THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



166 



ing \}i inch holes in each gable end to admit 

 the fresh and dry air into the cap and over 

 the cushion. In very cold weather I often 

 see frost on the top of the cushions showing 

 that the moisture from the bjood cliamber 

 passes up a^d through the cushion. There is 

 one thing certain, the interior of my hives 

 is always dry. I have wintered bees in this 

 way for 15 years with very good success, and 

 I notice that my bees do not dwindle so 

 badly in the spring as do those that are 

 wintered in-doors, while the protection en- 

 ables them to build up very fast early in the 

 spring. 



I believe that double-wall hives have many 

 advantages over single-wall hives ; not only 

 for wintering but for summer as well ; not 

 only for the bees themselves but for the 

 apiarist also, as the hives are never moved 

 about after once being set. I prefer to save 

 myself and my men much lugging and tug- 

 ging of hives here and there by simply carry- 

 ing a swarm — or cluster — of bees to the hive, 

 rather than to carry the hive to where the 

 bees are clustered ; and, after hiving, carry 

 hive and bees to the stand. It seems to me 

 that the time is near at hand when bee men 

 will learn better than to do so^ much carry- 

 ing about of hives when it is so much easier 

 and better to dispense with it. 



Now a word about packing material. I be- 

 lieve that fine dry planer shavings make a 

 better packing than tine sawdust, because 

 they lie up looser than tine sawdust. The saw- 

 dust is very likely to pack down quite hard, 

 forming more of a conductor, while the 

 shavings, owing to their lying up loose, act 

 as a non-conductor, forming, as it were, 

 many small dead-air spaces within the walls 

 of the hive. I do not mean to use large, 

 coarse shavings made by planing unseasoned 

 lumber, but such as are made by planing 

 thoroughly seasoned lumber, then the shav- 

 ings are small and curled up somewhat.^ I 

 have used sawdust both coarse -and tine, 

 also hardwood chips from turning lathes, 

 chaff, leaves, buckwheat hulls, also no pack- 

 ing at all. But, I prefer the tine planer 

 shavings to all else that I have ever used. 



When preparing the interior of the hives 

 for winter I am usually very particular to 

 see that there is honey enough in the hive 

 for winter stores — to place the fullest combs 

 at one side of the hive and those only partly 

 tilled at the other side, as these partly filled 

 combs usually contain more or less brood 

 the bees will of course cluster on these 

 combs and when winter sets in, and the 

 brood is all hatched, the bees commence 

 thereto consume their stores, and naturally 

 work towards the full combs, hence are not 

 obliged to shift from one side to the other 

 over empty combs, as would be necessary if 

 the full combs were on either side, and the 

 empty ones in the center as they usually are 

 when left as the bees naturally have them. 

 This changing about cannot be so nicely 

 done with the large " L " frame, because in 

 this frame the honey is usually stored at 

 each end of the comb, and the brood or 

 empty sjjace in the center. With my small 

 frame the outer combs on either side are 

 filled solid full down to the bottom bar, 

 hence they can readily be shifted about. 



And again, when tlie bees do not secure a 

 suiticient amount of fall honey for winter 

 (a very rare occu ranee here in Vt. when 

 they do), by thus placing the honey at the 

 back side, and feeding sugar to make 

 up the deficiency, the sugar is stored last, 

 and consumed /i/.s^ which I consider better 

 than honey for the bees during the coldest 

 part of winter, while, on the other hand, I 

 consider honey much better than sugar for 

 brood rearing. Therefore, my preference is 

 sugar for winter and honey for spring. But 

 the prospect now is that for the coming 

 winter it will be honey-dew for winter, and 

 honey for spring, unless the apiarist comes 

 to the rescue either by extracting and feed- 

 ing sugar, or by placing the early gathered 

 honey in front nearest to the bees and the 

 honey-dew at the back side, and the further 

 back the better. 



Bkistol, Vt., Sept. 17, 1889. 



Wind-Breaks, Protection, Large Hives and 



Plenty of Honey Needed in Out- 



Door Wintering. 



E. KBANCE. 



"E WINTER bees out-doors sim- 

 ply because we are obliged to. We 

 have seven apiaries — six away 

 from home — and to build cellars 

 for them all would be a big expense. We 

 would rather lose a few colonies. 



To winter bees out of doors, we must have, 

 first of all, a good wind-break. Our bees 

 away from home are all in deep valleys with 

 high timber close to them on the north and 

 west sides. Our home apiary is on high 

 ground with only a high fence (eight feet) to 

 break the wind. We have plenty of cellar 

 room at home, but we don't put the bees in 

 it now. We did put a part of them in the 

 cellar two winters, but had better luck with 

 those out-doors, and we now winter all on 

 their summer stands. 



The next tiling to be considered is the 

 hive. We would not attempt to winter bees 

 out of doors in a single, one-story, L. hive. 

 We have 150 colonies on L. frames that 

 we winter in the open air with little loss; 

 but the hives are four in one — tenements — 

 with chaff all around the outside to keep the 

 little folks warm ; and I find that in cold 

 weather the bees all gather as near the cen- 

 tre as possible. The whole hive is covered 

 with one roof, and we have additional 

 stories to put on each division, so that we 

 can tier them up as high as we wish. We 

 always winter them two tiers high, having 

 the upper tier of comb full of honey. Yes, 

 a large hive and plenty of honey are the 

 main things needed to insure success in out- 

 door wintering. 



I will now say a word about those '* shot 

 towers " mentioned by Mr. Root in August 

 Gleanings. The most of our hives are 

 quadruple hives ; each division being a trifle 

 over thirteen inches square by twenty-one 

 inches high, with nine frames standing on 

 the bottom of the hive. Five years ago last 

 winter, just as an experiment, we made 

 three of these hives two stories high. They 



