THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



167 



the north, east and west sides of the winter 

 quarters ; that on the iiurtli side beiny much 

 longer than the others. This serves not 

 only as a protection from winds, but helps 

 also in raising the temperature at times 

 favorable for giving the bees a flight. Hives, 

 of course, are supposed to face the south, 

 when by raising the covers and giving the 

 hives a pitch to the front, this object is 

 facilitated. Shading the hives during winter 

 and spring, when otherwise the bees will be 

 likely to fly, when cold winds or light snows 

 render this undesirable. Dark colored pack- 

 ing boxes put together with Quinby corners. 

 This shortens the labor of , packing and un- 

 packing, and adapts the parts for use as 

 shade boards during summer. Of course the 

 covers of packing boxes must be water 

 tight, and material for packing likely to re- 

 tain moisture (such asfnic sawdust) is to be 

 avoided, especially at sides and ends. More 

 than one inch space beneath frames is not 

 desirable, and is likely to hinder building up 

 colonies in the spring. The top packing 

 should be so arranged as to allow of a free 

 circulation of air above it, and also, so as to 

 be quickly handled in a body to aid a rapid 

 examination. 



The absence of good stores when the op- 

 portunity for occasional flights during win- 

 ter can't be had, will be certain to render all 

 other precautions useless. 



Wauzeka, Wis. 



Aug. 1(5, 1889. 



Good Stores and Protection Tell the Story 

 of Successful Out-Door Wintering. 



J. H, LABBAEEE. 



fN ANY discussion of the subject of out- 

 door wintering, Vermont should, I am 

 sure, have a voice. All over the state, 

 but more especially in the dhamplain 

 valley, bees are wintered out of doors. 

 Whether those who inaugurated this system 

 did so with a full knowledge of all the advan- 

 tages to be obtained with light hives and 

 cellar wintering, I know not, but the fact re- 

 mains that scores of bee-keepers here prac- 

 tice this method with scarce a desire for a 

 change. 



It may be that, as Mr. Elwood said re- 

 cently in the Review, our valley is favorably 

 situated, the cold being tempered by warm 

 breezes from the lower Hudson region, but 

 an examination of the meteorological obser- 

 vations of the signal station at Burlington 

 would convince many that this effect is not 

 too apparent. 



But there are other reasons beyond the 

 control of the average bee-keeper, why our 

 bees winter so successfully. 



The character of the honey used for win- 

 ter stores is generally of the best, as so little 

 fall honey or honey dew is obtained that the 

 major part of the winter stores, if of honey, 

 must be of the white honey crop. This 

 same lack of autumn forage also renders 

 late breeding light and frees the combs of 

 much surplus pollen. It is no rare occur- 

 rence to find no brood of any kind in the 

 hives by the first of October. 



Winter flights are very desirable at a prop- 

 er time, but inan be injurious. A good 

 flight during December is always beneficial, 

 but one between January 10th and the mid- 

 dle of February if often extremely injurious 

 as breeding is induced ; and should no 

 flights occur until after the first of April, as 

 often hapi)ens, dysentei-y may be the re- 

 sult. 



If spring protection is of sufficient impor- 

 tance to repay all the trouble of providing, 

 packing and cases for large apiaries like Mr. 

 Heddon's, then should we who winter in 

 chaff hives, congratulate ourselves upon hav- 

 ing obtained this protection without an 

 hour's extra labor. 



The increased consumption of stores in 

 out-door wintering is, I am quite sure, not 

 as apparent at tlie opening of clover bloom 

 as on the first of April ; as honey is, I con- 

 tend, consumed in nmch larger quantities at 

 this season by colonies wintered in the cel- 

 lar than by those wintered in the open air. 



( )ne word more with regard to the method 

 of packing in use liere. The material may 

 consist of almost any porous non-conductor 

 of heat ; chafl' and planer shavings having 

 the advantage of lightness, are the general 

 favorites. (Jare should, I think, be exercised 

 that tlie packing be perfectly dry, that it 

 may absorb as much of the moisture of the 

 bees as possible, moisture being feared next 

 to poor stores as a cause of winter loss. The 

 packing is held in place by an outer case 

 consisting of two rims of about ten inches in 

 width each, with a (j(}od gable roof on top. 

 These rims are about three inches larger in- 

 side than the brood chamber, leaving that 

 amount of space for the packing. 



After the close of the honey season, the 

 bees are left as much as possible to them- 

 selves, the only care being that they have 

 sufficient stores for the winter, until about 

 the first of November, fall " tinkering " and 

 excitement being avoided as detrimental. 

 At this time the brood chamber cover is re- 

 moved and a piece of burlap or cotton 

 placed upon the frames and the top filled 

 with packing to the depth of about six inches. 

 Formerly this super packing was used loose 

 but now sacks, or trays with cloth bottoms, 

 are used to hold the chaff or shavings. These 

 sacks are very handy in spring when upon 

 some warm day it is desired to examine 

 many colonies. The packing is not removed 

 until settled warm weather, and then only 

 from the top, the sides remaining packed 

 throughout the year. This packing at the 

 sides I consider an advantage even during 

 the sultry days of basswood bloom. 



In answer to the argument of cumber- 

 Komeness, I will simply say that nearly all of 

 the improved methods of management at all 

 seasons of the year may be practiced with 

 chaff hives without the moving of a single 

 one. How this may be done could form the 

 subject of many long articles. 



Last winter I wintered ninety-six colonies 

 out of doors in chaff. On the first of April 

 all were alive, one was queenless and one 

 dwindled during April as a result of late 

 " tinkering." 



Labbabee's Pt., Vt. 



Aug. 20, 1889. 



