240 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  18,  1897. 
W  0 
FBI 
% 
Jlii 
HE  BEE-KEEPER 
Wintering  Bees. 
Bee-keepers  who  have  examined  their  stocks  will  now  be  able 
to  form  an  opinion  as  -to  whether  the  past  winter  has  been  dii- 
astrous  to  their  bees.  Judging  from  facts  that  have  come  under 
my  notice  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  losses  will  be  more  serious 
thaq  usual,  as  already  complaints  have  been  received  from  various 
partB  of  the  country.  It  cannot  be  owing  to  the  severity  of  the 
weather,  as  no  extremely  low  temperatures  have  been  registered. 
On  the  contrary  it  has  been  excessively  wet,  and,  as  is  now  well 
known,  dampness  affects  bees  much  more  than  a  dry  sharp  frost. 
There  are,  I  think,  three  chief  causes,  which  are  queenlessness, 
shortness  of  stores,  and  excessive  moisture  in  the  hives.  The 
former  subject  has  been  treated  in  recent  notes,  but  the  two  latter 
would  doubtless  cause  old  and  decrepit  queens  to  succumb  earlier 
than  they  would  otherwise  have  done. 
Shortness  of  stores  is  very  common  this  season,  and  the  cause  is 
not  far  to  seek,  as  during  the  late  days  of  spring  and  early  days 
of  summer  last  year  the  weather  was  fine  and  dry  throughout  the 
country  ;  but  in  the  Midland  and  Northern  counties  very  little 
surplus  was  stored.  Afterwards  a  spell  of  dull  showery  weather 
set  in,  which  continued,  more  or  less,  until  the  honey  flow  was 
over.  By  that  time  the  greater  part  of  the  stores  surrounding  the 
brood  nest  had  been  consumed,  whereas  in  ordinary  seasons  the  end 
combs  would  have  been  full  of  sealed-up  stores  ;  the  top  part  of 
many  of  the  other  frames,  too,  would  have  been  in  the  same 
condition. 
Although  the  weather  improved  for  some  weeks  it  was  then 
too  late,  except  in  the  Heather  districts,  for  the  bees  to  store  a 
surplus.  Thus  many  bee-keepers  were  deceived  in  the  amount  of 
stores  the  bees  had,  and  as  the  autumn  was  excessively  wet  bees 
did  not  take  the  food  readily  that  was  placed  within  their  reach, 
so  that  many  colonies  of  bees  went  into  their  winter  quarters  short 
of  stores,  and  unless  candy  has  been  given  to  them  many  stocks  are 
on  the  verge  of  starvation.  Several  that  I  have  examined  during 
the  past  week  are  in  this  unsatisfactory  condition. 
Dampness  in  Hives. 
This  is  the  cause  of  many  colonies  of  bees  being  unhealthy,  and 
steps  should  at  once  be  taken  to  remedy  any  defects  in  the  hive.  It 
is  surprising  how  rapidly  a  stock  of  bees  will  deteriorate  if  from 
any  cause  an  excessive  amount  of  moisture  is  allowed  to  remain  in 
the  hive.  I  have  had  experience  of  this  on  several  occasions,  and 
dread  it  more  than  anything  else  in  the  apiary.  In  this  district 
foul  brood  is  unknown,  which  is  fortunate  for  bee-keepers  ;  but 
next  to  that  disease  more  Btocks  are  lost  from  dampness  in  hives 
than  from  any  other  cause. 
This  fact  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  by  all  who  are  interested 
in  the  pursuit  of  bee-keeping.  If  well-made  hivea  are  obtained 
they  are  liable  to  crack  and  let  in  the  moisture  after  they  have 
been  exposed  to  the  sun  in  summer  and  the  frost  and  rain  in 
winter  for  a  year  or  two.  It  is  therefore  advisable  to  paint  them 
every  autumn,  which  will  preserve  them  in  good  condition  for 
many  years. 
