86 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 



power dam in the world. His busi- 

 ness office is in New York City but he 

 lives at Stamford, and they are very 

 intimate with the Roots. The build- 

 ing of the big dam in 1910-13 with 

 which I was connected, during the 

 years of its promotion, has caused us 

 to become well acquainted with the 

 Cooper family. 



When she heard of my arrival, Mrs. 

 Cooper kindly sent her big touring car 

 for Mr. Root and myself to visit the 

 suburbs. Stamford is only 35 miles 

 from New York and is the home of 

 thousands of "commuters", business 

 men who want quiet homes for their 

 evenings and holidays. It is on the 



published. Several of them have ap- 

 peared on the cover of the American 

 Bee Journal in the past. 



The three days I remained in Stam- 

 ford were spent very pleasantly, in 

 visits about the city, with Dr. and Mr. 

 Root, a delightful Sunday dinner with 

 the Coopers, at their home on one of 

 the finest avenues, and long talks and 

 reminiscences of old days with Mr. 

 Root. He was 76 years old in De- 

 cember 1916, but looks 10 years 

 younger. We have known each other 

 for nearly 40 years and the reader 

 may imagine how much we might 

 have to say. 



Concerning the distance bees will 



THE ARTIST HAS CAUGHT THREE BEES ON THE BLOSSOM OF THE 



CLETHRA ALNIFOLIA 



As many as six bees were noticed on a single blossom t one time— (See page 8s) 



shore of Long Island Sound and has 

 beautiful resorts In healthy locations. 

 We rode about its avenues until we 

 accidentally reached Sound Beach, a 

 suburb, and the home of our old 

 friend E. F. Bigelow, editor of the in- 

 teresting magazine "The Guide To 

 Nature". He welcomed us heartily 

 and showed us all about his place, a 

 wilderness of 5 acres which he has 

 allowed to go "back to nature" so 

 that one might think himself away 

 from civilization, when in the heart 

 of it, were it not for the familiar 

 sounds of a busy railroad center. Mr. 

 Bigelow will be remembered by our 

 readers as having furnished us some 

 of the prettiest photos that we ever 



go for honey, L. C. Root once had a 

 very interesting experience. He had 

 100 colonies about 7 miles from a 

 heavy basswood harvest. The bees 

 found it, but he thought best to bring 

 about a third of the colonies up to 

 this timber. The result was that 

 these bees harvested about 3 times 

 as much as those who had to travel 

 the 7 miles. 40 colonies, in 7 days, 

 secured 4103 pounds of basswood 

 honey, so although Mr. Root positive- 

 ly knows that bees can and do go 7 

 miles for honey in an emergency, he 

 believes in locating them as near the 

 crop as possible. 



I could have enjoyed a week or 

 more with my kind host but all 



things must come to an end and on 

 Monday I left for New York City. The 

 following day, Tuesday, I rode up the 

 beautiful Hudson River, to Albany, on 

 the steamer "Washington Irving". 



We live on the Mississippi, the 

 "father of waters", and are proud of 

 the great stream, but its scenery is 

 tame by the side of the Hudson's. This 

 stream which has only 6 feet of fall 

 in l.'JO miles, from New York to Al- 

 bany, is in spots fully 3 miles wide 

 and flows between beautiful and high 

 hills. The Palisades, on the New 

 Jersey shore, shortly after leaving the 

 City, are abrupt cliffs. Nothing like 

 them in the valley of the Mississippi. 



Wintering Problem Analyzed 



BY J. E. HAND. 



IN the mind of some beekeepers 

 the idea prevails that bees are cold 

 blooded animals that remain semi- 

 dormant in winter, consuming little 

 food and warming up occasionally to 

 eat and enjoy a flight when the weather 

 permits. While winter is a season of 

 rest from outdoor labor there are cer- 

 tain activities within the hive, neces- 

 sary for the comfort and safety of the 

 colony. As winter approaches, bees 

 cluster closely in a spherical form be- 

 tween the combs and thereafter the 

 temperature of the colony is governed 

 and regulated by the outside air through 

 the expansion and contraction of said 

 cluster. Cold weather contracts the 

 cluster, thus conserving the heat that 

 always radiates from bees, causing a 

 rising temperature within the cluster. 

 The colder the weather the closer the 

 contraction, the more perfect the con- 

 servation of heat and the higher the 

 temperature within the cluster. So the 

 highest cluster temperature is likely to 

 occur in zero weather. 



Warm weather expands the cluster, 

 releases the heat, and the cluster tem- 

 perature falls to meet the rising outside 

 temperature. It is thus that the tem- 

 perature of a broodless colony in win- 

 ter varies in response to external fluc- 

 tuations, but in the transition to sum- 

 mer conditions after the dispersion of 

 the cluster no such variation exists, 

 and a uniform temperature of 92 de- 

 grees is maintained during the breeding 

 season. 



With strong colonies in well pro- 

 tected hives the minimum outside tem- 

 perature and the maximum cluster 

 temperature are practically synchron- 

 ous, but with weak colonies in unpro- 

 tected hives there is a lag between the 

 maxima and minima of inverse tem- 

 peratures ranging between hours and 

 days, according to the numerical 

 strength of the colony and its power to 

 generate and regulate heat, and if re- 

 peated by frequent cold changes it is 

 likely to result in the death of the col- 

 ony. We feel justified in assuming 

 that this lag is directly responsible for 

 a large percent of winter losses attrib- 

 uted to other causes. 



Aside from the slight action required 

 to expand and contract the cluster from 

 day to day, the winter activity of bees 

 consists in their constant circulation 

 throughout the contracted cluster pre- 

 sumably in search of a comfortable 

 position, and fanning with the wings 

 presumably to areate the cluster with 

 fresh curren'.s of oxygen. Bees cannot 



