June 25, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



409 



though crude illustration of the air-currents created by the 

 bee-cluster. 



Regarding the production and movement of carbonic- 

 acid gas, I cannot do better than quote from Cheshire, con- 

 densing part and quoting part literally : 



" During periods between visible feeding the bees are 

 actually feeding upon the store of honey taken into the 

 ■honey-sac, where it is held till appetite needs appeasing." 

 The digested food passes into the circulation, is oxidized by 

 the air breathed, and heat is involved. " A supply of fresh 

 air to the cluster is clearly essential, for as the heat is in pro- 

 portion to the honey consumed, so it is in proportion to the 

 products of oxidation — the noxious gas (carbonic acid) and 

 the water — as a reference to the following table will show, 

 in which all but the main constituents of the honey have 

 been disregarded for simplicity's sake. 



34 oz. honey 



( 9 oz. water— 9 oz. water. 

 I 6 oz. carboD=6 oz. carbon. 

 i S oz. oxygen ) 

 l_ 10 oz. hydrogen )' ' 



-9 oz. water 



" The 6 ounces of carbon being united with 16 ounces of 

 oxygen from the air, we obtain 22 ounces of carbonic-acid 

 gas, which, with the 18 ounce of water, are thrown into the 

 air of the hive by the consumption of 24 ounces of honey." 

 " Let us trace the 22 ounces of carbonic-acid gas, occupy- 

 ing about 12 cubic feet at ordinary temperature. Dealing 

 with a colony wintered on seven standard frames (the equiv- 

 alent of 6 Langstroth frames), set l/s inches from center 

 to center, we find : 



Seven frames, each 8' .: cubic inches wood — 59}4 cubic inches. 

 20 lbs. honey, specificgravity 1.386 —400' " 



13., lbs. wax " " .965 = 43 " 



Pollen, estimated =20 " " 



Bees —100 " " 



622J.^ " " 



" Disregarding fractions, this, substracted from 1,500 

 inches (the .solid contents of the hive) gives 878 inches, i. e., 

 an air-space which we may for simplicity's sake regard as 

 half a cubic foot, or 864 cubic inches. Therefore 12 cubic 

 feet of carbonic-acid gas produced from the consumption of 

 1,''3 lbs. of honey, would fill the air-space in the hive twenty- 

 four times. Nor is this all. Air is only one-fifth — by meas- 

 ure — oxygen, the other four-fifths being nitrogen ; and car- 

 bonic acid occupies precisely the same space as the oxygen, 

 which unites with the carbon to produce it. Therefore, if 

 the whole of the oxygen introduced had been converted 

 into carbonic acid, the air in the hive must have been en- 

 tirely renewed 24x5^120 times ; and further the presence of 

 carbonic acid is so deleterious that S percent only of the 

 oxygen could be utilized ; the proportion being also limited 

 by the laws of gaseous diffusion (interchange) in the breath- 

 ing-tubes of the insect. Thus it is impossible to resist the 

 conclusions that I'i lbs. of honey cannot be oxidized for 

 heat-production without the air of the hive being changed 

 2400 times." 



"Authorities, with unusual agreement, state that the 

 loss in weight of a wintering colony, in which breeding is 

 suspended, is less than 2 pounds per month. With ordinary 

 protection, this is about accurate, but it may be rather less 

 than 1 lb. per month, or about '2 ounce daily. The I'i 

 lbs. would therefore represent 48 day's rations, and make 

 the daily essential number of renewals of the air-volume of 

 the hive to equal 2400 divided by 48 equals 50 ; i. e., the air 

 of the hive, even during this very restricted food-consump- 

 tion, would need to be changed completely during every 

 30 minutes. 



To what extent such a change could take place through 

 chafi^ packing or unpainted walls may readily be guessed. 



As further evidence that no upward or lateral ventila- 

 tion is necessary, either to rid the hive of its moisture or its 

 foul air,I would cite the results of my experiments with hives 

 so enclosed in tarred paper, that the only exit for air or mois- 

 ture was the entrance. Colonies so protected winter per- 

 fectly. Furthermore, carbonic-acid gas is heavier than air, 

 and settles. Providence Co., R. I. 



