214 



TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



therefore, I will not do so as I pro 

 ceed. 



The bees are put into winter quar- 

 ters early, with at least 30 pounds of 

 stores per colony. 



Over the bees (we winter in cellars 

 that are apt to become damp) we 

 place a Hill's device, and over this set 

 a three-inch-deep tray having" a bot- 

 tom of light weight canvas, and filled 

 with clover chaff. 



Any time, after March 1st, should 

 there be prospects of the bees taking 

 a flight, they are taken from the cel- 

 lar in the evening. The entrances are 

 contracted and the hives wrapped 

 with at least two thickneses of heavy 

 express paper, and an eleven -inch 

 deep telescope cover put on over the 

 whole. The cover serves two pur- 

 poses: now it helps to keep the hives 

 warm, and later it is a protection 

 against the hot sun. 



A strip of paper, cut from a three- 

 foot roll, measuring six feet and two 

 inches in length, and folded to meas- 

 ure three feet by three feet and one 

 inch, will completely wrap a 10-frame 

 hive. Befoje taken to the bee-yard, 

 the paper is folded over a form, to 

 crease it, and it is then only the work 

 of a moment to wrap a hive. A 

 smooth string (twine with a loop on 

 one end) is passed around the paper 

 and tied on one corner of the hive. 

 After forming the knot the string is 

 slid downward to draw it taut all the 

 way round the hive. 



After the first flight the bottom 

 boards are cleaned, and if any colo- 

 nies are found weak their brood - 

 chambers are contracted with a chaff 

 division -boards. 



All the stimulation our bees get, 

 to g'ive us workers for a white clover 

 flow, is to allow them to have early 

 flights, and keeping them comfortably 

 in a warm, drj- hive with plenty of 

 stores. 



Just before fruit-bloom, the colonies 

 are raised up and hive-bodies, filled 

 with empty combs, placed under them. 

 In this way the bees are given more 

 room and at the same time they and 

 the brood are left in the upper or 

 warmest part of the hive, which they 

 would naturally select. 



At extracting' time we always set 

 aside, for spring feeding, at least one 

 brood-comb of honey per colony. At 

 the time the bees are raised up, all 



those that need feeding are given a 

 comb of honey, with caps bruised, 

 which is put in the center of the body 

 containing the empty comb. Of course, 

 this work should then be done on a 

 cool day, or in the evening, to make 

 sure there will be no robbing. 



Carrying this honey up from below, 

 and stimulated further by a few days' 

 gathering from firuit-blossoms, the 

 queen soon fflls the remaining cells, 

 in the upper story, with brood, and in 

 about ten days the colony is reaidy 

 tfc) be treated again. At this manipula- 

 tion, the wrapping is taken off and the 

 bodies reversed. By this time the colo- 

 nies have grown very ipopulous, the 

 combs have the colony odor, and in a 

 few minutes the upper story is fully 

 occupied. No excluder is used at this 

 time, and tlhe queen goes up with th-e 

 bees. The wrapping" is put on the up- 

 per story again, and left on until the 

 (next and last treatment. 



'^Nlow a word of caution. If the hive 

 bodies are reversed at a time when 

 honey is coming in, the bees are apt to 

 begin storing in the center of the up- 

 per chamber, and the queen will then 

 be somewhat reluctant about going up. 

 This condition will sometimes cause 

 colonies to swarm. The combs of 

 honey should be moved tto the sides of 

 the upper chamber and eimpty combs 

 put iij their stead. 



When white clover begins to yield 

 we apply the following treatment: To 

 begin work, we havev some rubber- 

 cloths and, two empty hive-bodies on 

 a wheel barrow. After learning how 

 many combs of braod we' have in the 

 upper story;, of a colony, ,this part of 

 the hive is taken off and set on a bee- 

 tight bottom -board. 



Next we take enough combs, of the - 

 youngest brood, from the lower story, ■ 

 to fill a ten-frame body witfn those we 

 found in the upper story. As the 

 combs of brood are taken from the 

 hive the bees are shaken off in front '■ 

 of it and the combs placed in one of 

 the empty bodies. 



The remaining brood, in the lower '. 

 story, which js sealed and hatching . 

 brood, is moved to the center, and the 

 vacant space filled up with combs. The , 

 side combs are left undisturbed. 



An excluder is now put on, and on 

 top of this an empty body having a ' 

 three-eighths-inch hole near the bot- i 

 tom of the end, facing with the main j 



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