Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1870-09-22
SCIENTIFIC BEE CULTURE.
tcoSTINUED.l

The next two, strong one and a
weak one, 1 gave the whole opening
of the tops for ventilation, covered
them with old carpet, and put them
in the cellar in the dark. They both
wintered rery well. The next two,
also strong and weak, l ventilated
to extreme, and left them on their
summer stands. The weak one had
Is pounds of honey, the strong one
63 pounds. In the spring the weak
one was stronger than the strong
one, but had to be fed little. The
strong one wintered badly, because
of the too great amount of cold
honey, and would have also perished
with the same amount of upper ven
tilation that 1 gave the other strong
one wintered out. Those in the
cellar having wintered best l, of
course, adopted that plan, but it is
also very uncertain. If the winter
is rainy with occasional thaws, and
the air damp for week or two at a
time, there is but one method more
certain of destruction to your bees
than to have them in the cellar, that
is the sulphur pit. In preparing
your colonies for winter, see by the
18th of September that your bees
have as a standard % to 80 pounds
of honey (no guessing). If there
are some which have not the amount
necessary and you are anxious to
keep them over feed them late in
the evenings and be sure to protect
them from robbers by keeping your
feed shut up SO outsiders cannot
smell it. Feed fast, give them all
they can carry down of night, |
they will eat it greedily
and not store it in their cells. Feed
ing must be done early enough to
cap over before it is too cold. This
feeding we speak Of for those who
may wish to keep over some favorites
but as a practice we condemn it.
Bees should be so managed that
there are no weak colonies in the
fall. The practice of allowing
swarms to issue too late to secure a
sufficiency of food, and then merci-
Iessly and shamefully murder them
with the fumes of burning sulphur
for their scanty stores, is-well
will let the ladies round up that |
period for me, they are generally |
tender hearted, and we will assign |
the pitiable case for future improve
ment to their kind advocacy. Gen
tlemen you can winter bees success
fully if you will only make artificial
swarms, make them the first and
second week in June. Keep them
strong, they will then have stores
enough and to spare. When it is
time to see them in winter quarters,
ventilate and protect them so they
will keep dry and aohatever it may
be that can be done that aciU keep
them dry in winter, and protect
them from the influences of sudden
changes of temperature, is that
which will insure success. You will
then have no mouldy combs, no dis
eased bees and no weak colonies in
the spring. AS no positive rule for
the exact amount of ventilation can
be given, we would advise to give
enough of upper air space not to
subject the bees to too much of a
current of frosty air, but make the
entrance small and if the colony is
weak, guard against keeping them
too cold, just enough of open space
above to keep them dry. A very
strong colony may have 3 or 4 square
inches of upper open space, if there
is a little piece Of old carpet or
some straw filed in the upper cham
Der. When the winter evenings
afford time to the husbandman and |
bee keeper for reading, we will be
glad to have, "now and them" a
friendly chat with those readers of
the REPUBLICAN, who may feel inter
ested in the mysteries of the inside
of the bee hive. The natural his
tory of the little insect will afford
the curious thinker a source of
pleasure, and will well repay the
time spent in reading about such an |
governed commonwealth as
the Feminine Monarchy"