758 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



REQUISITES TO SUCCESS. 



The " bulletin " enumerates as " re- 

 quisites- to success in wintering bees, 

 enough good food, uniform tempera- 

 ture without the hives at about 4.5° 

 Fahr., slight ventilation, and a cover 

 to the hive which is a non-conductor 

 of heat." I would add to or amend 

 this prescription by specifying uni- 

 form ventilation ; a temperature, self- 

 regulated by the bees, which admits 

 of their subsiding at will into " quies- 

 cence," the " minimum of functional 

 activity," or "hibernation;" and 

 absolutely impervious hive-covers. 

 Bees are wintered out-of-doors very 

 successfully when there is not a 

 "uniform temperature without the 

 hives at about 4.5° Falir.," and with 

 vertical ventilation below the bees, 

 I would as soon have a mountain or 

 one of the pyramids a-top of my hives 

 as any other cover. 



TEJirERATURE. 



The " bulletin "insists very strongly 

 on the necessity of " uniform tem- 

 perature " outside the hives, and ex- 

 presses a decided preference for cellar- 

 wintering, as the best and cheapest 

 way of securing it. This is, to my 

 mind, one of the great objections to 

 cellar-wintering. I cannot see why 

 bees, any more than human beings, 

 are benelited by " uniform tempera- 

 ture." Why do all medical authori- 

 ties insist on fresh out-door air and 

 object to people being boxed up in- 

 doors all the time V Bees do not have 

 " uniform temperature " at any other 

 season of the year, why then must 

 they have it during live months of 

 winter 'i I believe that variations in 

 temperature give tlie bees opportu- 

 nity for unlocking the cluster, taking 

 a little exercise in the hive, and occa- 

 sionally a flight outside the hive. It 

 does not seem to me reasonable to 

 expect tliem to maintain unbroken 

 quietude all winter long. If there is 

 a chance now and then for a little 

 activity, why should they not enjoy 

 it V The Professor says, " the fact is 

 we rtvu&l he able to control, and must 

 control, the temperature." The italics 

 are his. In reply, I would say, sub- 

 stitute the word ventilation for tem- 

 perature, ilan's part is to control 

 the ventilation, the bees will then 

 control the inside temperature of the 

 hive. That is their business, and 

 they will perform it well, if we give 

 them the proper ventilation to enable 

 them to do it. 



PACKING. 



The " bulletin " does this method 

 of wintering but scant justice. It 

 " damns with faint praise " a few ex- 

 amples of success in packing, but 

 conveys the idea that the percentage 

 of loss on this plan is much larger 

 than on that of cellar-wintering. So 

 far as I have been able to judge by 

 the perusal of reports, I have come to 

 a very different conclusion, and while 

 I make the Professor entirely wel- 

 come to his preference for the cellar 

 plan, I venture to predict that the 

 ultimate solution of the winter prob- 

 lem will be found out-of-doors. 



(iuelph, Ont. 



For ibe American Bee JoumaL 



Bees and Grapes. 



S. I. FREEBORN. 



I have read with much interest the 

 account of the bee-and-grape suit of 

 San Bernardino, Calif. Some of the 

 accusations of the grape-men, about 

 the depredations of the bees, remind 

 me of what my bees have been 

 accused of at different times, but as 

 yet no grape-men have complained in 

 this locality, I believe ; perhaps the 

 reason is that another bee-man and 

 myself have as many or more grapes 

 than are grown by any one else within 

 reach of bur bees. I have read about 

 all that has been written on the sub- 

 ject in the bee-papers ; I have watched 

 carefully the actions of the bees when 

 among the grapes, and I am fully 

 persuaded that here bees will not 

 puncture the skins of grapes. In 

 proof of this assertion I mention that 

 bees are rarely seen about the Dela- 

 ware grape. We know that bees are 

 good judges of quality, and were they 

 naturally provided with a fine set of 

 tools for business, as those California 

 witnesses testified to, they would not 

 wait for late-ripening varieties like 

 the Concord, to burst their skins, but 

 they would wade in and clean out the 

 earlier and sweeter varieties like the 

 Delaware, lady, etc. The fact is that 

 they eat more Concord grapes than 

 any other kind, for the reason that 

 more of them burst their skins ; fre- 

 quently one-third of the crop goes that 

 way, and if the weather is warm 

 enough the bees are promptly on hand 

 to get their share. Even the wasps 

 have to stand back and give the Ital- 

 ians a chance. 



