The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-10-15

l such as sawdust, chaff, broken cork, sbavings, paper dry leaves, etc., should prove satisfactory. With suf- 1cient insulation the exact method of packing is also comparatively unitn- portant. A common practice, how ever, of packing hives at the sides, top, and rear only, leaving the front facing the south and unprotected, is to be condemned. The theory of course is that the heat of the sun will warm up the interior of the hive and reduce the work of the bees. Any channel, however, which admits heat into the hive will also let it out, and as in winter the sun shines even on. clear days for only a small portion of the 24 hours, more heat is lost than gained by this method.
 In experiments conducted in Phfla-' deIphia in 191 and 1914, four single. walled hives were placed in a/large packing case, two facing east, and were placed below the hive, five inches on the ends, six inches on the sides, and eight to 12 inches on top. The air that was in the hive but out side the cluster, was found to. range. generally from. 55 degrees to 57 de- grees. In colder climates, greater protection than this will of course be necessary. A safe guide for the bee-z keeper is the fact that there is no such thing as too much insulation.
 The weak place in the insulation of hives is usually the entrance An opening eight inches wide and three; eights of an inch high, constructed. like a tunnel througn the packing, is. abundant. Even this small opening should be carefully shielded from the wind As a matter of fact, however, the beneficial effects of even abundant insulation are to a great extent lost if the entire hive isS not thoroughly protected from the wind. The desira-3 bility of such protection has long been known to beekeepers. but recent ex- periments have shown that it is even more important than had been sup posed. Like insulation, it is not pos-- sible to have protection from the wind too thorough M
 Proper wintering will greatly di i- minish the strain which. severe weather puts upon bees but even un-, der the best of conditions their viz tality will suffer before spring arrives and brood-rearing begins. For this reason it is most desirable that in the fall the colonies should be both popuss lous and full of young bees A strong colony presents, in proportion to. it's numbers, a smaller surface for the radiation of heat than a weak one and in s-consequence a smaller proportion of the heat eSca pes. In weak colonies. the bees in their effort to replace the chat that is lost frequently raise the.
 
 cluster so high that brood-rearing be- gins This is most disastrous if it. happens at a time when frequent flights are impossible.
 To secure strong colonies of young bees. too rapid an increase in the number of colonies during the sum mer must be avoided and prolonged brood-rearing carried on late in the season.
 Essential as adequate insulation is to the safety of bees, if the packing is delayed too long, it may do more been forced by low temperatures to. generate heat, is considerably disturb ed by the process of packing and the temperature inS the interior of the cluster is at once raised undu1y- This may result in injurious premature -brood-rear ring There is probably no. place in the United States where it is safe to postpone packing later than Thanksgiving Day. % ==s Excessive and unnecessary heat production and the death of colonies bys starvation-A common occurrence1 -are closely connected. The more heat the bees are called upon to gen crate the more honey will they con sume. In consequence if inadequate stores are provided for them they starve before the winter is over. The thrifty beekeeper will aim to save
 
 liberal in his providing. If he really wants to save stores, however. he can do it By supplying Insulation instead of stinting the bees
 When frames of honey are sup piled they should be given before cold weather in order that the bees may form a proper clustering space by moving the honey. Extracted honey may also be fed. Honey-dew~ honey causes dysentery and if present in the fall should be removed. Tn place of extracted honey. a thick sugar syrup is more frequently supplied. ThisNis made of from two to two and one-half parts of sugar to one part of water, by volume, with an ounce of tartaric acid added to each 40 or 50 pounds of sugar.
 In conclusion the bulletin declares that a better appreciation of the fun damental principle of winterfng -ade- uuate protection to lessen heat pro- duction-wilI result in a great devel- -opment of the possibiliHes of com mercia1 bookkeeping. The winter losses which are now Regarded as al- most inevitable can, in fact, be read iIys savoidedsN The consequent profit should revolutionize the beekeeper's TaoIanca sheet