June 30, 1904. 



THfc AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



453 



are his sons, aged 5 andilfi years, respectively. In front are three baliy 

 hives, referred to in the American Bee Journal of recent date. We 

 made a dozen of them as a trial. 



In the rear of the apiary are four rows of LanRStroth hives, 25 in a 

 row, with nueen-rearing hives in between. The hive that the little 

 boy sits on is one of them. 



The large hives in front are of my own design, and have been used, 

 for the production of comb honey, for the last 25 years. The brood 

 occupies five or more combs in the center, with space on either side for 

 sections, and also in the rear, ami with room on top for a super hold- 

 ing 28 one-pound sections, thus giving room for 100 pounds of section 

 honey at one time. 



There were less than one colony in four, in these hives, that made 

 any attempt to swarm last season, and it was a good season for honey, 

 and they were strong colonies. This is also a good hive for winter, as 

 it is packed in the space after removing the sections. 



J. L. Strong. 



c 



Contributed Articles 



J 



Perfect Wintering of Bees. 



BY S. T. PETTIT. 



I AM more than pleased with Mr. G. M. Doolittle's ac- 

 count of the perfect wintering of that first colony taken 

 down to remove from the cellar — page 422. I venture the 

 statement that these bees were so quiet that no sound could 

 be heard from them by the most accuteearnearly all winter. 

 When I made the statement several years ago that when 

 bees are wintering perfectly they do not hum, I remember 

 that Mr. Doolittle quite disagreed with me. While I have 

 learned many useful things from him, I knew then that he, 

 though wintering his bees fairly well, had some things yet 

 to learn about wintering bees. What that one colony did, 

 nearly all in the cellar will repeat when the bees and nearly 

 all conditions are right. Years of experience makes me 

 bold to say this. 



I here reiterate what I have said before, tha.tjezt/ bee- 

 keepers indeed realize the possibilities of perfect wintering. 

 Once I was trying to impress upon the Ontario Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, that when bees are humming they are not 

 wintering perfectly. They gave me a good hearing, but I 

 stood alone, and Mr. J. B. Hall suggested that I was a little 

 hard of hearing ! 



I have for years had many instances like the one colony 

 described by Mr. Doolittle. Toward spring there will al- 

 ways be some colonies to murmur. That colony was prac- 

 tically in the same condition as it was when it went into the 

 cellar, and was ready to catch the first flow from any source. 

 When bees are wintered rightly, supers should go on to 

 catch the spring and fruit-bloom nectar. I said when the 

 bees are right, that is, of quiet, gentle, contented tempera- 

 ment ; for it should be understood that the perfect wintering 

 depends not a little upon the temperament of bees. 



Mr. Doolittle doesn't want any advice from me, but I'll 

 venture to suggest that he will do well to breed from that 

 queen. But there are other factors to be considered. No 

 bee-keeper can reasonably hope to become a success at per- 

 fect wintering unless he devotes a good deal of time with 

 his bees, in studying their conditions as to quietness. De- 

 pend upon it, if they are humming, something is wrong, 

 and more frequently the ventilation is at fault than any- 

 thing else. 



When I used to remove bees from the cellar I did not 

 stop to examine for life. I rushed them with all possible 

 speed to their stands, so that as nearly as could be all might 

 fly at once. And almost always those that seemed "dead- 

 est" had the most reserve force and life. 



In that one colony Mr. Doolittle has described the key 

 note — my ideal of perfect wintering of bees. 



West Ontario, Canada, June 17. 



Drones to Keep the Brood Warm. 



BY C. P. D.\1)ANT. 



I HAVE just read Dr. Miller's article concerning the num 

 ber of bees or drones detailed to keep the hive warm 

 when a swarm issues. Dr. Miller is a practical man, am: 

 it is much more pleasant to discuss a point with him thai, 



with some one who has watched one hive of bees or made 

 experiments on one colony and draws his deductions from 

 that as a rule to work by. 



The Doctor has surely watched bees when they swarm. 

