THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



757 



Explanatory.— The flgureB before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring and fall, or fall and spring-, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named : 

 6 north of the centre ; 9 south ; O east ; 

 ♦Owest; and this 6 northeast; "O northwest; 

 o» southeast; and P southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



For me American Bee JournaL 



'Wintering Bees, Hibernation, etc. 



W3C. F. CLARKE. 



" Bulletins " have been issued by the 

 Michigan Agricultural College, and 

 No. H is on wintering bees, and is 

 going the rounds of the bee-periodi- 

 cals. It is from the able pen of Prof. 

 Cook, and, like all his apicultural 

 writings, is interesting and instruc- 

 tive. The document is of considerable 

 length, discusses most of the phases 

 of tiie winter problem, and contains a 

 large amount of practical wisdom on 

 the subject to which it relates. In- 

 telligent apiarists are agreed on many 

 of the topics touched upon by the 

 Professor, but some of them are still 

 "open questions" concerning which 

 much can, and no doubt will, be said 

 on both sides. I desire, with all re- 

 spect, to submit a few strictur,j3 on 

 such of the unsettled questions which 

 seem to be left in an unsatisfactory 

 shape, according to my way of think- 

 ing. 



WINTER LOSSES. 



It is a " fact," as affirmed by the 

 *' bulletin," that " many apiarists 

 meet with no loss." Have we really 

 arrived at certainty so sure that "with 

 full knowledge, followed by equal care 

 and pains, this loss may be wholly 

 prevented V I have yet to meet with 

 the bee-keeper who sustains " no 

 loss," while no longer ago than last 

 winter, some of our best apiarists, 



Possessed of "full knowledge," and 

 y no means lacking in "care and 

 pains," lost heavily. Shakespeare 

 says of one of his characters : 



" She never told her love. 

 But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, 

 Prev on her damask cheek." 



We have bee-keepers of consider- 

 able note who never tell their losses, 

 but they have them all the same. The 

 only man I have heard pronounce it 

 as easy to winter a colony of bees as 

 it is to winter a horse or a sheep, is 

 always reticent about his losses, 

 though he has had them by the hun- 

 dreds. I do not think that the science 

 of wintering bees is one of the fixed 

 or exact sciences as yet, though I hope 

 it soon will be, and it seems to me a 

 rather sweeping accusation to hurl at 



the bee-keeping fraternity, that loss 

 is attributable either to want of " full 

 knowledge," or neglect of due " care 

 and pains." Have not the utmost 

 endeavors of our foremost apiarists 

 been baffled, and has not fatality 

 attended all known methods at times, 

 and under certain circumstances V I 

 think the " bulletin " should not 

 " halloo " so loudly, until its author 

 and others are more completely " out 

 of the Woods." 



One who lost colonies of bees by the 

 hundred last winter, has told us that 

 he would not give ten cents per colony 

 to have his bees insured for the com- 

 ing winter. We shall look with great 

 interest for his report next spring, 

 hoping that he has not " counted his 

 chickens before they are hatched." 

 But we are not yet past the stage of 

 experiment in regard to wintering 

 bees, and I think it is the part of dis- 

 cretion to speak with '■ bated breath " 

 for a few months longer, anyhow. 



VENTILATION. 



The "bulletin" is, to my mind, 

 eminently— I might say, pre -eminently 

 —unsatisfactory on tliis point. It 

 tells us that " the physiologist, and 

 especially the physio-entomologist, 

 will not be easily persuaded that 

 insects whose functional activity is so 

 slight that a minimum of food sup- 

 plies their wants, stand in need of 

 air." Of course it is the winter life 

 of bees which is referred to when 

 their " functional activity " is pro- 

 nounced " so slight." Why this great 

 change in their habits V (For the 

 explanation of this phenomenon, see 

 the part under Hibernation.) 



