GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



fully coiu-iu- with the conclusions of our 

 most careful beekeepers who have had time 

 to make observations on their work. They 

 agree with my own deductions, and give me 

 further food for thought. 



liOSSES FROM BAD WINTERING. 



Dr. Phillips vei-y well puts the results of 

 the experience of the business beekeeper in 

 wintering as leaving it " one of the most 

 perplexing confronting the beekeeper, espe- 

 cially in the Xorth," and attributing it to 

 being " well nigh impossible to determine 

 what external conditions are most favorable 

 except by the gross results of experience." 



Dr. Phillips is certainly not given to 

 exaggeration when he states that "American 

 beekeepers lose thousands of dollars annu- 

 ally in wintering, from the actual death of 

 colonies, and even still more from those 

 colonies that do not die, but are reduced in 

 numbers and vitality." Few well-informed 

 beekeepers would cavil with him if he mul- 

 tiplied the figure by ten. 



CONDITIONS THAT INFLUENCE. 



He states: "The factors influencing the 

 welfare of the colony and the behavior of 

 the bees are numerous, and closely inter- 

 related. Of the chief ones may be men- 

 tioned external temperature, food, ventila- 

 tion, humidity, the condition of the colony 

 at the beginning of winter, and various 

 forms of irritation." 



The above points, in my estimation, pretty 

 well cover the ground ; and during a conver- 

 sation I had with Mr. Morley Pettit when 

 the experiment apiary was at Jordon Har- 

 bor, Ontario, giving him my views that the 

 apicultural investigations ought to be car- 

 ried on at the Ontario AgTieultural College, 

 Guelph, I stated that investigations in win- 

 tering ought to be carried on; that this 

 should be done in winter repositories in 

 which temperature, humidity, and ventila- 

 tion would be absolutely under control. 



The woi'k in Ontario has not developed 

 along the line that many of us hoped -it 

 would, probably due to a lack of funds nec- 

 essary to grant for experimental work of 

 the above nature. 



DISTURBANCES. 



Dr. Phillips and Mr. Demuth show in 

 Bulletin 93, page 2, by temperature records' 

 taken from carefully placed electrical ther- 

 mometers (which are much more sensitive 

 and accurate than mercurial thermometers), 

 that " disturbances of the colony may in- 

 fluence the temperature of the cluster for a 

 considerable period, often more than one 

 day." 



In my cellar wintering I always consider- 

 ed it a small calamity to show any one 



through the bee-cellar. Bees are much more 

 sensitive to environments than we are. They 

 can scent blossoms miles away. If we walk 

 about a hive in summer without touching it 

 the bees soon show disturbance. In short, 

 their nervous organization is much more 

 sensitive than our own. They are compared 

 to us as the electrical thermometer is com- 

 pared to the mercurial thermometer for re- 

 cording temperature, only more so. The 

 disturbance of colonies leads to changes of 

 temperature which are the result of the 

 increased consumption of stores, and, no 

 doubt, lost vitality in the bees. Disturbances 

 should, therefore, be avoided. When vis- 

 iting the bee-cellars of others I have 

 aimed at creating as little disturbance as 

 possible, and coming out as soon as prac- 

 ticable. 



DISTURBANCE FROM NEIGHBORING COLONIES. 



The authors state, page 3, " Disturbances 

 of outside colonies have also been found to 

 influence their behavior in a pronounced 

 manner, especially in cold weather." This 

 is exactly the conclusion I have come to 

 from frequent experiences; and to obviate 

 this as much as possible I have said that 

 every colony in a cellar should have a dis- 

 tinct base upon which to rest to prevent 

 communication with others. Benches or 

 long boards for cellar stands are bad. If 

 we take a hive of bees, and place thereon 

 four colonies, should one colony winter 

 badlj^ and become restless that restlessness 

 is likely to affect injuriously all the bees in 

 the pile, even communicating it to other 

 piles in the proximity, doing damage in 

 proportion to the length of time the bees 

 have to remain in the cellar. My deductions 

 were the result of outside observations; 

 theirs, the result of the careful readings of 

 temperatures, which is much more satisfac- 

 tory and conclusive. For the same reason I 

 condemn strongly a cement floor, also a 

 board floor if it can be avoided. Separate 

 stands sliould be used for each pile of hives. 

 They are best on an earth floor with as little 

 adhesion between particles as can be ob- 

 tained, sand being better than cla3\ Then 

 do not put too many bees in the cellar. I 

 feel quite sure that in the cellar I built, 

 25x50 ft. outside, 7 ft. in the clear, 200 

 colonies will winter better than 400 or 500. 

 I have always found some colonies more 

 restless than others. 



nK'OOD-KKAKIN(; IN WINTER. 



The authors, page 6, state, "The rearing 

 of ])rood in winter causes a marked increase 

 in heat production, and constitutes a condi- 

 tion which may become one of the most 

 disastrous that can befall a confined colony." 



