18S0 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



9 



a case of dysentery, and, although set out the last of 

 February, and before the last very cold spell, not 

 a case of spring' dwindling. Two only died, and they 

 starved. The combs of the other hives were full 

 of young bees with plenty of bees to cover and pro- 

 tect them during 1 the extreme cold that followed. 



My lower apiary that was put away in good style, 

 and kept dry, comsumed one half more honey, raised 

 very little brood, and, with dysentery and spring 

 dwindling, I got but little guod of it this summer. 

 All the honey I got was in the fore part of the 

 seasoD. 



Now, friend Root, and brother bee-keepers, I have 

 given you the whole story, and a long one it is too, 

 but it may set you to thinking. The idea 1 have 

 drawn from it is, that dj scntcry is caused by thirst. - 

 tees confined a long time without water become 

 thirsty; to relieve that thirst they consume honey; 

 honey has more or less solid matter that cannot pass 

 off by evaporation through the pores of the body, as 

 water does, and the abdomen becomes distended and 

 diseased. This is but theory; but, hereafter, if I 

 have my bees in a dry cellar, I will keep a rag satur- 

 ated with water at the entrance, all the time they 

 are in winter quarters. 



My report for this year is very slim, 4,200R>. of ex- 

 tracted honey, and 400 fl>. in prize sections, up to July 

 7th; none since. I started tlie first of May with 70 

 strong st'Cks and 4 weak ones, and increased, by 

 natural swarming, to 102. I doubled up this fall to 

 13J, fed 'i barrels of honey to late swarms, and feel 

 that if I get out with 75 good stocks next spring, I 11 

 be all right. Dm iug the last two weeks of July, the 

 month of August, and two weeks in September, 

 there was no honey in anything but Rocky Moun- 

 tain bee plant, spider plant, and the so called Simp- 

 son honey plant. I watched day alter day for bees 

 on other plants, but saw none. 1 have written 

 enough now to consign this to the waste basket, 

 and, wishing success to Gleanings, 1 close. 



Jas a. Simpson. 



Alexis, Warren Co., 111., Dec. 9, lb79. 



You have given us a very valuable contri- 

 bution, friend 8. On lirst reading it, I was 

 inclined to think it only demonstrated what 

 I have often mentioned, that in spite of all 

 our learning and philosophy, we often tod 

 bees wintering nicely, under circumstances 

 we should consider, in every respect, to be 

 the most unfavorable. A few years ago, 

 after seeing a neighbor's bees come out 

 strong in the spring, when wintered a couple 

 of feet from the ground, on the summit of a 

 windy hill, with the upper stories all on, and 

 no sign of a honey board over them, I con- 

 cluded that protection was a mistake, and 

 tried a strong colony with nothing over the 

 cluster except a roof to keep off the rain. A 

 few bees were frozen at the outside edges of 

 the cluster, at every hard freeze, and, before 

 spring, the colony was all dead, while the 

 blanketed ones near by came through with- 

 out loss. I was forced to conclude my 

 neighbor's bees were an exception, and sur- 

 vived in spite of their exposed situation. 

 Besides the one colony without cushions and 

 blanketing, I tried all that were in the house 

 apiary, one year, before I could admit that 

 protection was really an advantage. 



Now the point is, did your bees winter 

 nicely in spite of the dampness? or is it a 

 good thing to have them dampy In your 



case, it should be remembered that the tem- 

 perature was excellent; it could not well 

 have been better, for it was a little warmer 

 than melting snow and ice all winter. Be- 

 sides, the air was pure; in fact, it was quite 

 different from the air of a cellar where 

 musty vegetables and the like are sometimes 

 kept. Now, in regard to plenty of water, 

 where they can have it to drink every day 

 during the winter; the experiments of Mr. 

 Langstroth and our friend McCord, last win- 

 ter and spring, seemed to show conclusively 

 the benefits of water, where bees were rear- 

 ing brood. I, too, tried the bottle of water, 

 and was surprised to see the bees use so 

 much. It may be well to mention that the 

 colony having it. although a fair one in 

 March, died with the dwindling, in spite of 

 the water. I fear the candy and bottle so 

 chilled the cluster, that it hastened the mala- 

 dy. Many of you remember that water was 

 considered, some years ago, a necessity for 

 wintering; Langstroth speaks of it in his 

 book ; but so many have since then declared 

 water not a necessity, that the idea, has been 

 mostly abandoned. For all this. I hive long 

 felt that bees often suffer, and perhaps die 

 outright, for want of water in winter. After 

 colonies have died, how often we see the 

 cells of candied honey uncapned one after 

 another, as if they had been searching for 

 moisture, or thinner honey ! But, here conies 

 a query ; in cold weather, there is often ice 

 and moisture right near the cluster. Why 

 do they not appropriate this? If they do, 

 does it prove unwholesome V Again ; during 

 warm, rainy weather, in the winter and 

 spring. I have often noticed bees standing 

 around, and looking out at the entrance. 

 Now, when water is dripping all around 

 them, why do they not go out and drink V I 

 have often seen puddles of water on the 

 alighting board, close to their very noses, 

 but I never saw them drink any; perhaps 

 they had drank enough, before I came 

 around. 



With stores composed of a large propor- 

 tion of grape sugar, I have no doubt but that 

 water in winter would be greatly to their 

 benefit. We can readily give bees water in 

 the cellar, as friend S. suggests, but to give 

 them water in their chaff hives, all winter, 

 should it transpire that we wish to do so, 

 will be a little more difficult. AVe might 

 give them little lumps of ice right under the 

 cushion, but it would seem rather poor policy 

 to give them ice after taking so much pains 

 to keep it out. A piece of sponge laid right 

 over the cluster will do it, but that would 

 make t >o much disturbance, according to my 

 idea. Does it not seem that they would go 

 through the door and get it, if they wanted 

 water very bad, when wintered outdoors V 

 I am afraid they do not, and I am inclined 

 to think whenever we wish to start brood 

 rearing very briskly, we will gain by giving 

 them water as well as candy and Hour, right 

 near the cluster. How shall we do it best, 

 say in March and April V 1 paid friend 

 McCord So 00 for his idea of the bottle with 

 the candy, but I confess I don't quite like it 

 after all. Perhaps it was because I thought 

 it killed, or helped to kill, the colony I tried 

 it on. 



