54 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept., 



pressed vitality may not be wholly extinguished, 

 require for their successful wintering, besides 

 the necessary food and rest, especially a pro- 

 tected dwelling. The successful wintering of 

 his bees is a mastervvork of the beekeeper, as 

 through ignorance of an inviolable, universal 

 and authentic law, he will be very liable to com- 

 mit many mistakes. 



Let us see whether from the known discoveries 

 and practical advancements to a successful win- 

 tering of the bees, a universal law canuot be de- 

 veloped. 



In our climate bees need for successful winter- 

 ing : 1. A properly constructed hive ; 2. Healthy 

 and sufficient food in its proper place ; 3. Strong 

 stock ; 4. An undisturbed rest. The last three 

 conditions are admitted on all hands Every 

 one knows that they are unalterable and what is 

 necessary to fulfil them. What is a proper 

 winter dwelling, is alone a subject of thought 

 and dispute. With this we have alone to do. 



A proper winter dwelling for bees needs two 

 requisites ; that it be neither too cold nor too 

 warm. It is too cold : 1st. When the hive is too 

 large for the quantity of bees to be wintered in 

 it, the animal heat developed from the bees be- 

 ing diffused over too large a space ; 2d. When 

 the hive contains cracks or openings, so that the 

 outside cold air would have free passage through 

 the hive. By actual experiment, it has been 

 found that bees become torpid when placed for 

 any length of time in an atmosphere of 6° It. ; 

 that even continuous 8° R. will be injurious ; 

 hence when in winter quarters, and without 

 brood, if they are to be kept successfully, they 

 must be in a temperature of 10° R. This tem- 

 perature is found in every properly wintered 

 stock, by actual observations with the ther- 

 mometer, of course, not in the immediate vicinity 

 of the brood, nor in unoccupied space of the 

 hive, but on the outer circle of the cluster of 

 bees. Is the hive from any of the above-men- 

 tioned reasons too cold, each descending degree 

 of temperature will render the* revival of the 

 bees from their torpidity more difficult. The 

 stock will eventually die. A swarm is able to 

 exist in a temperature of 28° R., unless it is 

 much disturbed or has a large quantity of brood. 



A swarm, therefore, in order to be destroyed, 

 must be awakened fully — a condition which 

 would not nominally happen in winter. All the 

 heat of the hive is developed from the bees them- 

 selves. The development of heat is labor, and 

 a kind of labor which largely consumes vigor of 

 the bees, especially when owing to the defective 

 construction of the hive, the heat, through 

 radiation, is lost. Therefore, a stock can for a 

 short period endure intense cold, but is frozen 

 by a relative low temperature, in which it is 

 placed for weeks or months. It dies from ex- 

 haustion. In more favorable circumstances, 

 when the hive is in a position to protect itself 

 from the cold, it may suffer from an attack of 

 dysentery. To produce waimth, the bees must 

 consume a great quantity of heat producing 

 material, i. e., honey, whenby the intestines are 

 so filled that they are no longer able to contain 

 the fceces. The hive should, therefore, be so 

 constructed that the bees, during their period of 



torpidity and when without brood, are able to 

 obtain and sustain a warmth of 10° R. Should 

 the hive not be able to afford the desired 

 protection, it must be removed to a dark pro- 

 tected place, or protected from the cold by 

 wrappings of some material. For such purposes 

 a covering made of straw or wood affords the 

 best protection. Through the inordinate cover- 

 ing with straw, the advantage may be over- 

 done. 



The hive dare not be too warm. Hives that 

 are too warm are as injurious for wintering bees 

 in, as when too cold. They are the product of 

 the last twenty years, and their destructiveness 

 is as yet not fully known. So long as logs, 

 straw hives and single Dzierzon* hives were used, 

 this charge was unknown. It was only when 

 beekeepers began to keep bees in a cubboard — 

 like hives, and in pavillions, and for the better 

 retention of warmth, closely wrapping these and 

 single hives with covering, that this trouble 

 made its appearance. 



We have no desire to do Baron von Berlepsch 

 wrong, when we attribute to him the origin and 

 dissemination of these too warm dwellings. 

 He invented the pavillion, in which each single 

 hive, where it comes in contact with the outside 

 air, is well protected ; he first taught the build- 

 ing of double walls ; he narrowed the space 

 occupied by the bees to the smallest possible 

 space, by removing the outside frames, and sub- 



* The hives alluded to in this article are the Dzier- 

 zon and Berlepsch hives, and as many of our readers 

 may have some difficulty in understanding the vari- 

 ous allusions, we append herewith a description of 

 the two hives, taken from the Bee Journal, Vol. 1, 

 pp. 14, 15 : " The Dzierzon hive, in its original 

 form, was a simple oblong box, thirty inches Ions, 

 nine inches broad, and fifteen inches high, the ends 

 being movable, buttoned doors. Two correspond- 

 ing groves were cut in the inner sides, half an inch 

 from the top, on which were placed, at intervals of 

 a half inch apart, a series of cross bars or slats 

 fitted up with empty pieces of comb as guides for the 

 bees. The entrance was on one of the sides, mid- 

 way of its length, and one inch from the bottom. In 

 building or extending the combs the bees attach them 

 to the sides of the hive. These attachments have to 

 be severed when the bars and combs are to be taken 

 out. As the ends of the bars are confined by, and 

 can only slide in, the grooves, the combs must be 

 taken out consecutively, and an interior comb can be 

 reached only by removing all the anterior ones. 

 With his hives substantially thus constructed, though 

 with various modifications, that celebrated apiarian 

 made all his observations. 



By a more recent modification or the introduction 

 of what he calls double or twin hives, effects a saving 

 of material, facilitates the multiplication of colonies, 

 and secures his bees greater protection against the 

 severity of the winter. 



One of the defects of the Dzierzon hive — the im- 

 possibility of removing the combs without severing 

 the side attachment— was so obvious, that a remedy 

 was early sought, and in 1855, the Baron of Berlepsch 

 adopted frames similar in priuciple, though slightly 

 differing in construction from those of the Langstroth 

 hive. These enabled him to remove the combs with- 

 out cutting and with ease. But his frames are trouble- 

 some to make and costly besides — two objections 

 which operate againaf their introduction into use." 



