2 BULLETIN 325, TJ. S. DEPAETMEXT OF AGEICULTTJEE. 



needed to cany a colony through the winter and give it a good start 

 at brood-rearing in the spring. 



An interesting circumstance shown by a comparison of the figures 

 in column 4 is that there seems to be little variation between the 

 supply of food required to winter a colony in the different parts of the 

 country, notwithstanding that the period in the Northern States 

 between the fall and spring nectar flows (evidently interpreted by 

 many reporters as the period between honey flows yielding a surplus) 

 is shown in column 2 as from 7 to 9 months, with the bees confined to 

 the hive for as much as 3 or 4 months at a time (column 3) without 

 opportunity for a cleansing flight, while in the Southern States the 

 interval shown between nectar flows is from 4 to 6 months only, and 

 confinement to the hive ranges from a month down to but a few days 

 at a time. The explanation of this uniformity in food requirements 

 under greatly varying conditions is not entirely clear, though the 

 comments accompanying the reports indicate that it may be due in 

 part at least to the greater activity of bees during the winter season 

 as one proceeds southward, the warm days 'permitting the winter 

 cluster to be frequently broken, with the bees active and flying out. 

 Also in many sections of the South brood-rearing throughout the 

 winter is quite frequent, while in the North colonies which are well 

 cared for and are not compelled to battle with extremely low tem- 

 peratures are less likely to begin brood-rearing prematurely. 



The percentage of the colonies given winter protection, as shown 

 in column 6, g, very high in the Northern States, drops off rapidly to 

 almost nothing south of the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and in the 

 Southwestern and Pacific Coast States. In the extreme North a 

 favorite mode of wintering is shown (column 6, a) to be in cellars, in 

 the less extreme Northern States mostly by means of double-walled 

 and packed hives (column 6, I), while farther south such occasional 

 protection as is given is usually confined to supers packed with 

 absorbent material, to wrappings of tar paper, etc., around the hive, 

 the employment of windbreaks or open sheds, the partial covering of 

 the hive with straw, etc. A number of reports from the Western 

 Plateau States mention the practice of covering all but the entrance 

 of the hive with straw overlaid with earth. 



The losses during the past winter, as will be seen by reference to 

 column 7, j, Table 2, generally range from 15 to 20 per cent in the 

 more northerly States of the white-clover belt, from 5 to 15 in the 

 lower portions of that belt and in the Southeastern and South-Central 

 States, and in the neighborhood of 5 to 10 per cent in the important 

 honey-producing States of Texas, Colorado, Utah, and California, 

 with but 2 per cent in Arizona. The average for the entire country 

 is 12.6 per cent. 



