TTHE? MlVIEiRICTtH WEM JOURNaif,. 



101 



f 



Ainoiinl of iittorcs U$cd by Bees 

 in liio Cellar. 



Written for Ote American Bee Jourtuil 



Cillery «1 3.— 1. It it is a fact, as is generally 

 claimed, iliat bees consume but about one- 

 halt as much honey in a good cellar that they 

 do out-of-doors, is that not so much wasted ? 

 ». If not, are there an.v other considerations 

 to balance this loss ?— Bee-Keeper. 



1. Certainly. — A. B. Mason. 



Yes, to a certain extent. — H. D. 

 Cdtting. 



It is a fact, by weight ; that is, in a 

 cold climate. — A. J. Cook. 



1 ha\'e had no experience with cellar 

 wintering of bees here in Lonisana. — 



P. L. VlALLON. 



In our climate (Georgia) we have no 

 use of bee-cellars, but winter our bees 

 out-of-doors. — J. P. H.Brown. 



1. No, it is so much saved. 2. None 

 that I know of. — R. L. Taylok. 



1. No, it is not wasted. 2. Yes, 

 brood-rearing early out-of-doors, es- 

 pecially in winters like the present. — 

 Dadant & Son. 



1. No. It is that much saved. 2. 

 The considerations are a balance in 

 favor of the cellar. — J. M. Hambaugh. 



In an open winter like the present 

 one up to date, bees consume scarcely 

 more stores out-of-doors than iu-doors, 



and winter better, as a rule James 



Heddon. 



As far as I know, cellar-wintering 

 of bees in this part of the country (In- 

 <liana) is not much practiced. Among 

 my acquaintances, it has not been a 

 success. — M. Maiiin. 



1. Well. yes. 2. The first cost of 



Eonslructing or preparing the cellar, 



md then the labor of placing the bees 



In the cellar and taking them out. — 



Irs. L. Harrison. • 



1. No. 2. Sometimes a cellar is not 



convenient ; and, with a great ma- 



Jfity, bees can be properly packed for 



fintev, and as saf(!ly upon the summer 



llands, witli less labor than they can 



pe carried to the cellar. Your query 



alls for an article, as there are nianj- 



|oints which cannot be touched upon 



this limited space. — W. M. Barnum. 



" Tliis is the same old question," 

 Ind the best we can sa}- is, that " it all 

 lepends." As the pursuit has reached 

 Bat point where bees must be hand- 

 M by hivefuls and by the can full, 

 liere seems no waj' about it, but for 

 eepcrs who live in cold latitudes, to 

 are them in a cellar. Wc look for 

 Dinpensation in the harvest, not in 

 low much they eat during the winter. 

 M. Shuck. 



Yes, 1 consider it a great waste of 

 honey to winter bees out-of-doors. As 

 a rule, bees wintered in a cellar do 

 better the following season than those 

 wintered out-doors. I know that many 

 good bee-keepers will difter from me, 

 but this is the conclusion that I have 

 come to after wintering bees in both 

 ways for more than 20 years. — C. H. 



DlBBERN. 



I have a heap of ignorance on this 

 subject. If my bees would make a 

 "live" of it out-doors, I think that I 

 would be willing to lose some extra 

 honej'. For oiu^ thing, they have bet- 

 ter ventilation, and I am just old-fogy 

 enough to believe that is very impor- 

 tant. — C. C. Miller. 



The extra amount of honey consumed 

 is used as fuel to keep the bees warm. 

 Is the fuel j-ou burn in your stove in 

 keeping the house warm, wasted ? If 

 so, had you not better move down 

 cellar with your family, so as to save 



it ? — G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



1. As a rule, the more quiet bees 

 are kept, the less honey they will con- 

 sume. In some years this can be 

 done in cellars, as bees are ordinarily 

 kept ; in other years it can be best 

 done out-of-doors. Claims are made 

 for cellar wintering that apply to very 

 cold localities, that would not hold 

 good in warm situations. — J. E. Pond. 



