376 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



ing problem need have no serious 

 forebodings for him. 



The wintering problem, to be sure 

 is cf prime importance. Suc- 

 cessful wintering is absolutely es- 

 sential to successful beekeeping. 

 And this is measured not only by 

 the number cf stocks that live 

 through the winter, but also by the 

 strength of the individual stocks. 



I'here are Two Absolute Kssentials 

 to Good AVintering 



First ample stores. Second, a 

 sufficient force of young healthy 

 bees. Given these two conditions, 

 and reasonable protection furnished, 

 the wintering problem has been 

 stripped of its terrors. Lacking eith- 

 er of these two, no amount of pro- 

 tection can suffice. 



It is evident, therefore, that pre- 

 parations for wintering should be- 

 gin the previous spring and be 

 carried on through the summer. The 

 careful apiarist will see that his 

 superanuated queens are supersed- 

 ed, so that with young and vigor- 

 ous queens, brood rearing will go 

 on until the close of the honey 

 flow, being kept up if necessary by 

 stimulating feeding. Weak or queen- 

 less colonies he will double up to 

 give the required strength. 



Before the cold autumn days, all 



colonies should be fed either with 

 filled frames of honey, saved for 

 the purpose, or with syrup by the 

 use of feeders. No other food can 

 quite equal good honey for winter- 

 ing. Each colony should have at 

 least thirty pounds of honey. Each 

 hive should be weighed, as the 

 method of lifting is not sufficiently 

 accurate. If a single story, ten 

 frame hive, with combs, no bees, 

 will weigh thirty to thirty-five 

 pounds, then the hive with bees pre- 

 pared for winter, must weigh at 

 least sixty-five pounds. 



While a strong colony with abun- 

 dant stores may live through the 

 winter even in climates where there 

 is a great deal of below-zero weath- 

 er if left without protection on its 

 summer stand, protection of some 

 sort is of great advantage, since the 

 bees come through winter in much 

 better shape for spring work, the 

 colony reaching its maximum 

 strength in time to take full ad- 

 vantage of the honey flow. Without 

 protection the loss in numbers will 

 be much greater and the colony is 

 not likely to reach its maximum un- 

 til the honey flow' is partly, or in 

 many cases, almost over. 



The chaff hive, properly construct- 



(Continued on page 385) 



Apicultural Education 



By MORLEY PETTIT, Ontario Provincial Apiarist 



Read at Annual Convention of National Beekeepers, St. Louis. Mo. 



Feb. 17th, 1914 



Technical education helps the 

 workers by enabling them to better 

 understand and thus take more 

 pleasure in their work. It increases 

 their efficiency, reduces the cost of 

 production and improves the quality 

 of the product. Business education 

 helps the business man to reduce 

 the cost of distribution and by ad- 

 vertising to increase consumption. 

 These help both producer and dis- 

 tributor. Education provided at 

 public expense should help also the 

 consumer by reducing the ultimate 

 cost of the product to him. 



Apicultural education provided at 



public expense must consider all 

 three classes. It must take into 

 account the right to keep bees of 

 a sufficient number of persons to 

 collect the nectar which nature 

 places in the flowers from year to 

 year, the right of a sufficient num- 

 ber of distributors to get this to 

 the consumer and the right of all 

 men to satisfy their craving for 

 sweet with this most delicious of 

 nature's products. 



Apicultural education should in- 

 clude both production and distri- 

 bution and should and must go hand 

 in hand with investigation. In fact. 



