04 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



er during which considerable honey had 

 been gathered, and the combs filled with 

 brood. The cold weather lasted three 

 days, and how the weaker colonies did 

 suffer ! Some of them lost half of their 

 brood, and a few died out-right. Had the 

 bees been warmly packed the damage 

 would have been avoided, or. at least, 

 greatly lessened. 



Another year there was a cool spell 

 of weather in May, during which the 

 mercury remained at about 35 degrees 

 for nearly a week, and some fair colonies 

 actually starved; the bees being closely 

 clustered upon their brood, and unable, or 

 unwilling, to leave it to bring honey into 

 the cluster. 



Another spring the warm weather came 

 quite early; and continued so many days 

 that I finally ventured to place my bees 

 upon their summer stands; but, knowing 

 from sad experience, the uncertainty of 

 early spring weather, I packed the hives 

 in fine hay, the same as for winter. As 

 an experiment, two of the strongest col- 

 onies were left unprotected. Unexpected- 

 ly no very severe weather followed, al- 

 though there were many quite cool days 

 in which the bees were closely clustered in 

 the two unprotected hives. At such times 

 what a pleasure it was to examine a col- 

 ony that was protected. The bees were 

 never found clustered, but crawling ac- 

 tively all over the combs, while a puff of 

 smoke would drive them down an inch or 

 two, and expose large quantities of sealed 

 brood. When the honey harvest came, 

 the majority of the protected colonies 

 were actually stronger than the two left, 

 unpacked. 



Numerous instances like the above 

 have convinced me that it pays to pro- 

 tect bees soon after taking them from the 

 cellar, and to allow the protection to re- 

 main until the time has arrived for put- 

 ting on the supers. 



If spring protection is so important that 

 it is advisable to give it after taking bees 

 from the cellar, it may be asked why not 

 practice out-door wintering, then winter 

 protection will answer for spring, and the 



expense for a cellar, and of carrying the 

 bees in and out, will be avoided ? In the 

 first place, the saving in stores in cellar 

 wintering will pay for the expense four 

 times over; and, in the next place, and of 

 far greater importance, it is only by the 

 cellar method that the wintering of bees, 

 in the North, can ever be reduced to a 

 perfect system. By a selection of natural 

 stores, or, better still, by using sugar 

 largely for winter stores, we can secure 

 uniformity of food, but it is only in the 

 cellar or special repository that uniformity 

 of temperature at a desirable point can 

 be maintained. 



I once believed that it was better to 

 leave the bees in the cellar until late in 

 spring, but, as warm weather comes on, 

 thsy often become restless; sometimes, 

 too, there is discomfort from the long 

 continued confinement, and, as a flight in 

 the open air, and a little freshly gathered 

 pollen, honey and water seems to act like 

 a real charm, putting new life into their 

 veins, and encouraging brood rearing as 

 nothing else will, I believe it is better to 

 place thsm upon their summsr stands as 

 soon as pollen can be gathered in abun- 

 dance; and, as we almost always have 

 cold snaps after this, I would orotect the 

 hives. 



SPRING PROTECTION NEED NOT BE AN 

 EXPENISVE AFFAIR. 



Spring protection need not be so ex- 

 pensive nor elaborate an affair as that 

 needed in the winter. Wrapping a hive 

 in tarred felt is all that needed--is really 

 superior to a thick, heavy packing that 

 shuts off the heat of the sun. Its color 

 is also in its favor — it absorbs all of the 

 rays of the sun. Its cheapness and the 

 ease and quickness with which it can be 

 put in place and removed are also great 

 points in its favor. 1 believe Mr. Arthur 

 C. Miller was the first to suggest the use 

 of this kind of protection — at least, he was 

 the first to bring it prominently before the 

 public. At first I was somewhat skepti- 

 cal as to its efficacy. Only last spring I 

 thought 1 had a pretty good example of 

 its worthlessness. My brother dug 50 