1. I do not believe that it is a fact. 

 The dift'erence is not so great as one- 

 half. Whatever the difference is, is 

 certainl}- wasted, if the results are the 

 same. 2. Having never tried but one 

 method, I cannot speak with the con- 

 fidence of him who has tried both. It 

 is claimed by some that there is less 

 spring dwindling, and better final re- 

 sults by wintering bees on the summer 

 stands. Undoubtedly climate has a 

 good deal to do with it. The bee- 

 keeper ought to study the question 

 from the stand-point of localitj'. — 

 Eugene Secor. 



1. The more honey my bees have in 

 the brood-nest, tlie better they winter, 

 and the blotter \\-ork they are able to 

 do when the i^arly honey harvest ap- 

 pears. Perhaps more bees are ruined 

 on account of light stores in winter, 

 than on any otlnn- account ; therefore, 

 the question of irdslc should not be put 

 in the way of best I'estdts. 2. Many 

 apiarists believe that bees are more 

 hardy and long-lived when wintered 

 out-of-doors. — G. W. Demaree. 



1. Bees consume more honey when 

 wintered on the summer stands, but 

 the consumption would hardly r(!ach 

 to double the quantity, especially in 

 winters like the present one, when cold 

 weather must l)e of very short diu-a- 

 tiou, if wc have any worth nnnition- 

 ing. Honey used to keep the bees in 

 the hive warm, should not be deemed 



wasted; wood or coal used to keep 

 humanity warm in houses is never 

 thouglit to be wasted — each serves the 

 purpose intended. 2. Against the ac- 

 count for honej' used " out-of-dooi's," 

 placid the cost of the cellar or bee- 

 house, the trouble of carting in and 

 out, etc. These would prol)ably bal- 

 ance the account, and leave the choice 

 of methods upon other considerations 

 than value of the honey consumed. — 

 — The EuiToit. 



IN-BREEDING. 



Neiv 



Blood in the Apiary 

 E§$ential matter. 



Written /or the American Bee Jourtial 

 BV EUGENE SECOR. 



(3n page fiO, in answer to the ques- 

 tion, "How long will bees prosper 

 without new stock from a distance ?" 

 I notice this reply: "For an un- 

 limited time." Now I doubt the cor- 

 rectness of that doctrine ; and, as I am 

 not a queen-breeder, I ought to be 

 allowed an opinion without prejudice. 

 With such "free commoners" as 

 bees, it is ({uite a difiicult matter to 

 prove to what extent in-breeding is 

 practiced, or with what eilect ; but if 

 we reason by analogy — from the 

 known to the unknown — it is very con- 

 clusive to my mind that nature abhors 

 incestuous alliances. 



We know the etiect on the human 

 race, of the marriage of near relatives. 

 Any one who has experimented in that 

 direction with our domestic animals, 

 knows its baleful eli'ects. I am aware 

 of the claim in certain quarters, that 

 some of the most valuable character- 

 istics of our domestic animals have 

 been developed by in-breeding, but 

 even admitting that to be true in ex- 

 ceptional cases when done intelli- 

 gentlj', every breeder knows it is safe 

 to avoid it as a general rule. 



The experiini^nts of Darwin in self 

 and cross fertilization of plants, car- 

 ried on for man}' years with a jiatience 

 and persistence that only a lover of 

 the truth could have shown, proved 

 that the same law governed, too, in 

 the vegetable kingdom. He reasoned 

 that the chief end of bees and other 

 l)ollen-gathering insects was to ferti- 

 lize and cross-fertilize the Howers, 

 thereby causing not only greater 

 Ijcauty and iierfection of flowers and 

 fruit, but vigor and longevity as well. 

 Corn grown on one farm for a series 

 of years without the introduction of 

 new seeds, deterior:\tes. The same is 



