118 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Explanatory — The figures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of oohinies the writer had iu the 

 previous sprinjr and full, or fall aud spring-, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark O indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 5 north of the centre ; 9 south ; 0+ east ; 

 ♦Owest; and this 6 northeast; ^northwest; 

 o- southeast; and ? southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



For tne American Bee JoumaL 



The Cause of Bee-Liarrhea. 



C. W. DAYTON, (50—114). 



After a multitude of variously con- 

 ducted experiments, I have come to ttie 

 conclusion that prevHlent bee-diarrhea 

 is caused by the moisture, which con- 

 denses in' the brood- chamber, beiug 

 taken into tlie stomach of the bee for 

 tlie purpose of carrying it out of tlie 

 hive, and with the saiue design tiiat a 

 bee drags its deat^ sister across the 

 alighting-board. 



The opportunity to leave the hive 

 being vvithlield by unpropitious cir- 

 cumstances, the water remains at the 

 disposal of the bees' digestive organs, 

 and tliere is probably no doubt but 

 that it would produce disorder. The 

 moisture is taken up tliat the brood- 

 nest may be a tit place tor the rearing 

 of brood, and when the pollen is taken 

 away, their anticipation of brood- 

 rearing vanishes, and self-preserva- 

 tion is the height of their energies. 



J5y this theory I have, as yft, been 

 unable to lind "bees that might be 

 classed as simpletons, and while, like 

 all theories, it may require experience 

 in order to understand its adaptation, 

 I trust that it will always be found ad- 

 justable but never "reversible." As 

 would naturally have been supposed, 

 there have appeared iu the bee- papers 

 instances of cases of bee-diarrhea for 

 exposition by the apiarian logicians, 

 and, to say the most, quite a number 

 have been "got rid of." Hut wtien a 

 bee-keeper states that tlie colonies iu 

 the lower part of his cellar had the 

 diarrhea while those in the upper part 

 and also those left out-of-doors win- 

 tered well, confusion, it seems, is com- 

 plete. 



1 do not wish to answer this inso- 

 much as to injure its theoretical adapt- 

 ability to other causes, but I will take 

 it exemplarily that tliere may be 

 brought to view, by the aid of w'hat I 

 consider to be correct reasoning, some 

 food for thought whidi it contains, 

 and wliich is useful for the support of 

 the conclusions which have already 

 been mentioned. 



Every one knows that when cold 

 weather begins and the temperature 

 commences to lower, we have to in- 

 crease the amount of fuel placed upon 

 the fire if we prevent the accumulation 

 of frost on the window-panes.; and 



every one should know the other pre- 

 ventive to be the reduction in the size 

 of our rooms. It is also plain that if 

 the temperature were always the same 

 shere would be the necessity of a 

 steady tire. This is exactly the requi- 

 sition of affairs on the inside of a bee- 

 hive. But how do we find it? We 

 find the number of bees decreasing 

 and the colony going into a slumber, 

 during which the circulation and res- 

 piration is nearly suspended and the 

 production of heat proportionately 

 and gradually lessened until there is 

 barely a draft above the cluster. With 

 the exhalation of the cluster produc- 

 ing so little ilraft, and being in a tem- 

 perature which enables it to carry the 

 moisture out at the entrance of the 

 hive, and yet not be too warm for per- 

 fect quietness, it would need but a 

 slight fall of temperature to condense 

 moisture on the inside of the hive. 

 The colder the air outside of a bee- 

 hive the greater is the force exerted 

 on the warm air inside of the hive, 

 which force is of the same nature as 

 that exerted upon tlie air in a cup 

 when it is plunged bottom upward in- 

 to water. This is the force which 

 stops the circulation of air some dis- 

 tance from the point of exit from the 

 hive and where the condensation takes 

 place which causes water to run out at 

 the entrance. Hence, it should be 

 preferable in scrutinizing for moisture 

 to remove the bottom-board and in- 

 vestigate from below. 



