54 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



do not know how to improve upon it. 

 But if I cannot do this, I think I can 

 show him that in the case of his bees 

 which were so quiet and consumed so 

 little, he accidentally hit upon the 

 conditions that enabled them to 

 hibernate. He says, he " fixed the 

 temperature within their hives, and 

 not they V" Is not this a big mistake ? 

 He fixed the cellar protection, and the 

 outer air supply— no more. These 

 happened to be justright in that case, 

 and the bees did the rest. They were 

 so " fixed'" exteriorly that they could 

 generate the amount of heat requisite 

 for hibernation. Hence, they win- 

 tered perfectly. If he could do that 

 every time, the winter problem would 

 be solved, pollen or no pollen. Is not 

 this what we are all after, to find out 

 how Mr. Heddon wintered those bees 

 in such repose and content that they 

 took on the state of quiescence, and 

 only consumed two or three pounds 

 of honey ¥ What I wonder at is that 

 with such a case fvdl in recollection, 

 he should ever have started after pol- 

 len as the cause of winter difficulty. 

 If he will give me the unfailing 

 recipe for wintering bees as he win- 

 tered those colonies, I will end the 

 quest, seek no farther, and let him 

 call that method of wintering by what 

 name he likes— " perfect quietude," 

 " semi-hibernation," or even " total 

 abstinence from pollen." 



ilr. Ileddon must put me down 

 among the doubters as to bees win- 

 tering well in " the most abominable 

 impure atmosphere," and having the 

 diarrhea " radically, with the best of 

 ventilation." I do not for a moment 

 question the sincerity with which he 

 makes these statements, but I must 

 think they betray a species of halluci- 

 nation from wtiicli the^strongest in- 

 tellects are not always wholly free. 



The conviction that taking bees out 

 of cellars or special repositories into 

 the open air causes spring dwindling, 

 is not " based on the principle of good 

 care making the bee tender," but on 

 the principle that the change is too 

 sudden from a protected to an ex- 



Eosed condition. Putting an " outer 

 ox " around an " out-door hibernat- 

 ing colony " is a different affair alto- 

 gether. There is no sudden change in 

 this case, because the outer box is 

 kept in place until settled warm 

 weather. " Let it be recorded " that 

 I call " spring dwindling " the result 

 of exposure to a degree of cold that 

 chills the bees, causes them to devour 

 more food than they can assimilate, 

 and gives them the diarrhea. Mr. 

 Heddon says, "Spring dwindling is 

 bee-diarrhea in disguise." 1 see no 

 disguise about it. 



I do not dispute what Mr. Cornell 

 says, and Mr. Ileddon so eagerly en- 

 dorses, in regard to carbonic-acid gas 

 mixing with other and lighter gases 

 and diffusing itself through a hive. 

 But this only takes place when the 

 air is confined. With the vertical 

 air-shafts for which I contend, there 

 is a constant circulation, and the car- 

 bonic-acid gas descends by its own 

 density before there is time for the 

 combination and diffusion to take 

 place. 

 Whether hibernation, or as Mr. 



Heddon prefers to call it (being only 

 as yet half -won over to my side) semi- 

 hibernation, is " an effect of bee-diar- 

 rhea preventives," or is " the preven- 

 tion itself " as I maintain, time will 

 tell. Of course Mr. Heddon, still 

 clinging to the pollen theory, can only 

 reconcile the state of quietude with 

 that theory in the way tie does ; but 

 wliile going the length of admitting 

 the condition to be desirable, and in- 

 duced by " bee-diarrhea preventives," 

 it is rattier inconsistent for him to 

 pronounce my views " the most ab- 

 surb claims which have yet been of- 

 fered as tlie cause of our winter 

 losses." Whether the hibernation or 

 the pollen theory will carry off the 

 palm of superlative absurdity remains 

 to be seen. For myself, I calmly 

 await the impending award. 

 Speedside, Ont. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Does it Pay to Use Comb Foundation. 



HENRY BATES, (120—160). 



