THE APIARY 



WINTEKING BEES. 



THE rmZE ESSAY READ BEFORE THE NATIONAL BEE-KEEPERS' CONVENTION AT 



PHILADELPHIA, PA., OCTOBER 26, 1876. 



Fe^y miinnal labor pursuits jiossess the fascination or the financial possibili- 

 ties tliat may be justly claimed for apiculture. Eemove from this the uncer- 

 tainties with which the late disastrous winters have served to invest it, and it 

 would stand paramount. Hence it is that this subject of Avintering bees is of 

 leading importance, and well deserves the earnest thought, careful study, and 

 accurate experiments of the most able of our practical and scientific men. 



In a brief consideration of this important theme, let us examine the physiolo- 

 gical facts that bear upon it, glean what we may from the fields of experience, 

 and then see if we may come to any conclusions that appear to be justified by 

 the premises. 



It is a physiological fact, without exception among animals, that exercise and 

 the power to generate any considerable amount of heat, requires food and neces- 

 sitates excretion. It is further true that bees, unlike most insects, are like the 

 higher animals, more or less active the winter through, and can only subsist in 

 a temperature independent of the surrounding media, which is maintained by 

 the bees themselves. If the temperature of the surrounding media is neither 

 extremely high nor extremely low, that is if it keeps at the proper uniform 

 standard, the bees, like higher animals in like condition, will exercise little, will 

 take little food — and by food I mean all nourishment, including oxygen — and 

 will consequently excrete very little, either in form of fseces, or by evaporation 

 from the general surface of the body. It is further true that bees, from the 

 fact of their confined situation in winter, cannot excrete excessively without 

 rendering the atmosjihere about them unwholesome and even poisonous ; this 

 with undue fecal deposits is sure to bring disease. Hence our first truth : suc- 

 cessful wintering demands a uniform temperature. 



It has already been stated that bees take food during the winter. Whatever 

 the temperature, some food is consumed. Now it is a physiological fact, 

 unquestioned, that good health among all animals demands proper food. As 

 tainted water often brings dysentery and death to hosts of our own unfortunate 

 brothers, so no less will unwholesome food bring disaster to the denizens of the 

 hive. Hence our second truth : to winter safely, our bees require sufiicient 

 stores of good wholesome food. 



The student of bees need not l)e told that tlie worker bee is possessed of no 



