THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



809 



far enough advanced to bear inver- 

 sion, cluiiipe tliem to the centre of the 

 case, then invert the whole case, and 

 all the sections will be tiiiished at 

 nearly the same time. Inversion 

 causes tlie hees to attach the combs 

 to the sections all ai'ound, and tlius 

 makes them bear shipment much 

 better. Swarming is also lessened by 

 reversing the combs, as the removal 

 of the honey gives more room for 

 brood, and thus helps to destroy the 

 desire for swarming. It also has a 

 tendency to tlie destruction of queen- 

 cells. 



C. P. Dadant — How about con- 

 traction V 



James Ileddon — My objection to 

 the Langstroth hive is its depth ; with 

 tliat I contracted by removing some 

 of the combs and putting in " dura- 

 Baies." With my new hive I contract 

 by simply taking away one section of 

 brood-frames. 



Mr. Thompson, of New York — How 

 shall those manage your new hive 

 that do not wisli to "feed sugar for 

 winter stores V 



James Heddon — During basswood 

 the bees can gather honey faster than 

 they can store it in the sections, and 

 we have only to place a section of 

 brood-combs over the sections, and In 

 this catch the " overflow." When the 

 harvest is over, remove this and keep 

 it until fall, then shake the bees down 

 in front of this case of honey, or else 

 set it over the case containing the 

 bees, and it is done. 



Ge*. E. Hilton— In practicing the 

 contraction method, how can we re- 

 move a section of the brood-nest after 

 swarming without removing some of 

 the brood V 



W. Z. Hutchinson— After a swarm 

 has issued, the young queen does not 

 commence laying until about tlie 19th 

 day, two or three days later all the 

 brood will have hatched, and we can 

 remove one section without taking 

 any brood ; we may get a few eggs, 

 but tills is immaterial. 



L. C. Root— Are we to understand 

 that you prefer brood-combs only 5 

 inches deep V 



Mr.Hutchinson— Most emphatically. 



C. P. Dadant— We object to a shal- 

 low comb, and to two sets of combs, 

 because the queen cannot lay in a 

 circle ; it consumes time for her to 

 pass from comb to comb, or from one 

 end of a shallow frame to the other. 



W. Z. Hutchinson— We do not care 

 how the queen travels, whether in a 

 circle or crosslots, if she only keeps 

 the combs full of brood, and if we do 

 not give her too many combs to till, 

 she will do this. 



Prof. A. J. Cook then read an essay 

 on the Pollen Theory. It was a scien- 

 titic dissertation on tlie nature of 

 different food elements, and the pro- 

 cess of digestion. The upshot of -it 

 was that bees during their long win- 

 ter imprisonment should not have 

 nitrogenous food, as it rendered them 

 uneasy, and necessitated exertion. 

 The Professor's paper was an argu- 

 ment in favor of what is known as 

 the pollen theory, from a chemical 

 stand-point. 



C. P. Dadant — We once imported 

 bees largely, and by long experience 



learned that the food must contain no 

 pollen ; if it did, the bees died. 



James Heddon— I have found hees 

 frozen upon combs of honey — frozen 

 before they had consumed enough 

 pollen or bee-bread to produce diar- 

 rhea. I have used the term " heat- 

 producing food " in the sense in 

 which ih is generally used. I know 

 that a stage driver in cold weather 

 needs food of a different character 

 than does a wood-chopper. 



Prof. Cook— The chemist speaks of 

 heat-producing food ; the physiologist 

 does not. I think it an improper 

 term. 



Mr. Ira Barber's essay was read by 

 the Secretary, on 



WINTERING BEES IN CELLARS. 



Another year has passed since we 

 met together in council, and thou- 

 sands of colonies of bees have been 

 lost for want of proper protection in 

 winter. It is quite often said that no 

 one has learned the secret of winter- 

 ing bees, so that they can be wintered 

 safely every time ; but I deny the 

 assertion, and ask this association of 

 bee-keepers if a quarter of a century 

 of successful wintering of hundreds 

 of colonies of bees without loss, ex- 

 cept where an occasional one starves, 

 is not long enough to establish the 

 fact that bees can be wintered as 

 safely as any other stock ? 



