THE BEE-KEEPERS" REVIEW 



05 



colonies out of a pit, up in Northern 

 Michig-an, where Mr. Cavanagh had 

 buried them the previous autumn. He 

 then put paper on about three-fourths of 

 the colonies. About the first of June 1 

 removed the packing and moved the col- 

 onies some three or four miles to another 

 location. My brother asked me how the 

 protected colonies compared with those 

 having no protection. I told him that I 

 could not see as they were much, if any, 

 ahead of those that had no protection. In 

 fact, I was almost inclined to believe that 

 those that were unprotected were fully 

 as good as the others. He let me go on 

 in this style for awhile, then he told me 

 that the ones left with no protection were 

 the very strongest colonies in the yard. 

 If the covering of paper had helped the 

 weaker ones to catch up with them, then 

 it had shown its usefulness. 



FASTENING ON THE PROTECTION WITH 

 STRINGS. 



The usual method of putting on the felt 

 is to fold it down over the hive and fasten 

 it by tackinga strip of thin wood along the 

 lower edge, on each side of the hive, but 1 

 have tried a plan that I like better, viz., 

 that of tying it on, putting a piece of 

 wool twine, or some coarse twine, around 

 the hive, in two places, and drawing it up 

 as tightly as possible, then tying it. The 

 only difficulty with this method of fasten- 

 ing on the paper is to keep it in place 

 while the strings are being put on and 

 tied. Ordinarily, it would require the ser- 

 vices of two or three persons, but I hit 

 upon a scheme whereby one man can 

 do the act easily. The felt is a yard 

 wide. Cut it off in lengths just long 

 enough to reach over the top of the hive 

 and down each side to the bottom. Then 

 cut out pieces just the size of the end of 

 the hive. The piece that is to go in front 

 of the hive should be cut on a slight cir- 

 cle, on one edge, and this edge turned 

 down so as to leave a place open at the 

 bottom for an entrance. To hold the pa- 

 per in place while it is being tied, I tacked 

 a block to the side of the top-bar of a 

 brood-frame (of course, any stick wiii 



answer) at each end. 1 had the blocks at 

 such a distance apart that when the felt 

 had been folded over the hive, as one 

 would fold paper over a package that 

 was being done up, these blocks would just 

 nicely slip over the end of the hive. (See 

 frontispiece.) Then by pressing one end 

 of the stick up, and the other down, any 

 amount of pressure could be brought to 

 bear; enough so that the stick would re- 

 main in place, and hold the felt in place 

 while it was being tied. I made two of 

 these sticks with blocks nailed on, one for 

 each end of the hive. Lay the large piece 

 of felt over the top of the hive, set the end- 

 piece up against the end of the hive, place 

 the knee upon the top of the hive, fold 

 down the felt around one end exactly as 

 you would fold paper in doing up a pack- 

 age, put on the stick to hold it in place, 

 turn to the other end of the hive, and 

 serve it the same. Have the strings cut 

 off the right length, put one around, draw 

 it up tight, tie it, then put on another 

 string in the same way down near the 

 bottom of the hive, remove the sticks, and 

 the work is done. 



SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES GF THE TYING- 

 ON-PLAN. 



The foregoing seems like a lengthy 

 description, but the actual work can be 

 done in one minute, and does not disturb 

 the bees like the nailing on of strips of 

 wood. It can also be done four times as 

 quickly. If, at any time, it is desired to 

 examine a colony, it is only necessary to 

 untie the strings, and remove the felt, the 

 work of a moment, while it is quite a little 

 task to remove strips that are nailed on, 

 and to replace them. 



Five cents worth of tarred felt will 

 cover a hive, and. with this method of 

 putting it on there is not much likelihood 

 of its being injured, and it can be plied 

 away and saved to use another spring. 



Reader, if you live in the North, and 

 have never tried protecting hives in this 

 way in the spring, just try a few, and 

 note the result. 



Flint, Mich., Mar. 20, 190Z. 