It should be remembered that a 

 temperature favorable for the con- 

 densation of moisture within the hive 

 is also disposed to confine the bees in 

 a cluster, until a rise in the tempera- 

 ture gives them their liberty. Conse- 

 quently, to winter well, eoloni^s in 

 hives having tight top-boards should 

 have their brood-chambers contracted 

 so that the exhalations of the cluster 

 may be able to produce a current of 

 air passing out at the bottom of the 

 hive, or be provided with ample up- 

 ward ventilation, as the exhaled moist- 

 ure must be disposed of, and as con- 

 densation begins where aerial circula- 

 tion ends. 



Nothing, perhaps, better imitates 

 water when getting into a cellar than 

 air of a lower temperature than that 

 of the cellar. I find the difference in 

 temperature at the bottiun and top of 

 an air-tight cellar 7x7x1(1 feet and con- 

 taining luu colonies of bees, to be 2'^. 

 On the introduction of a li-inch pipe 

 from the outside, carrying air whose 

 temperature is 20- above zero, the dif- 

 ference is 4J^^; and witli a 6-inch pipe 

 the difference is 21^, and wouhl be 

 maintained. In accordance with this, 

 how many rat holes would it require 

 to hold the temperature in the lower 

 part of any cellaratthe freezing pointV 

 The colonies are scarce that would 

 not with an ordinary confinement 

 allow the ecmdetisation of moisture in 

 their brood-chambers in such a tem- 

 perature. 



Moreover, successful wintering is 

 more certain in a warm temperature 

 which prevents the condensation of 

 moisture inside of the hives contain- 

 ing the weakest colonies, or in a tem- 

 perature so low as to restrict the bees 

 from running about the lirood-cham- 



ber and which should be unrelentingly 

 maintained until the bees are afforded 

 a flight. This should elucidate the 

 successful wintering of bees in warm 

 cellars or buried in snow. 

 Bradford, 5 Iowa, 



For the American Bee Journal 



Hybrids vs. Italians. 



G. J. MOLONEY. 



A Danish bee-man and myself 

 agreed to send, last spring, for two 

 colonies of Hybrids and twoof Italians 

 in order to decide their superiority. 

 Although heavily handicapped by rea- 

 son of indifferent pasturage and cold 

 winds blowing oft' the Lake, the hy- 

 brids proved that they were far ahead 

 of the Italians. 



Prof. Fowler, of phrenological fame, 

 advocates a union of persons possess- 

 ing large reflectives with those having 

 large perceptives, as children inlierit 

 the most prominent traits of their 

 parents. On the same principle brown 

 German bees are crossed witli the 

 Italians. We are told that " Celtic im- 

 agination and fire crossed with Saxon 

 will and persistency, has given Great 

 Britain a race of demi-gods." 



The Detroit Evening News says that 

 Burke Corcoran, Anierica's greatest 

 orator, is of " mixed Norman and Cel- 

 tic Slock which has given Great Brit- 

 ian her greatest political names and 

 which now forms the ablest section of 

 the British Parliamentary Party." 

 Some of America's greatest statesmen 

 are also of mixed origin. 



The Plymouth Rock fowl, the 

 "leading strain,"' is a union of the 

 black Java with two other breeds, 

 England's race-horse was also pro- 

 duced by crossing. The gentle Carni- 

 olan bees, about which so much has 

 been said, appear to be a cross between 

 the German and Italian bees. They 

 are very obedient to the admonitions 

 of the smoker. Last fall my bees 

 obtained quite a quantity of pollen, 

 and I am now treating them with salt, 

 water, milk and honey, as our " know- 

 ing ones " claim they are specifics for 

 bee-diarrhea. 



Rogers City, 5 Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Do Bees Really Hibernate 1 



Wil. JNO. HINCHEY, (•5—11). 



I really think that there has been 

 nearly enough said about hibernation, 

 a word which, in my opinion, should 

 never have found its way into the 

 columns of a bee paper; and I cannot 

 imagine how a man like Mr. \V. F. 

 Clarke, usually so level-headed, should 

 allow himself, in the present instance, 

 to be carried away by the imaginary 

 conviction that he has made a great 

 discovery. I hope that the following 

 remarks may lead to that clearer light 

 which we as apiarists are seeking after. 



Mr. Heddon mentions, on page 716 

 of the Bee JouuNALfor 1884, two dif- 

 ferent states or conditions of bees 

 during life; viz., the fully-animated, 

 and the semi-hibernatious or state of 



