, and becoming uneasy were 

 soon diseased : while if tliey had possessed 

 ample stores, of the same quality, no such 

 condition would liave resulted. Since then, 

 I have watched the matter closely, and I am 

 inclined to think his theory correct. I cer- 

 tainly do think that the giving of ample, 

 or even more than enough stores to carry 

 them through, is of more importance than 

 (|uality of stores. ( V Ed.) 



1. The apiary should be protected by am- 

 ple wind breaks. This point has rarely been 

 given the importance it deserves. I consider 

 it an absolutely essential requisite north of 

 the 41st degree, or about that of Ft. Wayne, 

 Indiana ; and very desirable much south of 

 that. Hnudl apiai-ies can be sufficiently pro- 

 tected by higli boai'd fences, l)ut large ones 

 need something more effective. A thick, 

 very thick, grove of bushes or trees should 

 surround all sides unless it be the south, and 

 it would be much better to have it on that 

 side too. My experience and observation in 

 a prairie state taught me the absolute neces- 

 sity of this condition : and anyone who can- 

 not command it, would better give up all 

 itlea of out-door wintering, unless the hives 

 are likely to be covered with snow daring 

 severe winters. The failures of many have 

 l)een due, probably, to this unsuspected 

 cause. 



r>. Proper kind of packing material is im- 

 portant. It must be such as will best afford 

 protection from cold and freedom from 

 dam[)ness. Any material that is line and 

 light is better than the same would be if 

 coarser ; hence, all tine kinds of chaff are 

 better than tlie coarser kinds ; and any kind 

 of cliaft' is better tlian hay or straw. In fact, 

 tlie latter are utter failures uidess used in 

 very largo (luantities. Sawdust from line 

 saws is preferable to that from large lumber 

 mill saws; in fact, I should hesitate to use 

 the 1 liter. Some kinds of material retain, ia 

 a iiiuoli greater degree than others, the mois- 

 Uire thrown off by the bees ; become dami) 

 and mouldy, and in time rotten. In the hit- 

 ler cii.^ti sinking ilown and exposing jjart of 

 llie hive to cold. Such materials ought 

 never ije used. I find timothy seed chaff 

 gives the best sjitisfaction of anything I have 

 tried ; it beiiiy the liucst, driest chaff I know 

 of, with the least allhiity for moisture. Next 

 to tliat in value is sawdust made by fine saws 

 from dry, wliile, pine boards. Wheat chaff 

 and forest leaves come next, but they are 

 far less valuable than the first mentioned, 

 jirobably on account of being so much 

 coar^er, ( )at chaff is unfit to use on account 

 of its retaining dampness ; and buck- 

 wheat chaff is the poorest for the same 

 reason. 



(!. Enough packing must be used to insure 

 good protection. This, of course, depends 

 somewhat upon the kind of material used, 

 and the latitude where used. Enough must 

 be used so that the bees can keep the interior 

 warm, else moisture and frost will accumu- 

 late, to be followed, in many instances, by 

 the old, old, sickening story, so well known 

 by northern bee-keepers. But for the fact 

 tliat any increase in the amount of material 

 increases the size and bulk of the hive itself, 

 I should say it was i)ractically impossible to 

 use too much. In my hives in Iowa I used 

 fottr and a half inches of fine timothy chaff 

 or fine sawdust, but am satisfied that six inch- 

 es would have been better — enough better 

 to have paid for increasing the size of the 

 hive. For coarser kinds of chaff, an increas- 

 ed amount would be necessary. This is also 

 a point, or condition, the non-observance of 

 which has caused many failures. I know one 

 style of hive, sent out by a prominent man- 

 ufacturer, that has only two inches of space 

 for chaff. Whoever uses such a hive invites 

 failure. 



7. Bees ought to be closed down on as few 

 frames as possible, leaving only room enough 

 for ample stores. The less space there is 

 enclosed by the outer packing, and the near- 

 er the bees fill this space, the less will the 

 cold be able to penetrate it. I used to cut 

 my strong colonies down to the equivalent of 

 eight L. combs each, and from that down to 

 five, according to their strength. This is a 

 more important point than in cellar winter- 

 ing, because all the air in the cellar can be 

 and must be kept much warmer than the air 

 surrounding hives out of doors. 



There are' other conditions not so abso- 

 lutely necessary as the foregoing, but which 

 are of help. I prefer a hive large enough, or 

 at least tall enough, to allow empty space 

 between the packing and the cover. The 

 bees seem to winter better than when the 

 cover rests upon the iiacking. I consider 

 winter passages thi-ough the combs a requi- 

 site to success in out-door wintering. 



How far dampness causes disease, has 

 been a much discussed question. A few 

 years ago, in an article on this subject, I 

 said : "Show me a practical method of pre- 

 venting dami)ness in hives, and I will have 

 no more fears of unsuccessful wintering." 

 The statement is true, but, instead of damp- 

 ness being the prime cause, as I then thought, 

 it is only the effect of other causes. The 

 value of any kind of i)acking is not so much 

 in ils power to aiisorb moisture as in its 

 power of keei)ing out cold ; then the bees can 

 keep the interior of the hive too warm for 

 the moisture to condense in it, or even in 

 the packing itself to any great extent. This 

 is the real underlying principle of all success- 

 ful wintering, either in-doors or out, to keep 

 the conditions !?uch that the natural heat of 

 the bees will expel all moisture from the 

 hive, and as much as possible from every- 

 thing around it ; and to the greater extent 

 this is accomplished, the more perfect will 

 be the success. If a certain amount of ma- 

 terial will accomplish this in southern In- 

 diana, a much larger amount would be nec- 

 essary in northern Michigan. The proper 

 amount of material to be used varies with 



