The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-08-06
Hon% WInfcr bees.

Nj. Charles Aldrich, of Webster
City, Iowa, furnishes The Homestead
with the following history of his OK
%pericnce in keeping bees W. the win
Ter:
have kept bees with the usual va
rying success for many years-though
UPON the whole they havo paid
mo very wcll,-probably better than
almost II other kind of farm
stock. ! have wintered them in the
cellar until last winter, when we tried
n new experimcnt-that of leaving
them OIL the summer stands. While
more or less died in the cellar, we did
iot lose a single colony out of doors
But it would hardly BE- fair to attrib-
ulc this latter success to the benign eff
lncts of tout of doors" For many
vcafs my boos were kept partly in the
inugstroth and partly in the Ameri-
aai hive. But two or three years ago
l induced q nephew who is living with
no to learn the bce-kccping business,
md SO haze myself escaped its labors.
| was iolciably we'll posted, but he
has gone far ahead of me, and | now
reg ird him Us q very well informed
Jee-kccper. Soon after he commenced
lie work | had to provide him with n
lot of books and several Ice journals,
anl also sent him a couple of times to
visit Mr.. Charles Dadant, the noted
aparian OF Hamilton, Ill. He return-
cd, thoroughly indoctrinatcd with Da-
iant's system, upon which u bees
arc now managed. Our old hives have
been wholly discarded, and we now
use a thoroughly well-mado Quimby
hive. 1t is shaped like the old Langs-
roth, but is much larger.
When we came to the question of
wintering, last autumn, Erred" deci-
ded on o "new departure" lilo prepar-
ed the hives for wintering by remov-
ing all the frames, excepting from
four to six in the center of the hives.
These were placed in their usual po-
sition with q division board" at each
side. This left a space between the
division board and side of the hive of
about three inches. This space was
filed with chat, closely. Then o stout
piece of brown duck cloth was spread
on the top of the frames, reaching to
tho outside Of the hive, all round
The top of the hive was then filled
with chat, which came down in con-
tact with tho cloth as soon as the top
was placed In position. The bees wero
in this manner surrounded overhead
and on each side with chat, one of the
most excellent non-conductors of heat.
Tho back ends of the hives which faced
the north were made double. 1t will
thus bc seen that for cold weather we
Ind a very warm hive. The only ven.
tilation was at the entrance, which
was always much contracted. When
winter fairly set In, we procured sew.
eral loads Of curse slough hay, and
built q hayHcock over and about the
hivc-except that the south end of the
hive was exposed. Some loose hay
was left conveniently at hand, ami
whenever an unusually cold snap or
~b.izzard' came along it was snugly
filed up in front OF the hivc-fully
protecting it from the rigors of win
Ter. When the temperature became
inilder, the hay was removed from be-
.,rc Ii entrance, SO TINT tho bees
could fly out at will. They went
through the winter in fino condition,
and were always wide awake and live
by. We like this plan SO well that VIC
shall cry 1t again, with little change,
aside from making our arrangements
rs pcrfectas possible.
Or course It win not do TO be ego
t~istical about any plan for wlntering
bees which may happen on a single,
trial TO DO successful. But 1t retii.
seems now TO us that this mode is cal
culated TO sccure to "Tho Blesseu
Bees more of the conditions necessa-
ry to perpctuatc insect life through
the winter than any other with which
] am acquainted. Ono great reason
why bees arc lost so frequently is that
there are days and even weeks during
which owners know little or nothing
about the condition they are In.