2U 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



actly, friend M. A light cover is very de- 

 sirable, but covers that blow otf are not. 

 Years ago we used to have our covers 

 hinged, and afterward we had them held in 

 place with hooks ; biit in trying to devise 

 some other arrangement that would permit 

 any cover to be used on any hive, or any 

 hive used either one or two story, we finally 

 concluded we would rather run out in the 

 storm and put the covers on the hives once 

 or twice a year, than to go to the great ex- 

 pense and bother of hinges or hooks and 

 catches. The Van l^eusen clamp is a pretty 

 good idea, and several other similar arrange- 

 ments liave been before the people ; but I do 

 not believe any of them used them any 

 great length of time. A wire, or other 

 spring, might be made so as to snap into the 

 hand-holes of the Simplicity hives. This 

 would hold them in place ; but when the 

 liives were piled up close together for ship- 

 ping or other purposes, these springs would 

 be more or less of a hindrance. I did not un- 

 derstand that friend Heddon kept a stone on 

 top of the hive ; but such covers would, in 

 our locality, be very much trouble indeed, 

 by being blown oft." A cover that tits down 

 over the hive, like the Simplicity cover, and 

 one that has no ledges for the wind to catch 

 under, is not very apt to be blown off. The 

 chaff-hive covers are rather worse about 

 being blown oft' than the Simplicity ; but it 

 takes almost a gale to disturb either of 

 them.— The great trouble with outdoor feed- 

 ing is as you state— some colonies get a 

 great lot of feed, and others little or none. 



3 WINTERING PROBLEM IN API- 

 CULTURE. 



WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? 



XL success in wintering is the one obstacle in the 

 way of successful apiculture. Whenever we 

 experience a winter like the present one, when 

 for days and weeks we mark the figures denot- 

 ing- temperature with a minus sign, terrible 

 and widespread disaster is sure to visit bees, alike 

 in apiai-y and forest. Long zero weather, and sound 

 healthy bees, seem rarely in accord. Judge Roms- 

 del, the prince of plum-growers in Michigan, blesses 

 Providence for the curculio. He says the "little 

 Turk " will always be kept in bounds by the wise or- 

 chardist; and in yeai-s of plenty will, or can be 

 made, to do most wholesome thinning, more cheap- 

 ly than the same can be secured in any other way. 

 Furthermore, the little weevil will bring utterly to 

 naught the efforts of the ignorant, idle, or careless 

 grower of plums, and so the price of this fruit will 

 always be at a top figure. 



The winter losses in apiculture maybe regarded 

 in the same light. Intelligent care may ward ofl" the 

 evil, and so not only raise the price of both bees and 

 honey, but weed out of the business such as are 

 sure to dishonor any calling. 



For years I have been persuaded that severe and 

 long-continued cold is the chief inducing cause of 

 bee-diarrhoea. The direct cause seems to be indi- 

 gestion, and excessive retention of the feces. This 

 being granted, as it must be, I think, by every close 

 student of the subject, and we must conclude that 

 kind of food is no mean element in the production 

 of this dread malady. 



Bees are natives of a warm climate; yet, like all 

 domestic animals of wide distribution, seem well 

 prepared to brave and endure no inconsiderable ex- 

 tremes of temperature. In California, the Southern 

 States, and the warmer parts of Europe and Asia, 

 this wintering difficulty is unknown. The same is 

 true in warm winters at the north of our country 

 and iu Canada. C Even in winters when rigorous 

 cold comes for short periods, broken in upon by in- 

 tervals of warmth, permitting the bees to fiy, the 

 bees seem to pass unscathed. Again, in Canada 

 and our extreme Northern States, bees are often 

 wintered by means of good cellars or other protec- 

 tion, even during the severest winters, with no loss. 

 Many bee-keepers have no more fear in wintering 

 their bees than they have in wintering their flocks 

 and herds. All this seems, conclusively, to show 

 that long severe cold is the great inducing cause of 

 the dreaded bee-diarrhrea. 



How can we explain this? Uees, in normal condi- 

 tions, never void their feces in the hives. In warm 

 regions they can fly so often that there is no need 

 of such voidance. If confined, even for long peri- 

 ods, in a rather mild temperature, they keci) rri-ji 

 (luiet, their vital activity remaining at the mini- 

 mum. Thus they eat vcr)i little, and of course the 

 excreta is almost nothing. Several times our bees 

 have gone from November 1st till April 10th, and 

 consumed not more than two or three pounds of 

 food per colony. In such cases nearly all food is 

 assimilated, and all refuse passes ott as gas and 

 water. There is no loading of the intestines, no oc- 

 casion to void excreta. This is especially true when 

 all the food is of the carbo-hydrates— honey or sugar 

 syrup. Within the past few days I have taken sev- 

 eral bees from hives in our cellar. The bees look 

 bright, small, and there is no appearance of dis- 

 ease. Upon examination I find their intestines al- 

 most empty. Only a little whitish liquid is seen. 

 Of course such bees, in such condition, have no 

 need to extrude exci-eta from their intestines. 



Yet bees never hibernate in winter. They are al- 

 ways active, and apparently wide awake. They 

 must preserve their animal heat. If the air sur- 

 rounding the hive remains for long periods at a 

 very low or very high temperature, the bees are ir- 

 ritated. Cold acts as a tonic; they move, and must 

 eat. Too great warmth excites, and they also eat. 

 If for any reason they eat much nitrogenous food, 

 as pollen, the intestines become loaded with the in- 

 digestible or undigested matter, and, as in case of 

 all animals, such excessive retention of fecal mat- 

 ter produces serious disease. The bees, contrary 

 to their habits, void their hives. Even habit is bro- 

 ken down by the severe irritation of the distending 

 excreta. From bees sent me by Mr. James Heddon, 

 a few days since, which are dead of diarrhcea, I find 

 the intestines crowded with a putrefying mass, 

 swarming with bacteria, giving ofl" the usual diar- 

 rhoetic odor, and crowded everywhere with pollen 

 grains. Pollen from the hive where the bees died 

 shows pollen grains identical with those in thelin- 

 testines of the bees. Severe cold induced over- 

 feeding. Quite likely thej' craved the pollen as we 

 crave our beefsteak in winter. That they ate pol- 

 len, is sure from its great abundance in the intes- 

 tines. From the fact as noticed by me now for 

 several years, that bees are more apt to be dlar- 

 rhcetic when they have and eat pollen, indicates, as 

 we should suppose, that such food— albuminous— 

 would be more provocative of mischief. Within 



