144 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 12, 1886. 
having them in a high state of prosperity in the early months 
of spring, thus laying even now the foundation of success in 
1887, and enabling us to feel comfortable and free from all 
anxiety when the piercing blasts of icy wind sweep over the 
land far and wide, and the frost and snow hold all the earth 
in a stern embrace. There are many essentials to a complete 
success in wintering bees to which special attention must be 
given, but nearly all these points will come under one of 
the three following heads :— 
1, A good sound weather proof hive well packed and 
covered. 
2, Bees strong in number headed by a good queen. 
3, A bounteous supply of proper food. 
The value of a good, well-made hive is very great, for if 
any part is ill-fitting, and damp is allowed to penetrate to the 
inside of the hive, all the labour and all the care of the bee¬ 
keeper will not avail to withstand this secret lurking foe, 
which is the more dangerous because doing its deadly work 
in the winter season when hives are less frequently examined. 
The mischief is done before the least suspicion that there is 
anything wrong is aroused in the mind of the bee-keeper, 
who sees with wondering surprise on the return of spring 
that what he expected to be a good strong colony is weak, 
and so enfeebled as to be, if not quite ruined, at any rate 
comparatively valueless. More stocks are, in my opinion, 
destroyed by damp than by any other cause ; the mischief is 
wrought so silently that it is seldom discovered, except by 
the careful man, who makes a periodical examination of all 
his stocks. 
The top of the hive must be made absolutely and entirely 
waterproof; every conceivable crevice through which the 
least damp might percolate must be stopped, and only under 
the eaves, where rain cannot beat in, must spaces be left. 
Now, I put great stress upon having spaces under, and I 
believe that it is one of the greatest helps to wintering to 
have a continual circulation of air on the top of the hive. 
The spaces need not be large, but they must b 9 large enough 
to give a reasonable ventilation without creating a draught 
or admitting rain and snow. It is not, however, so much 
the occasional drops of rain and snow, that are certain at 
intervals to find their way beneath the eaves, that do the 
mischief against which we have so sternly to contend, but it 
is the continued action of a crevice through which damp is 
always pouring in, until the combs become rotten, the bees 
are destroyed, and the stock ruined. 
The floorboard must have a slope sufficient to throw off 
all the wet, and the entrance may be narrowed or widened 
as occasion may require. About 3 inches in the winter is not 
at all too wide an entrance; but when snow is on the ground 
it is better entirely to prevent a single bee from leaving the 
hive by using a slide, having a piece of perforated zinc attached 
over the hole, so that the ventilation will still go freely on 
and the bees remain undisturbed. Some say that bees thus 
confined become excited, and the loss of the stock is the 
result. _ My experience is just the contrary, for if the slides 
are quietly exchanged not one bee will be lost, but some 
hundreds be saved. To make matters quite safe it is 
my custom, in addition to using the slide, to also shade the 
entrance, and the result is that when the sun is shining 
most brightly there is no undue excitement; while if no slide 
is used, however carefully the hive is shaded, occasional bees, 
mor9 restless than their fellows, find their way out and never 
return. Now, when every life is valuable it is a pity for one 
to be lost, therefore shade and close the entrance with per¬ 
forated zinc. Immediately after the snow has gone every 
entrance must be opened, and the bees will speedily clear 
away the dead, which ought not to be numerous. Perforated 
floorboards I have not used, and although they are without 
doubt useful, still I am able to manage so easily and satis¬ 
factorily without them that I have no disposition at present 
to alter the course, so far followed with success, by adding 
another appliance to the apiary. Hives should not stand 
more than 8 inches above the ground, and all around and 
beneath them they should be quite clear from anything that 
will in the slightest degree obstruct a free circulation of air. 
The covering on the top of the hive must be porous, and for 
wooden hives there is nothing superior to the ordinary 
summer quilts, and on the top of these a section rack, having 
a piece of canvas tacked to the bottom and filled with cork or 
sawdust. This is a capital covering, but above all things it 
is necessary to avoid anything not porous at any time of the 
year. The “American cloth,” now freely made use of in so 
many apiaries, is simply an abomination, and the result of 
its use cannot be satisfactory. The quilts and rack of cork 
or sawdust form a warm cosy pad, through which the 
moisture generated below can easily pass off and leave the 
hive and comb dry and in the best possible condition for the 
preservation of bee-life, in addition to providing an almost 
insensible upward ventilation. The position must be open, 
and by choice the hives should face south, with a slight 
inclination to the east, and be sheltered from the north wind. 
It is hardly necessary to warn the present generation against 
the practice of removing stocks in winter to the opposite side 
of the hedge or wall to the one they occupied in winter ; the 
object being to prevent the sun’s rays from falling on the 
hive and enticing out the bees to their certain destruction. 
The position of the hives must not be altered unless abso- 
solutely necessary, when the usual measures must be taken. 
Straw hive3 must be packed warmly, and in all respects 
treated the same as the wooden hive, and they will prove far 
better as a winter home than many modern hives. The 
second essential to successful wintering is “ bees strong 
in number headed by a fertile queen.” There has been so 
vast an amount of discussion on these points, and on the 
side issues springing out of them, that it will be necessary 
somewhat to deviate from the strict course of inquiry into 
the best means of wintering, but it will not be necessary at 
present to dive into details, but only to state conclusions, 
leaving the bases for such conclusions to be propounded in 
some future issue. 
The first point is whether stocks must bs contracted to a 
portion of the hive only during the winter months. To this 
I say most emphatically, No ! but rather let the colony be so 
strengthened as to be enabled to overspread the combs, which 
must otherwise be left uncovered by the bees. True, as the 
winter goes on and the population decreases without any 
proportionate increase, the outside comb3 may be left un¬ 
covered ; but it has yet to be proved that in a properly 
constructed hive this is any disadvantage. There must be no 
contraction of the hive, but rather an increase of population, 
to render such contraction unnecessary and impossible. 
Secondly, it is totally unnecessary to cut winter passages 
in the combs unless the hives are so shallow as to be for all 
practical purposes worthless. 
Thirdly, there must be no change in the orthodox and 
natural distance between comb and comb. 
We may now return to the main point, and it may be 
observed in passing that it will probably b9 conceded by nine 
out of every ten practical bee-keepers that a strong colony is 
most easily wintered, mo3t prosperous in spring, and most 
profitable throughout the year. 
The ways and means of increasing the strength of a 
colony are several, but the preferable plan is, so far as my 
experience goes, to add sufficient bees in autumn to bring up 
the population of every stock to its required strength. Bees 
can still be obtained in quantity from cottagers, or they can 
be purchased at from Is. to Is. 3d. a pound from other 
localities whore driven bees cannot be had, for the trouble of 
driving them. To a fairly strong stock in a large hive some 
5 lbs. of baes may be added, and the population will even 
then be by no means too great. Stocks, it may be said by 
some, that have been worked on the “ tiering ” system 
Without being allowed to swarm are, after the removal of the 
last super, very crowded; but if those who think that these 
stocks require no addition will examine them aga’n towards 
the end of September, they will be astonished to see how 
