Jasper Republican, Volume 2, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1875 — A Good Way to Winter Honey-Bees. [ARTICLE]

A Good Way to Winter Honey-Bees.

A successful apiarian of Camargo, 111., A. Solisburgh, gives, in the American Bee Journal, his mode of wintering honey-bees in the cellar or house built exclusively for that purpose. When deposited I always raise the lid a quarter of an inch on one side or end of the hive, partially closing the fly-hole so as to exclude mice. The mercury should range at about forty-five degrees Fahrenheit. When the proper season rolls around put them up immediately after they have flOwn out, or in a few days, and leave them undisturbed in midnight darkness, and all will be right in the spring. To secure the desired end outdoors in winter, if the hive is large, holding more than the requisite amount of winter stores, it must be contracted to a proper size and ventilated at the top, so as to let the surplus moisture escape mid yet secure the animal heat of the bees. This is easily done. Remove the surplus frames from one side of the hive, slipping in a dividing board, filling in between it and the outer wall with leaves or straw. Cover the frames with a piece of cloth of any description, first laying a few small strips of board across the frames to give the bees a pass or passes over the tops of the frames under the cloth. Now put the second story on and fill it with leaves, straw, or some other fine, warm material and place the lid on, contracting the flyhole to about one inch, and if the swarm is very strong raise the lid one-fourth of an inch on one side to dry up the moisture that collect? rapidly on the top of the

Hives should be placed near the ground and under-pinned -with straw to secure the heat of the earth. Bees cannot be successfully wintered outdoors and empty combs prevented from molding where the hive is not contracted to a proper size. Hie arrangement is in conflict with the laws of success, and disastrous results must follow. The moisture thrown off in animal respiration is in fine particles, like steam when exhaled from foe lungs, and never will condense into drops until it reaches a stratum of atmosphere colder than the blood. When it cannot escape at the top of the hive it settles in drops at the furthest and coldest part of the hive, and when lodging on empty combs they are blighted with mildew and in a few years worthless, whereas they should last good ten or fifteen years. When the size of the hive corre* sponds with the size of the swarm the whole internal air of the hive is kept warm, and the particles of moisture are borne upon the atmosphere and condense in the top of the hive above the straw, where they will never get back, leaving the bees dry and warm, in which condition cold seldom affects a good swarm. —Suicide is getting to be more common in this country than it formerly was in France.