I cannot concur with the ideas ad- 

 vanced in the articles on comb foun- 

 dation by Messrs. Hutchinson and 

 Doolittle, in the Bee Journal for 

 18S4. In Mr. Hutchinson's case, the 

 fault is not in the foundation or 

 empty combs, but in the manage- 

 ment. I think that he should have 

 put a frame of brood and four or five 

 sheets of foundation (or so many 

 empty combs) in the hive, with two 

 or three brood-frames filled with sec- 

 tions, the bees put on tlie unfinished 

 •lioney-boxes from the old hive or new 

 ones, as the case may be, and in four 

 or five days spread the brood-frames 

 and put in another frame of founda- 

 tion, or an empty comb, and so on, 

 about once a week, or as often as they 

 need room for the queen to lay till 

 tliey have all the frames they need, 

 taking out the wide frames, putting 

 the sections above as the room is 

 needed for brood-frames. With the 

 above management, I think that ttie 

 colony would be considerably ahead 

 of one hived on empty frames. 



As I understand Mr. H. and Mr. D., 

 tliey have concluded that it does not 

 pay to use foundation at all in the 

 brood-chamber ; but in doing away 

 with foundation, I think ttiat we do 

 away with about all the principles of 

 scientific bee-keeping. We could not 

 take frames of brood from stronger 

 colonies to strengthen weak ones, or 

 make nuclei without filling such hives 

 with drone-comb. Mr. Doolittle tells 

 us how to prevent the bees from 

 building much drone-comb ; but I 

 think that the mactiinery would cost 

 more than the comb foundation. The 

 plan to manage swarms, which has 

 been the most satisfactory to me, is, 

 wtien a colony swarms, to take five or 

 six combs of brood and honey out of 

 the old tiive and put them into tlie 

 new hive, with about two frames 

 filled with foundation or empty comb. 

 Then hive the bees, put on the un- 

 finished tioney-lwxes from the old 

 tiive, and let the bees go to work in 

 the honey- boxes at once. 



Some want to use an extractor to 

 give the queen room. I do not do 

 that way ; but spread the brood and 

 put in a frame filled with comb foun- 

 dation. Some are troubled with too 

 mucti swarming; but I do not have 

 much swarming when I spread the 

 brood or take out a frame of brood 

 and put a frame of foundation in its 

 place, occasionally giving them plenty 

 of surplus room, shade and ventila- 

 tion. 



Comb foundation has come, and 

 come to stay ; and now all that we 

 have to do is to learn how to use it to 

 the best advantage. I, too, expect to 

 experiment to learn how to use it ; 

 but not how to do without it. 



Cuba, ? Ohio. 



Fur the American Bee Journal. 



Which way should Bee-Hives front? 



15— J. M. VALENTINE, (165—192). 



After reading Rev. M. Mahin's 

 article on page 26, 1 thought I would 

 like to give a few facts bearing on the 

 same subject, as near as I can glean 

 them from my bee-house record, cov- 

 ering a period of nine years. 



Nine years ago last fall 1 built an 

 octagonal shaped house with two 

 tiers of hives, eight to the angle, all 

 around it except to the south (in 

 which is the door), and two hives out 

 in the upper tier on the north for a 

 window, making in all 54 hives periua- 

 nently built in the house. Hence, I 

 have hives in the house fronting in 

 all directions, except due south ; and 

 the balance of my hives are out-doors, 

 all fronting south. 



I have never lost an average strong 

 colony in the house from any cause, 

 but I have lost 5 or 6 weak ones with 

 bee-diarrhea, yet I have lost a greater 

 number by dwindling and by loss of 

 young queens after having cast a 

 swarhi. The loss of young queens 

 has been the greatest trouble with 

 those in the house. The greatest 

 loss from all causes has been with 

 those fronting southeast and south- 

 west, and the fewest with those on 

 the northwest and north, only one 

 each from any cause. 



The greatest amount of honey taken 

 from a single hive was from those 

 fronting northeast and northwest. 

 On an average I have obtained more 

 honey from those fronting northwest, 

 north, and northeast; which I have 

 attributed to the fact that there has 

 been less swarming fi'om those hives 

 than from those fronting in the other 

 directions. 



I cannot give any reason why more 

 young queens should be lost on the 

 sunny side than on the shady fronts, 

 unless it is that the queens are not 

 used to the bright light, and tha^- they 

 can better see to mark the location of 

 their hives on the shady side of the 

 building. I cannot make any com- 

 parison as to the amount of honey 

 obtained, between those in the house 

 and the hives out-of-doors, from the 

 fact that 1 have run those colonies in 

 tlie house for comb honey, and the- 

 others for extracted. 



Carlinville,© Ills. 