To demonstrate that bees do not 

 need " much air " in winter, the Pro- 

 fessor proceeds to cite a case in 

 which, so far as I can see, they did 

 not have any. A " large colony " 

 which was deliberately " sealed with 

 ice frozen solid at the entrance of the 

 hive," " entombed in a snow bank for 

 more than three months," and 

 furthermore, " the hive glued or 

 propolized at the top," is said to have 

 " wintered exceptionally well." The 

 Professor says, " We can see that the 

 ventilation," in this case, " was 

 slight indeed." I should say from 

 the description given that it was 

 totally lacking, and yet there must 

 have been ventilation of some kind, 

 else such a colony could not have 

 survived, much less "wintered ex- 

 ceptionally well." I must think that 

 we have not all the facts in regard to 

 that " large colony," and I am appre- 

 hensive that not the tyro merely, but 

 the experienced bee-keeper may fall 

 into the mistake of minimizing the 

 air-supply, in view of such an ex- 

 ample ; especially as the Professor 

 goes on to tell us that " physiology 

 and experience both show that under 

 the best conditions little heed need be 

 given to ventilation." (The italics are 

 mine.) I make bold to challenge this 

 statement, and to affirm that both 

 physiology and experience, especially 

 the latter, proclaim that the greatest 

 possible heed sliould be given to venti- 

 lation. Is it not one of the most 

 common of casualties, that a " large 



colony " has been suffocated for want 

 of air, in consequence of the entrance 

 to the hive being closed by frozen 

 snow and ice ? Too much or too little 

 air, are among tlie most frequent ex- 

 planations of winter losses. 



Prof. Cook is hardly consistent with 

 himself under this head. The main 

 object of this " bulletin " is to state 

 the " best conditions" for wintering 

 bees well ; yet after telling us that 

 " under the best conditions little heed 

 need be given to ventilation," he 

 proceeds to lay down the most specific 

 and minute rules about ventilation by 

 means of sub-.air ducts ; a stove-pipe 

 connected with the kitchen stove ; 

 the regulation of entrances ; vigilance 

 with the thermometer, etc. ; saying of 

 the cellar, " if it becomes too cold, 

 less ventilation is imperative ; if too 

 hot, more may be required." In my 

 opinion, the one thing about which 

 we are most in the dark at the present 

 moment, is this matter of ventilation. 



HIBERNATION. 



strangely enough, the Professor 

 both concedes and rejects hiberna- 

 tion in his " bulletin." He concedes 

 it by noting the chauM that takes 

 place in the " functional activity " of 

 the bee on the advent of cold weather; 

 in summer, that" functional activity" 

 is extreme and incessant, in winter, 

 it is "so slight" that the minimum 

 of food suffices. It is also virtually 

 conceded in the statement that "while 

 bees do not hibernate in the sense of 

 becoming totally inactive, yet they 

 may and should have their vital 

 activity kept at the minimum." Prof. 

 Cook knows very well that " total 

 inactivity " is not the only hibernat- 

 ing condition. Months ago I quoted 

 Kirby, whom Prof. Cook pronounced 

 the highest entomological authority, 

 to show that the state admits of de- 

 grees. I have only claimed that bees 

 hibernate imperfectly or partially, 

 and have accepted Mr. Heddon's 

 " quiescence " as I now accept Prof. 

 Cook's " minimum of functional 

 activity," as the equivalent of what 

 I mean by hibernation. I think that 

 my use of the term is scientific and 

 correct. 



But after making the concessions I 

 have specified. Prof. Cook rejects 

 hibernation in toto, citing what he is 

 pleased to call " the fact that bees do 

 not hibernate." When was this 

 demonstrated to be a " fact V" I had 

 occasion to bring the Professor to 

 task some time ago, for dogmatically 

 affirming that "bees do not hiber- 

 nate." He " acknowledged the corn " 

 in the most handsome manner, but 

 now repeats the offense. I cannot 

 permit him to parade it as a "fact" 

 that bees do not hibernate, until he 

 proves it. It is now nearly a year and 

 a half since I called attention to 

 hibernation as a phenomenon of bee- 

 life in winter, and the Professor must 

 pardon me for saying that I think he 

 has treated the matter with a species 

 of lofty contempt unworthy of his 

 position. We have never had an 

 article from his pen on the subject, 

 but only the briefest kind of allusions 

 to it. 



