140 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



October, 1907 



Getting Ready for Winter 



WITHOUT pollen, bees cannot rear their 

 young, but when they store it in the 

 sections, it is badly out of place. The con- 

 sumers object to it in the honey, though I like 

 a little "bee-bread" (pollen) in comb honey. 

 The bees prefer to store the pollen near the 

 brood. When it is put into the section honey, 

 it is either because the queen has deposited 

 eggs in the section comb cells or else there is 

 not sufficient room for it below in the brood- 



Prevenf the bees from storing pollen in the sections. 

 The lower (open) cells contain pollen 



nest. Both these conditions are generally 

 brought about by contraction of the brood- 

 nest as practised in the production of comb- 

 honey. 



A queen-excluding honey-board will pre- 

 vent the queen from going up among the 

 sections when the brood-nest has been so 

 contracted that she is cramped for room 

 below to lay her eggs. The perforations will 

 also discourage the bees from carrying pollen 

 up into the sections. A few cells in some 

 sections may be filled with pollen but that 

 does not hinder the sale of the honey. When, 

 however, many cells contain pollen, such 

 sections must not be sent to a distant market. 

 They can, often, be sold near home, where 

 the matter can be explained. 



The combs can be cut out of the section, 

 leaving in the parts containing the most pol- 

 len, and sold as chunk or bulk honey-comb. 

 After the bees have cleaned out the honey 

 still left in the sections, cut out the comb of 

 pollen and render it into wax. If neither of 

 the foregoing methods of disposing of pollen- 

 clogged sections is practicable, then uncap 

 the comb and remove the honey with an 

 extractor, and render the comb into wax. 



When removing comb honey, put by them- 

 selves those sections containing pollen. The 



wax-moth will lay in them, so it is necessary 

 'that they be fumigated. If eggs should be 

 laid in sections not containing any pollen, the 

 wax-moth larvae will die for they cannot sub- 

 sist without pollen or some other nitrogenous 

 food. Had I known this when I commenced 

 keeping bees, it would have saved me much 

 work, for I would not have mixed sections con- 

 taining pollen with those free from it, thus 

 making it necessary to watch all the honey 

 for wax-moth larvae. 



HOUSING BEES FOR WINTER 



Carry the colonies of bees into the cellar 

 when the indications are that the weather 

 will not be warm enough again this fall for 

 the bees to take flight. You can judge some- 

 what by previous years' experience when this 

 will be. Do not carry them into the cellar as 

 long as the bees can make flights, even if it is 

 only during the warmest part of the day. 



Cellared bees need a large entrance. I 

 use what is called a reversible bottom-board 

 — one side has a f-inch entrance, the other 

 side a |-inch space, the larger entrance being 

 used for cellar wintering. If the f-inch space 

 is used during the cool fall months, the bottom 

 boards must be reversed several days before 

 carrying the bees into the cellar. If one at- 

 tempts to do this work at the same time the 

 bees are to be carried in, they will become 

 much roused up, leave the hives in the cellar, 

 and cause much trouble generally. 



As the bottom-boards are not fastened 

 permanently to the hive-bodies on all modern 

 hives, they must be fastened so they will not 

 fall off when carrying the hives. This can 

 be done by tacking little strips of wood to 

 hive-bodies and bottom-boards. Double 

 pointed staples — so called crate staples — are 

 sometimes used for fastening the bottom- 

 boards to the bodies. 



It is best to carry the bees into the cellar 

 during a cold, raw day. They are not so 

 easily stirred up then, but whenever they are 

 to be moved about a little smoke should be 

 blown into the hive. If there are some 

 colonies that I have reason to suppose would 

 hardly be quieted with smoke, I wait until 

 evening to carry them in. When it is dark, 

 few bees will fly even from a cross colony. 



As it is rather difficult for one man to carry 

 a hive of bees, especially if the apiary is 

 some distance from the cellar, I have tried 

 transporting the hives on a wheelbarrow. 

 Put some blankets on the barrow to serve as 

 a cushion for the hives; but even then, with 

 the ordinary iron-wheel barrow, it will be a 

 rather jolty journey for the bees. To over- 



come this, I have used an old bicycle wheel 

 on the barrow. The tire is pumped up just 

 enough to prevent it from being cut by the 

 rim. 



The hives must be put upon the barrow so j 

 the combs run parallel with the wheel. If 

 put on the other way, the combs will flop 

 together, especially if the frames are j 

 unspaced. 



Wisconsin. F. A. Strohschein. 



Bees wintered in the cellar need a larger entrance 

 to their hives — about an inch wide 



Home Gardening in Vermont 



[Editor's Note. — The first oj a series oj articles which 

 ■we hope our readers will help us to continue forever. Tell 

 us how gardening in yorir region, differs from ez>ery other, 

 and give us a calendar of garde7i operations. What desirable 

 fruits, vegetables aiid omame?itals will not thrive with you 

 and why? Which do best and why?} 



I" CAN plant nothing out of doors save sweet 

 *- peas, until the first week in May. Beans 

 and corn are sown the last week in May, and 

 late beans and tomato plants must wait until 

 the second week in June. Rather than 

 delay the garden until late frosts are past, 

 I start, in the house or hotbed, Lima beans, 

 Earliana tomatoes, Livingstone Perfection 

 tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels 

 sprouts, celery, cress, parsley, chervil, water- 

 melon, muskmelon and pepper. It takes 

 nine windows and the hotbed to carry all the 

 flowers and these vegetables transplanted 

 into boxes fit to carry outdoors when the 

 apple trees bloom! But it is well worth while. 



I have a 3-sash hotbed, but dare not put 

 tomatoes in it until after the first week in 

 April, because we have such hard freezes, 

 until then. 



Our garden must be practical, for the 

 vegetables we have all through the year we 

 must raise ourselves. So we gladly give up 

 our south window sills to the shallow boxes, 

 and revel in tomatoes, cauliflower and celery 

 a month or sometimes more before our 

 neighbors. 



In Vermont, July is likely to have a hot 

 dry spell, damaging to cabbages and celery 

 just transplanted. No amount of water 

 makes up for those harsh winds that dry our 

 hay. Last year the only winter supply of 

 cabbages and cauliflower were those started 

 in the house. The seeds planted in the 

 garden May 15th developed only two or 

 three heads. One year we lost them because 

 of an unusual drought in June that shrivelled 

 the little plants just reset. No drought, no 

 grasshoppers, no worms, no weeds, nor any 

 carelessness seem to hurt materially the plants- 

 set out in early June. Year after year we 

 have been disappointed in carrots, beets and. 