If  this  operation  is  left  until  late  in  the  autumn,  when  there  are 
not  many  bees  on  the  wing,  the  hives  may  be  painted  in  the  open 
air  without  removing  the  bees  from  the  hive.  This  is  an  advantage, 
and  takes  up  much  lesi  time  than  when  the  bees  have  to  be  placed 
in  another  hive.  With  loose  floor  boards  and  ordinary  sized  hives 
it  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  replace  a  wet  board  with  a  dry  one,  as  in 
the  most  carefully  managed  apiary  too  much  moisture  will  occasion¬ 
ally  be  found  in  some  of  the  hives. 
Roofs  may  be  blown  off,  and  in  connection  with  a  mishap  of 
this  description  I  lately  observed  the  benefit  derived  from  the  use 
of  ticking  for  placing  next  to  the  frames,  in  comparison  with  calico 
for  quilts.  The  former  had  been  drenched  with  rain,  but  owing  to 
the  stiffness  of  the  material,  which  was  well  fastened  down  to  the 
frames  by  the  bees  with  propolis,  no  moisture  had  penetrated  to 
the  interior  of  the  hive.  The  other  hive,  which  had  the  same 
amount  of  covering  on  the  top  of  the  quilt,  which  was  calico,  was 
saturated  with  moisture,  and  the  bees  had  to  be  at  once  removed 
into  a  dry  hive.  Ordinary  ticking  is  the  best  material  for  quilts, 
as  the  above  illustrates. 
Reducing  Entrances. 
If  not  already  done  this  should  be  carried  out  without  delay,  as 
warmer  weather  may  soon  be  expected,  and  as  outdoor  supplies 
will  be  scarce  for  some  time  to  come,  robber  bees  from  strong 
colonies  will  be  on  the  alert  to  gain  an  entrance  to  the  stores  of 
their  weaker  neighbours. 
The  best  way  to  prevent  this  is  to  reduce  the  entrance  to  the 
hive.  In  ordinary  cases  an  inch  will  be  ample  at  this  season,  more 
space  being  given  to  them  as  they  increase  in  strength  and  supplies 
are  coming  in  freely. 
Should  a  weak  colony  be  attacked  it  is  advisable  to  reduce  the 
entrance,  so  that  only  one  bee  can  pass  at  a  time.  This  will  enable 
the  rightful  owners  to  defend  their  stores  against  the  intruders. 
It  is  also  an  advantage  to  sprinkle  a  little  carbolic  acid  on  the 
alighting  board,  so  that  only  a  narrow  passage  is  left  clear  for  the 
bees  to  pass  to  their  hive.  This  will  usually  have  the  desired  effect ; 
but  in  very  bad  cases  where  robbers  have  gained  an  entrance  before 
being  observed  it  is  advisable  to  remove  the  hive  from  its  stand, 
taking  it  several  yards  away.  This  should  be  done  at  night  after 
the  bees  have  all  returned  to  their  hives.  An  empty  hive  must 
be  placed  on  the  stand,  the  robbers  will  then  soon  find  out  their 
mistake,  and  will  settle  down  to  work.  —  An  English  t  Bee¬ 
keeper  . 
DOUBLING  HIVES. 
“An  English  Bee-keeper  ”  (page  169)  says  “  G.  H.”  does  not 
quite  grasp  the  idea,  and  imagines  more  hives  will  be  necessary.  I  may 
assure  “An  E.  B  -K.”  my  vision  is  clear  on  the  matter  of  doubling  hives, 
it  being  well  understood  here,  but  still  think  it  takes  more  hives.  “  An 
E.  B.-K.”  says  (on  page  20,  January  7th),  “  Another  hive  the  same  size 
is  then  placed  on  the  top  and  filled  with  empty  comb,  and  the  frames 
with  adhering  bees  previously  removed  from  the  brood  nest.  If  not  of 
sufficient  strength  some  frames  of  brood  and  the  adhering  bees  may  be 
taken  from  other  stocks  which  are  headed  by  old  queens.”  Now  from 
the  above  I  still  think  more  hives  are  needed,  and  the  manipulation  of 
several  hives  to  make  a  strong  one. 
