Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 493 



"Want of Caee in Wintering Bees. 

 Mrs. E. S. Tupper, Iowa — I cam in receipt of numerous letters asking 

 me to give, through the Farmers' Club, my opinion as to the cause 

 of the great loss of bees the past winter. In many places nearly all 

 the bees have died ; in others, a large per cent of the whole number. 

 I have examined some of the dead colonies and gathered all the par- 

 ticulars of others, and am sure that in every case reported to me the 

 bees died from no disease, but simply from want of care in wintering. 

 Some colonies which I have seen died of too much honey. In many 

 parts of the west the honey season last fall was extended into October, 

 and bees were able to fill up their combs with honey after the queens 

 ceased breeding. In thousands of hives there was no empty space in 

 which the bees could cluster, and winter found them thus, clustering 

 upon combs filled with sealed honey as cold as ice itself, and they 

 perished. Had the center combs been emptied by an extractor, 

 or two or more combs been removed from the hive to give them 

 room, they would have been saved. I took twenty pounds of honey 

 from each of fifty hives last October, and left them in far better order 

 for wintering than if none had been taken. By doing it I saved one 

 thousand pounds of honey and saved my bees. Some colonies that 

 were protected died from want of upward ventilation. I saw, last 

 week, many of these. No holes were left open in the top ; the 

 moisture accumulated and the combs molded ; the bees were uncom- 

 fortable, and could not retain the fecal matter, and died of what is 

 erroneously called dysentery. I have found some cases where the 

 trouble was caused by the bees being shut into the hive. They never 

 like this; the entrance should be only partially closed. In other 

 cases, bees were smothered by too much straw and fodder being put 

 about the hives. Not one case has yet been reported to me where 

 bees have suffered that were wintered in dry cellars or properly pro- 

 tected on their summer stands, with due attention to giving them 

 empty space in which to winter. If those interested in this impor- 

 tant matter will turn to the United States Agricultural Report of 

 1SC1, and read a short paper in it prepared by me, they will find the 

 whole matter made plain. If the principles of winter bee-keeping 

 there laid down be carried out in practice, no colony need ever be 

 lost in winter. 



Arbor-vityE Hedges. 

 Mr. Rillie Longnecker, Paoli, Kansas, wrote — I noticed, some time 

 ago, that arbor-vitas was recommended for a hedge by some member 