In my early experience I had all the 

 troubles in wintering that many are 

 experiencing now, and I tried every 

 place and manner of wintering that 

 looked reasonable, to add to their 

 comfort, and, as a rule, when they 

 came out of winter quarters the loss 

 would be from 30 to 75 per cent. For 

 a long term of years I have wintered 

 bees without loss, and fully SO per 

 cent, came out as good as when they 

 were placed in winter quarters. If 

 you ask where I winter my bees, my 

 answer would be, in a warm, damp 

 cellar. Why I prefer a warm cellar 

 is because a warm atmosphere is a 

 natural element of the honey-bee; 

 and why I prefer a damp atmosphere 

 is because bees are more quiet and 

 healthier than in a warm, dry atmos- 

 phere for so long a time as 170 days 

 without water. 



In a warm cellar, where the tem- 

 perature is from 60'^ to 90'^, there is no 

 discharge from the bees while in the 

 cellar, unless it be in a dry state ; and 

 if bees have to be fed for winter, it 

 can be done the last thing before 

 placing them in, and then the bee- 

 keeper knows just what the bees 

 have, and no harm will be done be- 

 cause their feed is not sealed. The 

 hives should be packed in a solid body 

 when kept in a high temperature, and 

 piled one on top of the other, three or 

 four deep, with no upward ventila- 

 tion. In this way of packing if some 

 of the bees get uneasy and leave their 

 hive, they are quite sure to enter 

 some other bive, and no harm is done. 

 In wintering in a warm cellar, bees 

 require all the combs that they occupy 

 in the summer, and they will be all 

 over the combs and do not cluster. 

 The cellar must be closed, with no 

 currents of air either hot or cold 

 passing through it to arouse the bees. 



It is necessary to have a small ven- 

 tilator fidm the top of the room for 

 constant (haft ; a.S-inch pipe is sutli- 

 cient for 'M) colonies. A lire should 

 be kept in the room above the bees 

 whenever the mercury goes below 

 zero. 



Much is said about moisture in 

 hives, and all manner of ways are 

 tried to get rid of it. A warm atmos- 

 phere disposes of all moisture that 

 arises from the bees, without any ab- 

 sorbents. Every colony should have 

 plenty of feed to carry them tlirough 

 our longest winters, before they are 

 placed in, so that their owner will 

 have no excuse to go near them until 

 spring. They will use more feed in a 

 warm room than in a cool one. 



The time to place bees in the cellar 

 is before cold weather arrives— about 

 the middle of November, as a rule. 

 I use caps taken from the hives for 

 stands to set the brood-chambers on, 

 so that each tier of three or four hives 

 rests on the one cap. The caps should 

 be placed close together, and when all 

 are in they form a floor to the cellar, 

 and yet each stand is separate so that 

 there is no jarring when handling in 

 taking them out. The bottom tier of 

 hives should be raised off the bottom- 

 boards about half an inch at one end 

 of the hive, while all the rest should 

 be left just as they come from the 

 yard, with a good cloth and sound 

 top-board well glued on every hive. 

 When all are in, close the cellar and 

 let them entirely alone until there is 

 something for them to do in the 

 spring. About the time that willow 

 begins to bloom is early enough in my 

 locality. 



The above plan of wintering bees is 

 no theory, but is one that is practiced 

 by scores of bee-keepers in Northern 

 New York, and invariably without 

 loss in winter. 



I have been as brief as possible in 

 giving my mode of wintering, and 

 will only add further that this plan is 

 given for wintering large lots of bees. 

 Where but few bees are kept where I 

 live, they have no trouble in winter- 

 ing them in any cellar where veget- 

 ables will keep without freezing. 



What I claim for this plan of win- 

 tering is this : 1. It is the safest plan. 

 2. It is the cheapest. 3. It requires 

 far less labor than any plan yet recom- 

 mended. 



Mr. C. K. Isham asked if ]SIr. Barber 

 wintered his bees upon natural stores. 



Ira Barber — Yes. 



C. R. Isham— Do you leave the 

 pollen in V 



Ira Barber — Yes. 



J. B. Hall endorsed the views and 

 practices of Mr. Barber from his own 

 experience. He accidentally dis- 

 covered that bees will winter well in 

 a high temperature. He had 48 colo- 

 nies in a small bed-room off the 

 kitchen. While he was absent a 

 warm spell came in winter. He feared 

 the loss of his bees. When he came 

 home they were roaring loudly. He 

 gave them up for lost, in his own 

 mind. But they wintered safely, and 

 came out strong in the spring with 

 plenty of brood in the hives. 



Martin Emigh— I endorse Mr. Bar- 

 ber's essay, except the dampness. 



