1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



51 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



VARIOUS POSITIONS OF THE ENTRANCES IN WIN- 

 TER; UPWARD VENTILATION. 



" Mr. Doolittle, you can remember how they 

 used to winter bees before the movable-frame 

 hi^e came into use, can you not.'" 



" Yes. Our bees were first kept in the Weeks 

 patent hive, which had a bottom-board attached 

 to the hive with wire hooks, which were so ar- 

 ranged tliat, by turning a button, the bottom- 

 board would hang down from the hive an inch 

 below the bottom all around during winter or 

 during hot spells in the summer months. By 

 pushing this bottom-board forward, and turning 

 the button another way, it would come up tight 

 against the hi^e, and project in front two inches 

 for an alighting-board. The entrance was cut 

 from the bottom of the hive, so that, by turning 

 the button, all could be closed secure except the 

 entrance, which was enlarged and contracted at 

 will by the sliding door, which was simply a 

 strip ot tin free to move in a groove. The front 

 of this bottom-board was some three inches low- 

 er than the back, so that any dirt, cappings of 

 brood, moldy pollen, larva? of the wax-moth, 

 which the bees might release from the combs 

 above, and particularly all dead bees which died 

 during winter, would roll down and out of the 

 hive, thus keeping the hive fiee from moths and 

 dead bees during the whole season. I can almost 

 see that Weeks salesman now as he rolled off in 

 the smoothest terms the i^rent value the Weeks 

 hive had above all others, especially for winter." 



" What were his claims for the lowered bottom 

 during winter? " 



"Lower ventilation, claiming that such was 

 the best thing then in sight for safe wintering of 

 bees. Things went on all right ifor several 

 years, as our home then was what would now be 

 called a clearing in the woods; but a few years 

 later, after the woods had been cut off more, 

 father had poor success in wintering bees, while 

 a neighbor wintered his successfully with the hive 

 tight at the bottom and a t^o-inch auger-hole at 

 the top. Seeing how successfully bees wintered 

 for our neighbor, father bored holes in the top 

 of part of our hives, and left the button turned, 

 thus closing the entrances to such hives, while 

 the rest viere left as before Those having the 

 hole at the top with the closed bottoms wintered 

 so much better, and proved themselves so much 

 better in e\ery way, that the bottom-boards were 

 left fastened to the hives during winter with all 

 of the colonies, the bees being allowed to go in 

 and out from the holes at the top. After this 

 we had very little trouble in wintering " 



"Do you use holes at the top of the hi\es 

 now- " 



" No. After a few years father lost all of his 

 bees by that dread disease, foul brood, and no 

 more were kept in the family till I purchased 

 again in 1869. At that time there were plenty of 

 bees kept near me in box hives, many of which 

 were set on blocks, raising the hive from the bot- 

 tom-board from one-half to one inch, as recom- 

 mended for wintering on the lower-ventilation 

 plan." 



"Did you raise your hives in this way?" 



" No. I adopted the upward-ventilation theo- 

 ry (it was considered by nearly all only theory 

 then), but not a direct current of air through the 

 hive. After a series of severe winters, myself 

 and three or four others had about 300 colonies 

 of bees which wintered with upward ventilation 

 every year, while not one of the box-hive or low- 

 er-ventilation men had a single colony." 



" Were you still using the holes at the top of 

 the hives.''" 



" No. About this time I began hunting bees 

 in trees by going through the woods on the first 

 warm days in early spring while the snow was on 

 the ground in the woods, when, by the dead bees 

 dropped on the snow during their first house- 

 cleaning time, the tree containing the colony 

 could be easily found. These trees were cut 

 later, the bees and combs transferred into mova- 

 ble comb hives, this giving me an additional start 

 in bees. By looking at these natural homes of 

 the bees in these hollow trees 1 could find that 

 the hollow in most cases was composed of par- 

 tially decayed wood, especially from one to ttiree 

 feet above the combs. This seemed better to me 

 than holes at the top of the hive, for in winter the 

 moisture from the bees passed into this decayed 

 wood which surrounded them, while, later on, it 

 would be expelled each summer by the heat. In 

 this we had something pointing toward the ad- 

 visability of a porous covering for our bees for 

 winter, from which idea originated cotton-pad- 

 ded comfortables, supers filled with forest leaves, 

 sawdust, and ground-cork cushions, chaff hives, 

 etc., all of which have had their advocates." 



" What about the entrances where such were 

 used.? " 



" Some closed the entrances entirely, believing 

 that the bees could get all the needed air through 

 the porous covering above, while others left the 

 entrances wide open. I made a rim of Ji inch 

 stuff, l'/< inches deep, putting this under each 

 hive so that the dead bees and dirt could drop 

 down into it and away from the combs and bees 

 above. Then leaving an entrance in the top of 

 this rim ^ inch deep by 2)4 inches long, I lean- 

 ed a wide board up in front of the hive and this 

 entrance. This allowed the bottom of this board 

 to stand out and away from the hive and entrance 

 some four to six inches, when, in this way, I had 

 nearly the same thing we had with the Weeks 

 hive, without any of the disadvantages that hive 

 contained during the winter." 



" I see. That board kept the wind from blow- 

 ing into the entrance, while at the same time the 

 bees were allowed to fly during suitable weather 

 by coming out around the ends of the board." 



" Yes; and the chaff and sawdust cushions, di- 

 rectly over the combs, absorbed all the moisture 

 so that the bees were kept dry and nice." 



'■ Do you recommend wintering in that way?" 

 " Yes, where bees are wintered out of doors. 

 But for our long, extremely cold winters here in 

 Central New York, I would recommend cellar 

 wintering in preference to any plan in which the 

 colonies are left out. Central New York is now 

 a very different place from what it was fifty to 

 seventy-five years ago, when four-fifths of the 

 land was covered with forest. Now nine-tenths 

 of the land is nude and bare, except during the 

 summer months, when the regular crop- are 

 growing on it." 