Amerikanlsche Blenenzucht, by Hans Buschbauer, is 

 a bee-keeper's handbook of 138 pages, which is just what 

 our German friends will want. It is fully illustrated, and 

 neatly bound in cloth. Price, postpaid, $1.00 ; or with the 

 American Bee Journal one year — both for $1.75. Address 

 all orders to this office. 



( 



Our Bee-Heeping Sisters 



D 



Conducted by Emma JI. Wilson, Mareni,'o, 111. 



An Experience with Bees. 



My father has always kept a few bees ever since I can 

 remember. After he got too old to work he kept more bees, 

 and I helped him. I made, or rather put together, the sec- 

 tions, put in the foundation or starters, and got them ready 

 to put on the bees ; helped him take off the honey, cleaned 

 off the sections, and cased it ready for market, etc. Since 

 he left us, in April, 1892, in his 89th year, my sister and I 

 have run the apiary. We did all the work ourselves till the 

 last two or three years, when our brother has helped us 

 some. (I have had the rheumatism so much that I can't do 

 half the work I used to, so our brother has taken my place 

 and does whatever I am unable to do.) 



The spring of 1892, if you remember, everybody lost 

 nearly all their bees. We were left with 18 queens and a 

 handful of bees, perhaps a pint to each queen. We fed 

 them, and built them up, and increased them to 35 colonies, 

 and that fall we sold about $100 worth of honey. That year 

 was a good honey-year— if we had only had the bees to 

 gather it. Since that time we have had some good and some 

 poor honey-years — more poor than good, though — only two 

 good ones. One of the years we got 5563 sections of nice 

 honey, and the other 4432. Some years we would get pretty 

 nearly 1000, and once a little over 1500, and the other years 

 less. Last year was a failure. We had less than 500 sec- 

 tions of honey, but it was about all salable honey. We had 

 70 colonies of bees. There was fall honey enough for them 

 to fill their hives, and they went into winter quarters in 

 good condition. 



We have 60 colonies now, 5 of them rather weak. This 

 has been such a cold, bad spring for bees that I do not know 

 whether they are as strong as they would have been if it 

 had been a warm spring. 



We have just taken the cushions off of them, and put 

 the'sections on last week. We winter them on the summer 

 stands. White clover has begun to bloom. We are in 

 hopes that it will be a good honey-year. 



I do not see any way in which " Our Bee-Keeping Sis- 

 ters " department could be improved. I nearly always turn 

 to that department first. (Miss) L. C. Kennedy. 



Sangamon Co., 111. 



Does the Bee-Worlc Herself? 



The " Sisters " department of the American Bee Journal 

 has pleased me so much that it is the first thing looked for 

 in every edition. I had five colonies last year, but because 

 of the illness of my sister, who has been helping me for 

 years in the housekeeping, I have been compelled to dispose 

 of several, not being able to do justice to the bees, as they 

 must be looked after continually here, because of the preva- 

 lence of foul brood in this vicinity. I had one colony at- 

 tacked last year, and I got rid of it only through consider- 

 able work and some little worry. I had good " crops " of 

 honey every one of the five years that I have had bees, and 

 last year it was a remarkably fine one. I do practically all 

 the work myself, unless there is a rush, or some heavy work 

 to do, when I call upon Mr. V. for assistance. 



Hamilton Co., Ohio. Mrs. M. V.\upei.. 



Transferring from Gums— Ants. 



We have 3 colonies now. The boys and I do the work. 

 We found a swarm in the corn-field, so we took a hive and 

 put it in, and it is doing nicely at work. It is very rainy 

 here, but when it isn't raining the bees are busy. The boys 

 found 2 colonies in the timber last fall, so they sawed the 

 tree and brought it home. We had to move them this spring, 

 so they have not swarmed yet. One bee-keeper here told 

 us they would not swarm for two or three months on account 

 of moving them, but I believe they have gone down in the 

 old gum.jiThey are 2 very busy, j^ We have; plenty of red 