 If he has made remarks similar to mine, he has seen the 

 drones issue just like the workers, drawn out by the cyclonic 

 nature of the outpour. There seems to be a terrific force 

 behind the bees — a regular windstorm inside of the hive — 

 and I doubt very much whether any of the bees stop to 

 study over the required number necessary to keep the brood 

 warm. It is true that, at a certain point, the rush allays, 

 and shortly after there is a recall and a number of the bees 

 seem to regret the bereaved condition of their home, and 

 set themselves to work calling back the departing swarm. 

 But an examination, after all is quiet, will show that in 

 someinstances very few are left, while in others many have 

 come home again. 



So, if my opinion is asked, I will say that I do not be- 

 lieve the bees use any judgment or care as to how many are 

 left. Many drones come back, some go with the swarm, 

 but I doubt if any one will dare affirm that the greater or 

 the less number remain. 



It seems to be very abitrary. Usually, also, few bees 

 are left, except those which were in the field when the 

 swarm issued, and the very youngest of the bees, unable to 

 hustle enough to follow their sisters. If most of the drones 

 remain, they are surely in addition to the bees, and I am 

 decidedly of the opinion that there is no oversight in regard 

 to the number of bees left in the hive, although I am more 

 willing to grant them a high grade of intellect than many 

 writers do. 



But I consider the drones of very little use in any case 

 for warmth. They are there during the warmest weather, 

 most numerous when the hive is so warm that the bees have 

 to cluster outside. If there is a lull in the warm weather — 

 if the wind turns to the north and the crop stops— the first 

 thing the bees will do will be to chase those drones and 

 drive them away, unless the colony is queenless. In this 

 very changeable climate we probably notice this oftener 

 than they do in more equable climates. I have no doubt 

 that my readers have all seen the drones driven out, more 

 or less, a few days before the opening of the crop, when 

 their warmth would be of use if ever. 



In this question of the prevention of the rearing of 

 drones, which I have strenuously advocated, I have found 

 quite a little opposition. Not long ago a French writer took 

 me to task, with very caustic remarks, comparing my posi- 

 tion to that of the simpleton of Lafontaine's fable who was 

 criticising God for not hanging the pumpkin to the branches 

 of the oak, but who changed his mind when an acorn fell on 

 his nose from the top of the tree. " God does well what he 

 does." , ^ ^ 



When He wants to reduce the number of drones pro- 

 duced, we do not contradict Nature. There is no fault to 

 be found with the excessive production of drones, in a state 

 of Nature. Since the queen mates in the open air, she must 

 necessarily run many dangers. It is therefore necessary 

 that drones exist in great numbers in order that she may 

 mate readily. But the drones of half a dozen hives will 

 sufficiently fill the air in the vicinity of the hives contain- 

 ing virgin queens to supply as many as needed for a hun- 

 dred colonies. We are no more to be looked upon as finding 

 fault with Nature, when we seek to prevent the production 

 of drones, than the farmer who castrates his boar pigs, his 

 colts, his calves. " God does well what he does." But vve 

 would bring a very broad smile on the lips of the most rigid 

 Presbyterian if we were to try to convince him, that for 

 that most excellent reason he must preserve all his boars, 

 his stallions, and bulls. 



My experience with the reduction of the production of 

 drone-rearing dates back many years. When I was a boy, 

 we often purchased bees in box-hives, in gums, in barrels, 

 in kegs, dry-goods boxes, etc. When May came we trans- 

 ferred them, combs and all, to movable-frame hives, during 

 apple-bloom. The first thing my father taught me was to 

 discard all drone-combs, and to till the transferred hive 

 with worker-comb from dead colonies. We had two good 

 reasons for this : First, we did not believe that it paid to 

 rear drones ; then we wanted our drones reared in our best 

 Italian colonies, and the bees we transferred were always 

 black or common bees. 



By great care we succeeded entirely in preventing the 

 production of black drones in our apiary. When I say 

 "entirely," I must make a correction. We never did suc- 

 ceed entirely, but so nearly that the number of black drones 

 produced was only an infinitesimal fraction of the total 

 number reared, and if we could only have controlled our 



