Ii04 



GLEANLNCS IN \',Ki: CUl/rUllE- 



Aril. 



tissues of the different org-ans would be ruptured, 

 which neeessarilj' would cause death; and all of 

 my experience proves the writer to be correct, al- 

 though some claim to have revived frozen bees. 

 Only yesterday 1 caused fourteen healthy bees to 

 be chilled on the snow in a temperature of 40"^. As 

 soon as chilled, seven M-ere taken to the cellar, 

 where the same temperature would be continued, 

 while the other seven were left on the snow all 

 night, the mercury standing at 1° below freezing 

 this morning outside. Upon bringing those from 

 the cellar, where it was warm, they began to breathe 

 in less than three minutes, while the seven, brought 

 from the snow at the same time, and put beside 

 those from the cellar, showed no signs of life after 

 being wanned one half-hour. Hence I concluded 

 that, as soon as a bee freezes, it is dead past re- 

 vival. 



Well, friends, you can call the above a rambling 

 preface, for I have now just got to what I started 

 to speak of. 



Some four or ti^e years ago Prof. .7. F. Boynton. 

 the noted scientist who e.x'posed the Carditf-giaut 

 fraud, became interested in bees. After keeping 

 bees a year or so he came to visit me; and in our 

 bee-talk he said that he was going to institute a 

 new plan of wintering bees. Upon asking him 

 what the plan was, he said that he had ascertained 

 that, if bees flew out of the hive when the tempera- 

 ture was at 40°, they could be revived after becom- 

 ing apparently lifeless for 48 hours, and he was 

 sure that, if an even temperature of 40° could be 

 kept up, that 48 days or longer could be passed as 

 safely as a shorter time. I told him that I thought 

 he was wrong; but, for the moment admitting the 

 correctness of the thing, asked how he was going to 

 get a whole colonj- into the hibernating state. He 

 said he could do it; but as I would not believe his 

 first proposition he would not explain the last. He 

 also said he would prove that his ideas were correct, 

 during the next winter, and give the bee-keepers of 

 the world a plan whereby they could winter bees 

 every time, and that without the consumption of a 

 pound of honey. That fall he was called from his 

 home, and I have not heard from him since, except 

 that his bees all died through their not being cared 

 for. 



When friend Clarke gave out his hibernation 

 theory I fell to thinking of Prof. Boynton's plan, 

 and tried it twice the past winter as far as individ- 

 ual bees were concerned. Twelve bees were chilled 

 and placed in the cellar, where the temperature was 

 42°. Every twelve hours one was brought to the 

 fire and warmed. After the fifth bee was revived, 

 or more than 60 hours had elapsed, no more could 

 be brought to life; also it took a little longer each 

 time to revive them. The first revived in about 

 three minutes; the second in about four minutes, 

 etc., while it took nearly ten minutes to revive the 

 fifth one. In this, friend Koot will find something a 

 little more definite than he gave on page 127. Jt 

 occurred 'to me yesterday, that, if the liees which 

 were to be chilled were first allowed to fill them- 

 selves with honey, perhaps Prof. Boynton's theory 

 might work, so I shall make one more tri;\l of it. 



If, after reading this, any one can see how the 

 thing can be done, let him go to work till a sure, 

 non-consuming, hibernating plan of wintering bees 

 is brought about, which shall bless future genera- 

 tions, and take from this generation our present 

 lottery plan, with all its anxious thought. 



16— G. M. Dooi.iTTi.E, 40—80. 



Borodino, N. Y., April 2, 1885. 



Xow look *e here, old friend ; even if a bee 

 /s killed as soon as the juices of his body are 

 frozen, I am not quite ready to give up'tliat 

 I a zero temperature for a little while kills 

 him. A few winters ago I was astonished 

 to find that cocoons hanging to apple-trees 

 contained a licjuid not frozen, even during 

 i severe wintry weather. As soon as the 

 i insect was cut open, however, it froze in- 

 stantly. These cocoons were in a hibernat- 

 ing state on the fruit-trees. There they 

 hung on the twigs, while it was zero weath- 

 er day after day, and yet it seemed as if they 

 1 could' not be frozen solid unless you mashed 

 tlie life out of them. We know that frogs, 

 ' rtsli, snakes, and otlier reptiles, freeze up and 

 I thaw out; but, are they frozen solid clear 

 1 into their vitals V 1 w'isli somebedy could 

 f tell us. I did not know lu)W hard freezing a 

 1 bee would bear and come to life, and I did 

 not know how long he could stand any kind 

 of freezing ; but since you liave given us the 

 result of your experii'nents. I tliink I know 

 more tlum I did before. Tliis question is 

 j interesting, becatise there have been inqui- 

 j ries several times in regard to how low a 

 I temperature we must expose honey-combs 

 to fi-eeze out the eggs and larvae of the bee- 

 moth, ("an Prof. Cook tell us any thing 

 about tlie way in which the larva^ and co- 

 I coons of insects bear zero temperatures 

 ! without injury ? Do they keep warm inside, 

 j or do tliey freeze up solirl, and thaw out 

 j again V Somebody has said that the sap in 

 I trees is in a liquid state, even when every 

 thing else is frozen up soUd; but as soon as 

 a twig is crushed, the juices freeze immedi- 

 j ately. I am pretty sure this is not so, but 

 there may be a good deal of truth in it. 

 1 Henderson said a while ago we shoidd plant 

 I our early peas very thick, because they keep 

 I cfidi other irann. IIow much do wo know. 

 and how much do we not know V 



D. A. JONESS BROOD-FEAME. 



ITS SUCCESS IN C.A.X.\D.V. 



0N page l->") we gave a descrii)tit)n of this 

 frame, giving dimensions, etc. Below, 

 we give an engraving of the frame. As 

 the dimensions were given on page lo6, 

 we need not repeat them here. It seems 

 to me a little strange that a deep frame like 

 this should find so much favor in 

 Canada, when our bee-keepers of 

 the United States so universally de- 

 cide in favor of the shallow L. 

 frame. It can not be altogether on 

 account of ditference in climate, 

 because we have many successful 

 bee-keepers in localities as cold as it 

 is in Canada. We sliall have to ex- 

 plain it, I presume, on the ground 

 of honest differences in opinion, or 

 because otu- Canadian friends have got used 

 to this kind of frames. It seems to me it 

 woiUd be an excellent thing for our friend 

 Jones to come back to the L. frame, but I 

 presume lie thinks it would be excellent to 

 have us adopt his frame. There is this we 

 sliall have to admit, that oiu- Canadian 

 friends as honey-producers rank fairly with 

 almost any in anv countrv on the face of the 



