THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



213 



[For the American Bee Juurual] 



Confinement of Honey Bees. 



How ]on2: ma}" Ik'Ikjj.' bees Ix; kept in a cellar, 

 ■without injurious effects Irom continuous coiifme- 

 ment ? 



In the spring of 1868, I rented the privilege of 

 starting my southern apiary, and removed to the 

 location one hundred colonies, over a very rough 

 road. The owner of the lot on which I had started 

 the apiary, becoming dissatisfied, I was compelled 

 to remove the hives in the fall to another loca- 

 tion, ab<mt a mile Avestward, to a timbered lot, 

 which I owned there. Not being apprised early 

 of the necessity of making the change, I did not 

 commence digging a cellar for the reception of 

 bees till the beginning of October, and as the 

 road over which they had to be carried always 

 becomes impassable as soon as rainy weather sets 

 in, I deemed it advisable to make the removal on 

 the 20th day of that month. As there was then 

 neither house nor fence on the premises, I had to 

 run the risk of storing the colcmies in the cellar, 

 just finished, with the mortar still soft ; though 

 a frame house was erected over the cellar shortly 

 after. oAs soon as the house advanced I put a 

 tenant in it, who fearing that a stock of potatoes 

 and turnips which he intended to winter in it 

 would freeze in the cellar, plastered up all the 

 crevices between the ceiling and the side walls. 

 Having other pressing business to attend teat the 

 time, I neglected to instruct the tenant to make 

 provision for ventilation. It happened also that 

 the outer cellar door had swollen from dampness 

 and could not be closed, and a space about an 

 inch wide remained open. This was all the 

 chance the bees had for pure air and ventilation. 

 When I visited the place, six weeks later, I found, 

 to my great surprise, the bees perfectly quiet and 

 healthy, and the hives dry. A number of bees, 

 however, that had crawled out, lay on the floor, 

 covered with mould. Six weeks later, the condi- 

 tion of the bees was found to be about the same ; 

 and so likewise on a still later examination. 



I did not take these bees out before the 14th 

 and IGth of April following, they having then been 

 in the cellar about a week less than six months. 

 I commented removing them on the 14th, but 

 owing to cold and rainy weather, I could not 

 finish the work till on the IGth ; and this was the 

 condition in which I found them. Fifty-eight 

 colonies in eight-lrame Langstroth hives, were 

 all of them alive, with very few dead bees. The 

 combs were dry and clean, without the least par- 

 ticle of mould ; and no candied honey was found 

 in the combs. Of sixty-three box hives, which 

 were inverted with the liottom board left on, four 

 had died, and nine had combs more or less 

 mouldy. Those that were 'not mouldy were in 

 an exceedingly good condition. Those that had 

 moulded were probably- we;ik when wintered in; 

 and of the four dead ones, two had probably 

 been queonless ever since swarming, and had 

 been overlooked, as I found on examination of 

 the combs that these contained a large amount of 

 bee-bread. 



The whole number of colonies had consumed a 

 very small amount of honey, and appeared in 

 every respect in excellent order. How very 



damp the air in the cellar must have been, 

 may be inferred fiom the fact that the cotton 

 cloth on a bee hat, which had been carelessly 

 left on a cellar window, had become mouldy and 

 was i^erfectly rotten. I forgot to mention that I 

 found it quite warm and pleasant in the cellar, 

 on every examination made, the temperature 

 being probably ^48" F. 



What will those who think bees may not be 

 kept confined more than six or seven weeks, 

 say to this ? more especially when informed that 

 those bees were not supplied with a particle of 

 water during all this time ; and that some of 

 the colonies had about six inches square of brood 

 when brought out. They commenced carrying 

 in pollen on the IGth of April ; and on the 17th 

 of May, when I visited them in company with 

 Mr. J. Ckowfoot, of Hartford, Wis., we found 

 most of the hives filled with bees, brood, bee- 

 bread, and honey. On the 25th, two large natural 

 swarms came out, with every prospect that many 

 more would follow in a few days ; and actually 

 twelve hives swarmed on the forenoon of the 5th 

 of June. 



Jefferson^ Wis. Adam Gkimm. 



[For the Americaa Bee .Tournal ] 



Wax Scales found in Winter. 



I have heretofore supposed that Avax scales 

 were formed in the wax pockets of bees, only in 

 warm weather, and then, only when the bees 

 were about to build comb ; and have always re- 

 garded its production as entirely within the con- 

 trol of the bees themselves, and subject to their 

 will as much as comb-building is. That is, I 

 thought that when they,wanted wax for comb- 

 building, they were obliged ( impelled by instinct) 

 to eat more abundantly than usual, and to hang 

 clustered for some time, for the purpose of gen- 

 erating unusual heat; and that, by this means, 

 and in this manner only, could wax be produced. 

 I believe this idea is the one usually advanced by 

 writers on bee-culture. But I have recentl}' uj- 

 ticed some facts that seem to run counter to this 

 doctrine. 



On the 17th of February, I found in one of my 

 hives a dead bee that seemed rather larger than 

 usual. Careful examination showed scales of 

 wax in its wax pockets. Two others, of five ex- 

 amined, aLso showed wax scales. The remaining 

 two showed no wax. 



The hive first mentioned was full of combs, 

 with a good supply of bees, some brood in two 

 combs, but rather deficient in stores. This colony 

 and a dozen others were fed last fall with syrup 

 made of filty pounds of sugar, forty pints or 

 pounds of water, and one pound of glycerine 

 added in accordance with your suggestion, Mr. 

 Editor, to prevent crystallization — (a good idea). 



To prove to you that I was not mistaken about 

 the wax scales, I removed a dozen or so with a 

 needle, and melted them together on a piece of 

 white paper, which I send for j^our inspection.* 



Hi re certainly is a case where wax was pro- 

 duced at a time of the year (February 17), and 

 under circumstances (a full hive), that would 

 render it impossible to make use of it in comb- 



* Wax, undoubtedly.— Ed. 



