1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



35 



This placing of the divinity of wisdom so 

 near to the bees is significant of the fact 

 that, thousands of years ago, the bee was 

 considered useful by man for other reasons 

 than the mere fact that it stores honey. 



A MEETING OF OHIO BEE-KEEPERS AT COLUM- 

 BUS. 



There will be a meeting of the Ohio bee- 

 keepers at the Neil House, Columbus, Feb. 

 3 and 4, primarily to form a State organiza- 

 tion and to consider needed foul-brood legis- 

 lation. It is well known that the Ohio foul- 

 brood law, based on the county plan, so far 

 from being a "howling success" is an un- 

 mitigated failure. It was against our better 

 judgment when this bill was proposed; but 

 we finally acquiesced, thinking it was better 

 to get something than nothing. But we are 

 firmly of the opinion now that we would be 

 just as well off without any foul-brood law, 

 because now our legislators may come back 

 at us and say, "You already have a law," 

 and possibly refuse to grant us needed relief 

 or even a hearing. Of course, there will be 

 other subjects discussed aside from foul 

 brood. 



We call upon all the bee-keepers of Ohio 

 to meet with us, for it is high time we were 

 getting ready to do something. Both foul 

 and black brood are spreading within our 

 own borders, and it is important that we 

 take a stitch in time. We ought not to go 

 through the experience of Canada, New 

 York, and some other States, in which brood 

 diseases got a good start before remedial 

 legislation could be put into practical appli- 

 cation. Unfortunately, foul brood is getting 

 a start in several sections of Ohio, and our 

 bee-keepers should go before our legislature, 

 now in session, two or three hundred strong, 

 and then keep after our members until we 

 get what we are after. 



It is a shame that Ohio, which probably 

 has larger invested interests in bees and 

 bee-keeping than any other State in the Un- 

 ion, should be in a position where it has no 

 adequate legal means by which it can stop 

 the spread of bee diseases within its borders. 



Mr. Henry Reddert, 2300 Schoedinger Ave., 

 Cincinnati, 0., secretary of the Southwestern 

 Ohio and Hamilton County Bee-keepers' As- 

 sociation, is acting as temporary secretary. 

 Any one interested should correspond with 

 him at once. Please send him a postal, if 

 possible, saying whether or not you can be 

 present. This is a case where numbers will 

 count heavily in our favor; and we propose 

 that the Ohio State Bee-keepers' Convention 

 go in a body before the committee that would 

 nave our bill in charge. The sooner we can 



On Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 and 2 E. R. Root 

 will give addresses on bees, accompanied 

 with the stereopticon, before the agricul- 

 tural students of the Ohio State University, 

 Columbus. Possibly there are some bee- 

 keepers of the State who would like to come 

 a day or two earlier to take these in as well 

 as the convention at the Neil House on the 

 3d and 4th, 



OUTDOOR WINTERING; BEES SEMI-HIBERNA- 

 TORS; SOME THEORIES BASED ON OBSER- 

 VATION. 



If the present cold weather continues 

 throughout the Northern States, cellar-win- 

 tered bees will doubtless fare better than 

 those on their summer stands. Protracted 

 cold spells, when the temperature is only a 

 few degrees above zero, especially if accom- 

 panied by high winds, are likely to be severe 

 on outdoor- wintered bees, even if well pro- 

 tected in double-walled hives with ample 

 packing. For such winters a large cellar, 

 where the temperature can be kept reason- 

 ably well under control, is undoubtedly bet- 

 ter. We are now satisfied that bees out- 

 doors semi-hibernate during extremely cold 

 spells. A large cluster will contract down to 

 a ball no larger than a double fist. The 

 individuals can remain in that condition, and 

 resist a cold spell for a week or ten days, and 

 possibly longer. During this period they take 

 practically no food from the combs. If the 

 cold lasts long enough, the cluster, stiff from 

 cold, may be immovable, and, being out of 

 reach of stores, may die. Many cases of 

 this kind have we run across when pulling 

 the bees apart the following spring. The 

 slight consumption of stores in some in- 

 stances would show that the bees died in 

 early winter. Around such a cluster will be 

 a row of empty cells about an inch wide. As 

 the bees are closely compacted over empty 

 cells they simply starve. From some exper- 

 iments we conducted we do not believe 

 cold actually kills bees; but during this pe- 

 riod of semi-hibernation, in this chilled con- 

 dition, thej^ appear to absorb all the food 

 within their honey- sacs or stomachs, and 

 possibly some of the bodily tissue, the same 

 as true hibernating animals. 



If the colony is a powerful one, the cluster 

 may be so large that it does not chill clear 

 through. In that case the center of the clus- 

 ter will move outward to get food while 

 those on the outside of the ball appear to 

 work inward. Such a ball of bees, by rea- 

 son of the greater number of individuals, 

 maintains in its inside almost blood heat. If 

 it be torn apart on a cold day, the bees in- 

 side will fly out and resent the intrusion 

 just as actively as if it were summer and 

 suddenly disturbed. 



Then also it appears that some bees have 

 the power of resisting cold better than oth- 

 ers. Experience in our own case shows that 

 at least those strains that have been bred for 

 color will not stand as much cold as the dark 

 leather strains that appear to be more nearly 

 the normal type of the race; but if for any 

 reason the type is changed the ability to 

 withstand cold is decreased. 



In the foregoing we have attempted to 

 state what appear to be facts based on a se- 

 ries of observations covering a period of 

 nearly 25 years in breaking into clusters of 

 our outdoor-wintered bees. When dealing 

 with a problem of this kind we have to de- 

 pend largely on circumstantial evidence; but 

 many a man has been found guilty on cir- 

 cumstantial evidence. 



