VENTILATION. 



454 



VENTILATION. 



cool nights; and from their porous nature 

 they allow of the escape of more or less air 

 that comes in slowly through tlie entrance, 

 the honey-boxes having no other covering 

 than the wide frames that hold the sections 

 and tliese same chaff cushions. ^Ye have ob- 

 tained more surplus honey with this arrange- 

 ment than with any other, and are firmly 

 persuaded that a great loss of honey often 

 residts from allowing so mucli draft of air 

 through the hive that the bees can not work 

 the wax, except during extremely warm 

 weatJier. To test this matter we covered a 

 large colony in the house-apiary with woolen 

 blankets while they were gathering clover 

 honey, to induce them to remain in the boxes, 

 even after the weather had turned quite cool. 

 So long as the blankets remained on, the bees 

 did remain in the boxes working wax; but as 

 soon as the blankets were removed, each time 

 the experiment was tried they retreated to 

 the body of the hive. The same thing was 

 tried with thin-walled hives out of doors. 



SMOTHERING BEES BY CLOSING THE 

 ENTRANCE. 



Although bees manage to get along with 

 even a very small entrance, we should be 

 very careful about closing the entrance 

 entirely, in warm weather, even for only a 

 few minutes. Many are the reports we get 

 almost every season, of bees destroyed by 

 simply closing their entrance while under- 

 taking to stop swarming for a few minutes, 

 until some other colony can be attended to. 

 See Savarming, Entrances, and Bobbing, 

 especially the last head, Hoiv to Stop liobbing. 



Wlien bees have the swarming fever, as a 

 general thing they are gorged witli honey 

 and in a feverish state. They are like a man 

 who has been taking violent exercise after a 

 hearty meal, and require more than an ordi- 

 nary amount of air. Their breathing-tubes 

 are in different parts of the body, under the 

 wings and on each side of the abdomen (see 

 Anatomy of the I3ee); hence as soon as 

 the entrance is closed, and they crowd about 

 it the heat of so many becomes suffocating- 

 in a very few minutes; the honey is invol- 

 untarily discharged, wetting themselves and 

 their companions, thus most effectually 

 closing tlieir breathing-tubes in a way that 

 causes death to ensue very quickly, ^\e 

 have known ot heavy swarms being killed in 

 the sliort space of fifteen minutes, when the 

 hive was thus closed on tliem. The heat 

 generated by the smothering mass often be- 

 comes great enough to melt down the combs, 

 enveloping bees, brood, honey, and all, in a 

 mass almost scalding hot. Bees are some- 



times smothered in this way, in extremely 

 hot Aveather, even when they have very large 

 openings covered with wire clotli. In fact, 

 we have once or twice had bees, shipped by 

 railroad, in July and August, get hot and 

 smother, when the whole top of the hive was 

 covered with wire cloth. AVe took a lesson 

 from this, and put wire cloth over both top 

 and bottom of the hive, and then put inch 

 strips across, so the hive could not be put 

 in such a way as to cover the bottom. Wlien 

 thus prepared, we have sent the heaviest 

 colonies, during tlie hottest of summer wea- 

 ther, in hives full of honey, and had no 

 trouble. See Moving Bees. 



HOAV BEES DO THEIR OWN VENTILATING. 



If you watch a colony of bees during a 

 warm day, you will see rows of bees standing 

 around the entrance, and far inside of the 

 hive, with their heads pointing one way, all 

 making their wings go in a peculiar manner, 

 much as they do in flying ; but instead of 

 propelling their bodies along, they propel 

 the air behind them, and a pretty strong 

 '■'■ blow " they get up too, as you may tell by 

 holding your hand near them. Well, if tlie 

 air is very hot and close inside the hive, so 

 that there is danger of the combs melting 

 down, they manage to send cooling currents 

 clear to the furthest parts of the hive, and 

 even up a small hole into honey-boxes, when 

 made after old-fashioned patterns. This 

 idea is not by any means new, and those who 

 have invented patent ventilators will tell us, 

 with a very fair show of reason, how many 

 bees are thus employed blowing through the 

 hive, that might just as well be out in the 

 fields gathering honey. \Ve once thought 

 so, and that ventilators were needed; but 

 after watching the matter longer, we con- 

 cluded the harm done by excessive heat was 

 far less than that from cold drafts when they 

 were not needed, and that it is better to let 

 a few of the bees waste some time in the 

 middle of the day than to have comb-build- 

 ing stopped entirely at night, on account of 

 drafts caused by these thoroughly ventilated 

 hives. The most prosperous colony we ever 

 owned was one that Avas so completely envel- 

 oped in cliaff that they sent a stream of warm 

 air out of their hive during frosty nights in 

 March, strong enough to melt the frost 

 about one side of the entrance. Of course, 

 a stream of cold air went in at the opposite 

 side as fast as the Avarm air went out. 

 When we can get a hive into tiiis condition 

 of things they always prosper; and it is on 

 this account that we would have no other ar- 



