THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



103 



tlie subjoct in the chapter on "Win- 

 tf-riiiy" in Vol. 2 of his monumental 

 work. It is so complete and so much 

 1 letter than I can state it myself that 

 1 will (luote part of what he says: 



THE CHEMISTRY OF HEAT PRODUCTION 

 IN A BEE HIVE. 



'"A supi)ly of fresh air is from all 

 this clearly essential, for as the heat is 

 in proportion to the honey consumed, 

 so it is in proportion to the products 

 Oi oxidation— the no.\ious gas (car- 

 bonic acid) and the water, as a refer- 

 oiiee to the following table will show 

 in which all but the main constitu- 

 tents of the honey have been disre- 

 garded for simplicity's sake: 



240Z. honey < o 



f 9 oz. water ^ 9 oz. water. 



J 6 oz carbon ^ 6 oz. carbon. 



j 8 oz. oxygen 1 _ water 



I I oz. hydrogen | " 9 oz. water. 



The G oz. of carbon being united 

 with 10 oz. of oxygen from the air, 

 we obtain 22 oz. of carbonic acid gas, 

 wliieh, with the 18 oz. of water are 

 thrown into the air of the hive by the 

 consumption of 24 oz. of honey. 



"Let us first trace the 22 oz. of car- 

 bonic acid gas occupying about twelve 

 (•ul>ic feet at ordinary temperature. 

 I'ealing with a stock wintered on sev- 

 en stjindard frames (approximately six 

 L. Frames A. C. M.) set at 1% in. 

 from centre to centre we find: 



7 frames, each 8^ cubic in., wood = 595^ cu. in. 

 2olb. honey, specific gravity i 386 = 400 ,, 

 I l^Ib. wax, specific gravity .965 = 43 ,, 

 Pollen estimated . . ^20 ,, 

 Bees . . . . . . = 100 



62254 



"Disregarding fractions, this sul)- 

 tracted from 1,500 inches, the solid 

 contents of the hive, gives 878 inches, 

 i. e.. air space which we may for sim- 

 plicity's sake regard as half a cul)ic 

 foot or 804 cu. in. Therefore the 

 twelve cu. ft. of carbonic acid pro- 

 •luced from the consumption of IV2 

 II IS. of honey would till the air space 



of the hive 24 times. Nor is this all: 

 air is only one-tilth (by measure) oxy- 

 gen, the otluT lour-tifths being nitro- 

 gen; and carbonie .icid occupies pre- 

 cisely the same space as the oxygen 

 which unites with the carbon to pro- 

 duce it. Therefore if the whole of the 

 oxygx'u introduced, had been convert- 

 ed into carbonic acid the air in the 

 hive must have been entirely renewed 

 24x5—120 times; and further, the pres- 

 ence of carbonic acid is so deleterious 

 that 5 per cent only of the oxygen 

 could be utilized, the proportion being 

 also limited by the laws of gaseous 

 diffusion (interchange) in the breath- 

 ing tubes of the insect. Thus it is 

 impossible to resist the conclusion 

 that 11/2 lbs. of honey cannot be oxi- 

 dized for heat production without the 

 air of the hive being changed 2,400 

 times." 



Then he proceeds to give the ordin- 

 ary consumption of a normal colony 

 not raising brood as about ^2 oz. daily 

 and deduces that the air of the hive 

 even with this limited consumption 

 must needs change completely every 

 thirty minutes. 



CHAFF HIVE ENTR.\NCES .\RE TOO SMALL. 



All chaff hives with Avliich I am 

 familiar have a very restricted en- 

 trance, not nearly sufficient for the 

 free ventilation required by a strong 

 colony, hence it is small Avonder that 

 such have to stir about and "fan" now 

 and then. A porous covering would 

 A'ery slightly help in providing more 

 air, but at a grievous expense in other 

 ways. A tight sealing with wide en- 

 trance is much better. 



A SINGLE-WALL HIVE NOT ENOUGH 

 PROTECTION, 



Be the hive single-walled or chaff- 

 packed, the bees when clustered do 

 not fill it nor do they greatly increase 

 the temperature of the contained air 

 except of that immediately in contact 



