. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 369. Wintering Bees on the l§uniiner Stancl§—Hoiv to Do It. Written Jor the American Bee Journal BY J. E. POND. Winter preparation of bees is now in order, and in writing on the subject, I draw solely from my own experience and experiments, and will say in regard to them, that during the thirty years I have been engaged in keeping bees, win- tering them only on the summer stands, I have not met with 2 per cent, of loss. The great and only secret in my own locality, where the temperature ranges from 30°, Fahr., above, to 20° below
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 369. Wintering Bees on the l§uniiner Stancl§—Hoiv to Do It. Written Jor the American Bee Journal BY J. E. POND. Winter preparation of bees is now in order, and in writing on the subject, I draw solely from my own experience and experiments, and will say in regard to them, that during the thirty years I have been engaged in keeping bees, win- tering them only on the summer stands, I have not met with 2 per cent, of loss. The great and only secret in my own locality, where the temperature ranges from 30°, Fahr., above, to 20° below zero, is ventilation, with ample stores so placed that the colony can at all times have access to them. Cold, of itself, doesn't kill bees ; lack of stores, and ex- cess of moisture, will kill them every tim^. If these propositions are true, and I believe them to be so, the question of safe wintering is only a matter of such preparation as will insure plenty of stores and lack of moisture. I will state briefly my manner of prep- aration, and the success I have met with is proof to myself that it is the correct one. I use a 10-frame Langstroth hive, leaving but 9 frames in the brood-cham- ber for winter use, evenly spaced ; each frame being at least }{, filled in its upper part with sealed stores. Over the frames I place a Hill's device, or its equivalent, covering the same with a piece of old carpet or other porous material, with 6 or 8 inches of forest leaves pressed loosely down upon this covering. For ventilation, I give the whole entrance. By this means I get downward ventila- tion, which I claim to be the only true ventilation for a bee-hive. The excess of moisture imperceptibly passes off through the top of the hive, preventing the formation of frost, which frost I be- lieve to be the chief cause of loss. The bees can pass over the tops of the frames to any part of the hive, and thus gain access at all times to their food. I have used double a»d single walled, and
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
