WINTERING IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 
929 
temperature or freezing at niglit—are very 
hard on bees in many of the southern 
States. The hot sun beating on the walls 
of the hives forces the bees out, and in an 
hour or so there may be a cold, chilly wind 
that will prevent them from getting back. 
They get some pollen or nectar, which 
starts breeding. As the cool nights come 
on the survivors attempt to hover this 
brood and failing to do so on account of 
so many bees being lost in the fields, some 
of the brood is chilled. 
Figs. 1 and 2.—Method of packing bees with 
newspaper for semi-tropical states. The brood-nest 
is reduced down in a ten-frame hive to six or 
seven frames, using those that contain the most 
stores. These are placed centrally in the hive and 
covered with newspaper. The space on either side 
is then filled with folds of newspaper, after which 
the cover is put on. The smaller brood-nest with 
packing on the sides is better protected and will 
consume less stores. 
A little protection in the form of paper 
wrappings or an outside protecting case 
would save heavy losses of bees. In the 
southern States, and particularly in Cali¬ 
fornia, winter losses—not of colonies but 
of bees—are as great as in some of the 
northern States. The author feels very 
certain that a moderate amount of protec¬ 
tion would mean thousands upon thou¬ 
sands of dollars of saving to the beelceep- 
30 
ers in the warm States, where it is thought 
that there is no wintering problem. 
Dr. E. F. Phillips, in charge of api¬ 
culture in the Bureau of Entomology, 
Washington/D. C., also believes that some 
winter protection in the South will prevent 
some loss of bees, if not of colonies. 
Altho the advantages would seem to 
favor some packing in the Southland, it 
will probably be some time before its bee¬ 
keepers below the Ohio River will realize 
its importance enough to provide the neces¬ 
sary winter protection. 
A very serious difficulty in wintering in 
the South is starvation. So serious is this, 
it may be doubted whether the winter prob¬ 
lem in the South is not more serious than 
in the North. Bees require more stores per 
colony than in the North. When they can 
fly almost every day in the winter, breeding 
will be kept up more or less, with the re¬ 
sult that the colony will use two or three 
times as much honey during the winter as 
a similar colony in the North, packed. Al¬ 
most constant breeding for ten months uses 
up the stores at a very rapid rate. It is 
important for one to examine his colonies 
occasionally to see if they are running 
short; and, if so, he should supply them 
with sugar syrup, or combs of honey. 
The fact that so many colonies become 
weak in the Southland makes it possible 
for European foul brood to make rapid 
headway. This disease is being scattered 
rapidly all over California and the south¬ 
ern States. It thrives on weak colonies, 
and the reason colonies are weak is because 
the bees have insufficient stores or because 
they are improperly packed or both. It is 
apparent that in the southern climate there 
is a winter problem as well as in the North. 
WIRING FOUNDATION.— Under the 
head of Comb Foundation in this work, 
pages 210-213, are shown various methods 
of wiring frames. The purpose of the 
wires is twofold: (1) to keep the founda¬ 
tion from stretching while being drawn 
out, or afterward, when filled with honey; 
and (2) to hold the built-out combs solidly 
in the brood-frame. 
Combs are often roughly handled during 
shipment or in hauling’. They are likewise 
put to a severe test in the extractor, espe¬ 
cially if run at high speed. It is for this 
