1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



891 



tain a brood-rearing temperature; and as a 

 proof of the statement here advanced she will 

 deposit more eggs, under favorable circum- 

 stances, than the better queen will under 

 unfavorable circumstances ; and in either 

 case the top-bar will be approached or re- 

 ceded from as the temperature inside the 

 hive is raised or lowered from any cause. 



It is a matter of inside hive temperature 

 when bees go into supers containing ex- 

 tracting-combs more readily than they go 

 on to foundation in those frames, and more 

 readily into empty frames with foundation 

 than into sections with foundation. Where 

 the combs are already drawn out, honey 

 can be stored by a few bees at a tempera- 

 ture much below that required to build comb, 

 thereby allowing a smaller colony to care 

 for nest-area, and send up a force to store 

 honey in the super; but when it is necessa- 

 ry that comb should be drawn out, then this 

 same colony must wait until the outside 

 temperature raises the inside temperature, 

 or until the bees have increased in number 

 sufficient to send up a force large enough to 

 maintain a comb-building temperature in 

 this same super, and at the same time care 

 for the hive below. 



Bees dislike sections for the simple rea- 

 son that it disturbs the temperature of the 

 hive beyond the conditions in extracting 

 frames to furnish enough bees to cover the 

 wooden partitions (which are greatly in 

 their way), in order to get together in suffi- 

 cient cluster to produce and maintain comb- 

 building heat; and in most instances, if not 

 in all, a separate detachment of bees for 

 each section is necessary before they can do 

 much work in them; and, too, the weather 

 must be warm before these little "squads" 

 of bees can produce enough heat to build 

 comb in the sections. 



It is a matter of inside hive temperature 

 when combs are not built down and fasten- 

 ed to the bottom-bar. The bees can not 

 build down any further than they can pro- 

 duce and maintain a comb-building tem- 

 perature. To prove this, hive two swarms 

 of about the same size, and under nearly the 

 same circumstances, and give one of them 

 an all-round entrance at the bottom, and 

 the other a one-end entrance, and note if 

 the first mentioned will build down to the 

 bottom-bar, and if the other will not build 

 down and fasten combs to the bottom-bar. 

 Why this difference? 



It is impossible for the bees to produce 

 and maintain in an all-round-entrance hive 

 (with free circulation of air) sufficient heat 

 to enable them to build comb down to, and 

 especially to fasten it to the wooden bar. 

 The temperature can be produced, and held 

 in the other instance, and especially will 

 the comb be filled out, and fastened at the 

 closed end of the hive. 



It is a matter of temperature when queens 

 do or do not go up into supers to lay eggs. 

 If the inside temperature of the super is 

 high enough to hatch eggs and rear brood 

 she will go up ; otherwise she will not. 

 Temperature is her first consideration. If 



the temperature necessary to rear brood 

 were no higher than that to store honey or 

 build comb, supers without brood would 

 be the exception instead of the rule. 



I am aware that bees can lower the tem- 

 perature in their hives by their own exer- 

 tions, and that this is often necessary in the 

 largest colonies and in the hottest weather. 



"The idea seems to prevail that there is 

 an advantage in shallow top-bars" (page 

 588, July 15). I beg leave to suggest that 

 there is an advantage in any thing that 

 lessens the distance a cluster of bees must 

 move (in concert) so as to be able to pro- 

 duce the all-important temperature, so often 

 mentioned in this article, that is necessary 

 to build comb. 



Deep top-bars with air circulating over 

 them, as when the super is on, can not in 

 many instances be brought up to a comb- 

 building temperature, full length of the 

 frame, to say nothing of brood-rearing near 

 it, so the bees, in my observation, store hon- 

 ey down to the point where the queen stops 

 laying, and she stops at the point where the 

 temperature gets too low for her purpose. 



One queen reigning supreme and alone 

 in a hive is suggestive of but one nest or 

 brood-center; and to compel the bees to pro- 

 duce a second heat-center, and possible 

 brood-center, is to suggest to them another 

 queen; and if you will exclude the reigning 

 one, and give the bees the means, they will 

 rear one for this center or (to them) new 

 hive. I feel sure they will rear just as 

 good a one as the one below. And why 

 they would not do so under normal condi- 

 tions, and produce the best of queens, is 

 more than I can comprehend, Mr. Alley to 

 the contrary notwithstanding. 



Bees will not hesitate to cross honey and 

 wide top-bars as such, but because of the 

 difficulty they encounter in transferring a 

 heat-center so great a distance. 



I am fully convinced, both by experience 

 and observation, that a close study of in- 

 side hive temperature will settle many of the 

 questions now awaiting answers among 

 bee-men ; and when this matter of tempera- 

 ture is well in hand the aim of the inventor 

 along these lines will be to conform to the 

 perfectly natural requirements of the bees 

 rather than to the caprice of the operator; 

 and, further, I now predict that, when all 

 is known that may be known of this inside 

 hive temperature, and its bearing on bees 

 and honey, the present hive will change its 

 shape and proportions to that required by 

 the bees. 



Statesville, N. C. 



[There is a great deal of sound sense and 

 orthodox teaching in what you say. There is 

 a tendency among bee - keepers, as well as 

 among supply-manufacturers, to make hives 

 warmer. Mr. Danzenbaker has long been 

 an advocate of warm brood-nests, and to a 

 certain extent his hive is double-walled. 

 While this is true, he now proposes to go 

 further and put on an outside protecting- 

 case that will telescope clear over the super 



