THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



objectionaljle feature, otherwise I see no 

 advantage in the way of cost. One advan- 

 tage of the Heddon is that it furnishes more 

 "standing room" for the bees when they 

 are taking up the feed. The passage ways 

 being at the sides in the Heddon is an ad- 

 vantage in "feeding back," as the sections 

 are finished more rapidly at the place where 

 the feed is being brought down. I dis- 

 covered this when using the old style Hed- 

 don feeders in which the feed was taken 

 down on one side only. The bees are in- 

 clined to finish up the center sections first. 

 If the feed is brought down at each side it 

 tends to bring about the completion of the 

 sections all at one time. — Ed.] 



The Successful Wintering of Bees Results 



From the Proper Combination of 



Different Conditions. 



J. H. LAEEABEE. 



HIBERNATION 

 ^^^^ of bees is a 



^^^^^^^ j question that was 



i^^^^^B I much discussed a 



^^^^^^^L few years ago in 



^j^^^^^V the bee journals. 



I^HJI^I^ Some claimed that 



...^jgjjj^ we could not win- 



ter bees without it 

 and others argued 



i ^ JWmi/' *'^^*' *^® theory of 



' "^^^B.; hibernation was 



the ic-uli ot ,1 \ivid imagination. If the 

 word was taken to mean an absolutely torpid 

 state and nothing less, as death cannot mean 

 less than complete absence of life, then we 

 know that bees cannot remain in this latter 

 state more than a day or two and remain 

 alive. However, I take it that hibernation, 

 as a word much used, really means that 

 torpor or languor that comes upon very 

 many animals upon the approach of winter, 

 and is only dissipated by the natural fulfill- 

 ment of this demand of nature, just as we 

 cannot live without sleep. Some have 

 claimed that bees were not intended by the 

 Creator to endure the winters of temperate 

 climates, but are natives of warm countries, 

 and that, therefore, we are abusing nature 

 to attempt to winter bees, and must always 

 expect loss. Now I believe that bees were 

 as much intended to live in cold countries as 

 the other myriads of hibernating insects. 



Even in California, Cuba, or the hot climates 

 about the Mediterranean and wherever bees 

 are found, it is noticed that, at a certain 

 season annually, they almost or quite cease 

 brood rearing and readily enter that state of 

 torpor provided by nature, called hiberna- 

 tion. The honey season in Cuba comes in 

 February and March, so that special skill in 

 management is needed to overcome the 

 tendency to hibernation at this season, and 

 induce the bees to breed for the harvest. 

 Now the larger animals, being hardier, are 

 able to hibernate under adverse conditions. 

 The woodchuck, that winters so snugly in 

 his nest underground, might perhaps winter 

 in a snow bank, yet all animals that pass the 

 winter in a state of quiet, must feel the 

 injury from other than natural conditions. 

 This principle of hibernation is found 

 among all the oraers of the animal king- 

 dom, being very common among the insects, 

 and less met with among the higher verte- 

 brates. Now, since we find this hibernating 

 instinct such a very common thing, and that 

 among our bees it is simply an answer to 

 the demands of nature, to the inexperienced 

 it must seem like a very simple matter to 

 supply them with proper conditions to win- 

 ter them in health. But to those of most 

 experience it is an ever difficult problem. 



Mr. G. R. Pierce, of Blairstown, Iowa, re- 

 cently issued a little book upon " The Winter 

 Problem." It is very well written; most of 

 the statements therein made seem to me to 

 be scientifically accurate, and the general 

 theory correct. The book is, however, re- 

 markably narrow in its view of the causes 

 of winter loss. For example, the claim is 

 made that upward ventilation of the hive is 

 very detrimental, and that the bees only live 

 in spite of their abuse in this manner by 

 their keeper. He also belittles the effect of 

 honey dew and poor stores, which I think is 

 wrong. The evident object of the book is to 

 prove that the only true way to winter bees, 

 whether in the cellar or out of doors, is to 

 leave the covers well sealed down, and to 

 protect upon the sides or top with double 

 walls, paper, or chaff, etc. I am willing to 

 grant that bees can be well wintered in this 

 manner, but so they can as well in many 

 other ways. His narrowness in this conclu- 

 sion is to be attributed directly to the falsity 

 of the premise. This is that whenever the 

 cluster touches the side or top of the hive so 

 much heat is conducted away through un- 

 protected or porous walls, that disease or 