With  oar  large  hives  we  have  found  this  unnecessary,  and  my 
contention  is,  Why  go  in  for  hives  where  a  queen  has  not  room  for  her 
ovipositing  powers  at  the  time  most  needed  ?  for  with  ten  standard 
frames  the  queen  has  no  such  room.  It  speaks  well  for  large  hives, 
at  the  present  time  (March  3rd)  nearly  covering  nine  frames.  At  the 
meeting  of  our  Aisociation  (March  3rd)  one  of  our  members  stated 
that  day  he  had  examined  one  of  his  hives,  which  has  twelve  frames, 
18  inches  by  9  deep  ;  the  bees  covered  nine  frames,  and  he  observed 
several  drones.  On  February  20th  strong  hives  were  fanning  at  the 
entrance  at  nine  o’clock  in  the  evening.  I  find  that  large  hives  need 
less  attention  as  to  fteiing.  If  stores  are  short  in  the  month  of  August, 
and  a  supply  is  given  to  last  until  April,  very  little  trouble  is  given  to 
the  bee-keeper,  and  candy  feeding  is  found  unnecessary  with  large  well- 
provisioned  hives. — George  Howdenshire. 
•#*  All  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should  be 
directed  to  “  The  Editor.’’  Letters  addressed  to  members  of 
the  staff  of  ter  remain  unopened  unavoidably.  We  request  that 
no  one  will  write  privately  to  any  of  our  correspondents,  as 
doing  so  subjects  them  to  unjustifiable  trouble  and  expense,  and 
departmental  writers  are  not  expected  to  answer  any  letters  they 
may  receive  on  Gardening  and  Bee  subjects,  through  the  post 
Correspondents  should  not  mix  up  on  the  same  sheet  questions 
relating  to  Gardening  and  those  on  Bee  subjects,  and  should 
never  send  more  than  two  or  three  questions  at  once.  All 
articles  intended  for  insertion  should  be  written  on  one  side  of 
the  paper  only.  We  cannot,  as  a  rule,  reply  to  questions 
through  the  post,  and  we  do  not  undertake  to  return  rejected 
communications. 
Address  (6r.  A). — The  Secretary  of  the  United  Horticultural 
Benefit  and  Provident  Association  is  Mr.  Collins,  9,  Martindale  Boad, 
Balham,  London,  from  whom  all  particulars  may  be  had. 
Culture  of  Xiapagerlas  ( Journeyman ). — The  article  on  page  228 
will  doubtless  be  of  more  assistance  to  you  than  could  a  brief  reply  in 
this  column.  Lapagerias  are,  as  you  say,  of  very  great  beauty  when  well 
grown,  which  unfortunately  is  not  always  the  case. 
Peach  Buds  and  Flowers  Falling  (G.  P.). — You  say  nothing 
about  the  age  of  the  trees.  We  suspect  the  root  action  is  defective,  or 
the  soil  lacking  in  necessary  food  ingredients.  The  wood  is  weak,  and 
was  not  matured  last  year.  Possibly  the  trees  were  attacked  with  red 
spider.  Their  condition  must  be  improved  for  the  retention  of  buds  and 
the  production  of  fine  fruit. 
Weeds  on  lawns  (A.). — We  have  Been  lawns  from  which  Daisies 
have  been  entirely  banished  by  the  proper  and  judicious  use  of  “  lawn 
sand,”  which  is  sold  for  that  purpose.  We  have  not  seen  deep  rooting 
weeds  such  as  plantains  similarly  eradicated.  They  are  best  drawn  out 
with  implements  made  for  that  purpose,  but  can  be  destryed  by  sulphuric 
acid,  which  requires,  however,  to  be  used  with  particular  care. 