Of course, in picking grapes it is 

 more or less annoying to get hold of a 

 bee when one expects to take a grape, 

 especially if the picker is not accus- 

 tomed to bees. If no bees were in the 

 vicinity, the wasps would be on hand 

 and frequently hide themselves inside 

 of a grape-skin, and stay over night ; 

 and when the weather is cool enough 

 to make them about half dormant, 

 they are in excellent condition to sting 

 when the fingers touch them in pick- 

 ing the grapes. 



While from my experience I have 

 no fear of any number of bees near 

 my vineyard, yet I am fully aware 

 that climate and time and duration of 

 the honey-flow may seem to contra- 

 dict in California or other places, 

 what we know to be facts here. 



I spent 4 months in Southern Cali- 

 fornia, arriving there on Dec. 1, 1884, 

 and leaving on April 1, 188.5. and al- 

 thougli I was not there at the right 

 time of the year to be an eye-witness 

 of the depredations of bees upon the 

 grapes and other fruits, yet while I 

 was there I visited most of the villa- 

 ges and fruit-growing communities 

 of Southern California, and talked 

 with many fruit and bee men, and I 

 found generally that the bees were 

 held in disfavor by the fruit-men. 

 Some of them declared that legisla- 

 tion must remedy the evil. How this 

 was to be accomplished was not so 

 clear— whether by a sweeping annihi- 



lation of the bees, or by restricting 

 them to localities far enough distant 

 from the vineyards to insure immu- 

 nity from their visits. It will be 

 rather a nice point to legislate upon. 



While I was equally interested in 

 both fruit and bees, and had rather 

 committed myself to the assertion 

 that bees never injure sound fruit, I 

 found that some California fruit- men 

 would not argue the question very 

 good-naturedly, whether bees would 

 or could puncture sound grapes. I 

 was referred to the fact that bees had 

 been known to tear down paste-board 

 and hard, dry combs, and in some in- 

 stances to even enlarge the entrances 

 of their hives by gnawing the wood I 

 They claim that' the bees not only in- 

 jure the grapes before picking, but 

 that they swarm upon the raisins 

 while drying. As much of this is 

 done in the open air in warm weather, 

 and at a time when there is a dearth 

 of honey, it would seem quite proba- 

 ble that they have some grounds for 

 complaint. 



I mention these items that we may 

 look at the matter fairly, for " to be 

 forewarned is to be forearmed." The 

 grape and wine interest is a large in- 

 dustry in Southern ('alifornia, some 

 men counting their vineyards by the 

 hundreds and even thousands of acres. 

 We can hardly tell what the outcome 

 will be, should they bring a united 

 effort to bear upon the Legislature in 

 their interest, detrimental to the bee 

 and honey business. The average 

 bee-man will be unable to cope with 

 the money resources and influence 

 wielded by the grape and wine pro- 

 ducers. This I advance as a substan- 

 tial reason why every bee-keeper, not 

 only in California but in all other 

 parts of the United States, should 

 join the Bee- Keepers' Union. 



Ithaca, p Wis. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



111. Central Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



The second annual meeting of the 

 Illinois Central Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation was held in the Court House at 

 Jacksonville, Ills., on Oct. 28, 188.5, at 

 1 p.m. Vice-President Bowen occu- 

 pied the chair in the absence of 

 President Ilitt. The minutes of the 

 previous meeting were read and ap- 

 proved. After a friendly interview 

 and exchange of ideas as to the cause 

 of winter losses, and on many other 

 important subjects, the meeting ad- 

 journed until 9 a.m. on the day fol- 

 lowing. 



THURSDAY FORBNOON SESSION. 



The meeting was called to order at 

 9 a.m., Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jack- 

 sonville, occupying the chair. 



The discussion of the subject of 

 the dav previous was resumed, viz: 

 '■ Uppe"r surplus storing capacity vs. 

 side surplus storing capacity." It 

 was generally conceded that upper 

 surplus departments were more 

 readily accepted and in accordance 

 with the natural instincts of the bee. 



The question, " How are you going 

 to winter your bees ?" was then dis- 

 cussed, J. M. HambauRh, of Brown 



