The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-02-24
Wintering Bees.

VluttIIHS DUES
With the improved method of keep
ing bees there has also been change in
the way of wintering. There are some
four or FIVE plans recommended and
practiced by bee keepers. One is to
provide special repository, either in
the cellar or above ground. This is
made, if above ground, with double
walls, filled in between with some non
conducting material like an ice house;
if in the cellar, partition is all that is
necessary, so as to exclude light and
keep out mice. Ample provision is
made for ventilation in either case. The
hives are placed on shelves, with the
usual summer ventilation. The cap il
left off, and the holes for honey boxes
left open the temperature should be
some FIVE or ten degrees above freezing
dark cell will winter bees we'll if
there is sufficient ventilation, but the
hives should be raised at least two feet
from the cellar bottom. Having adopt
ed this latter plan for wintering bees
for some ten or twelve years, we can rec
ommend it as n cheap and safe one; *
the loss of hives need not be over one
or two per cent, while the bees consume
but little honey-from two 10 three
pounds per month.
Some apiarians take their hives out
once or twice during the winter, when
the weather is warm enough for the
bees to fly freely, to give them an OPP
portunity to discharge their fiHces
Where there are few hives this can be
done, but the owner of one or two hun
dred hives, when he gets them into win
ter quarters, particularly if in the cellar,
will be very apt to leave them there till
spring Bees, if the right temperature
and ventilation are given them, will re-
tain their faces from three to four
months, without any injury to health.
A plan practiced 10y some bee keepers
is to collect the hives together and
build up a temporary protection around
them of boards, with straw filled in be
tween the hives, leaving the opening
clear, so the bees can fly out. A roof is
built over them, so as TO keep all dry.
This plan is Objectionable where there
are many hives, as the hives must be
moved up gradually together, or there
will be loss of bees. Some fill the cap
Of the hive with straw or wooden rags,
ltdN Ing III lIlt IlOltS AL Llt hOD vi TIC
hive open, while others use no protec
ton whatever.
One thing OF great Importance, the
neglect of which has caused the loss Of
q large proportion Of the swarms lost
during the winter, is plenty of ventila-
ton, to permit the moisture from the
bees to escape, instead Of freezing about
them 1t is believed by some that hives
wintered on their summer stands will
breed earlier i'll the season than those
confined in room; this may be true,
but it is also fact that hives wintered
in doors properly will swarm a. early,
if not earlier than those wintered out
Another thing in favor Of wintering
bees in doors is, that the best form Of
hive for securing the largest amount Of
surplus honey, is not the best for win
tering out doors while strong stocks,
with plenty Of honey, and provided with
a requisite upward ventilation, may 90
through any wintering in good condi-
ton, medium and weak ones are very
certain to suffer in some of our winters.
There is feeling of ease and security
to the apiarian who has his hives in
good quarters, which the bee keeper
who winters out of doors il n stranger
to. All he has to do is to watch his
thermometer in his bee room, open his
ventilators or close them, as the temper
AZURE raises or falls below the proper
figure, and, perhaps, to inspect occa-
sionally the room and its inmates:
though the less they are disturbed the
better.
And while the breeder of the larger
stock of the farm is burdened with care
and anxiety in furnishing food, water
and shelter during the winter for them,
the careful apiarian may throw off the
burden of his care. What cares he
though the winds may blow, the snow
fall, the mercury fall down to ten,
twenty, or even thirty degrees below
zero, his stock is secure-no feeding Of
them, no watering of them; the once
busy, industrious insects now trouble no
one their food, gathered by themselves,
is near them, and when nature prompts,
they eat and are satisfied.-Ndtionai Lire
Stock Journal
THE manufacture of beet sugar, which
about a year ago was started mt Sacra-
mento, Cal, has just been suspended, in
e - A, A