1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



55 



stituting therefor straw mats ; he sealed her- 

 metically every crack, and stopped every open- 

 ing for the escape of heat, and then imagines he 

 has the bees in their native tropical climate, 

 seated in Abraham's bosom. But they are sit- 

 ting in hell, and are suffering torment like the 

 rich man. Every one who has wintered his bees 

 in too warm hives, has found this to his own 

 satisfaction, long before they discovered the true 

 cause of the wholesale slaughter of their bees, 

 yo soon as the temperature outside the hive 

 sinks to below 8° R , and the bees are prevented 

 from leaving the hive, they must remain in the 

 hive, and fall into the known winter torpor. The 

 opposite condition is, when existing for any 

 length of time, contrary to nature. Their ac- 

 tivity ceases at 10° R. ; at 12° R. their full activity 

 develops itself, and it is with the greatest diffi- 

 culty that they are kept within the hives. 



Is their dwelling too warm, either being built 

 as regards the bees, too narrow, or the walls of 

 the hive are too thick, so preventing as well the 

 escape of the warmth within the hive as the in- 

 troduction of fresh air from the outside, and 

 thus also preventing the torpor of the bees, and 

 a heat of a higher temperature than 10° R. will 

 be produced. 



Should this state continue for any length of 

 time, the bees will become unquiet. I refer to 

 the temperature of the outer periphery of the 

 winter cluster, and to the brood which can 

 readily endure a heat of 28° R. without injury, 

 because as brood there is no necessity for their 

 flying out. A large number of the bees will 

 leave their place in the winter cluster, and crawl 

 to the entrance of the hive in the hope of enjoy- 

 ing an airing. The low temperature outside 

 forbids this. The bees return again and become 

 more and more restless. At last they become so 

 heated by the constantly increasing tempera- 

 ture of the interior, that they begin to buzz and 

 fan. I have found stocks in such condition, that 

 when I opened the outer door, the bees were 

 seen running wildly over the inner glass door, 

 which was warm to the touch. 



That like circumstances occur, no one will 

 deny, since there has been much complaint in 

 regard to it ; only it is not clearly known, or 

 perhaps not known at all, that too much heat is 

 the cause of all this. Yet one can readily con- 

 vince himself. Take a strong, entirely healthy 

 swarm, wintering in a normal condition, and 

 place it in a light chamber of 6° R. temperature, 

 and a in few days the same condition will be 

 discovered, as exists for weeks and months in an 

 over heated hive. 



Does this too great heat continue for any 

 length of time, it naturally produces great 

 thirst, since in the heated dwelling with their 

 thick walls, the precipitation of moisture is 

 either wholly prevented, or first appears on the 

 sides and at the entrance, from which the water 

 may be seen flowing. It is a certain sign that 

 not Dzierzon, from whom nothing relative to. 

 bee-culture readily escapes, but Berlepsch, the 

 master builder of too warm dwellings, has 

 awakened the desire of thirst. From many and 

 various experiments and discoveries, I have 



discovered that a too warm dwelling develops 

 thirst. 



This is not a real disease of the bees, only a 

 symptom of sickness — of the overheating of the 

 bees and analogous to the thirst developed by 

 fever.* 



This desire for thirst must be allayed in time 

 by suitable drinks, or the last stage will soon be 

 reached, and here dysentery will bring the bees 

 to the borders of destruction. It is best not to 

 let the bees reach this state of thirst before 

 using preventives ; the hive should be cooled 

 at the proper time, either by opening the door 

 or through the introduction of fresh air through 

 the Molitor, Muhlfeld plan, by placing icicles in 

 the entrance o\* something of that manner ; but 

 the best plan for wintering naturally is, from 

 the beginning, to prevent overheating. If the 

 beekeeper has very warm hives, which he does 

 not desire to dispense with, let him, above all 

 things, forbeaf filling up the honey room with 

 any badly conducting material ; the placing of 

 straw mats inside of the door, the narrowing of 

 the entrance, etc. In pavilions, during warm 

 winter days as well as nights, let the door of the 

 pavilion open. 



From these thus developed theories a general 

 law may be made for the successful wintering of 

 bees. Bees should be so wintered that, around the 

 periphery of the winter cluster a temperature of 10° 

 R. could be easily maintained. 



Owing to the great difference in hives, and the 

 changes in the outer temperature, experience 

 alone will teach how advantageously to follow 

 the rule. Those will winter their bees with the 

 greatest safety who are in the position to bury 

 their bees, because in the earth there will be an 

 equal temperature maintained as well in cold as 

 in warm weather ; and even when warm weather 

 appears, the darkness which surrounds the bees 

 will prevent them from becoming restless. 



SCHONFELD. 



Teutsehel, Dec. 8, 1871. 



Kemarks on the above Article by Dzierzon. 



Herr Schonfeld develops in No. 1 of the Bienen- 

 zeitung, excellent theorical principles relative to 

 wintering bees, nevertheless, I cannot entirely 

 consent to its practical application, namely, 

 when he says that bee hives should not be made 

 too warm. 



I find that portion contradicted by his own 

 words, that the bees require a certain tempera- 

 ture which upon the surface of the cluster dare 

 not sink below 10" R. ; that the warmth of the 

 hive is developed from the bees ; that with the 

 greatest cold they are able to develop the re- 

 quired heat ; that they can by degrees destroy 

 themselves, should they make too great exer- 

 tions and have to continue them for too long a 



^"Notwithstanding it is especially useful to provide 

 drink, especially in cold hives, towards the end of 

 winter, which appears from my drinking glasses, 

 which the bees not in any wise disturb uutil the 

 brood demands water, and the bees are thus prevented 

 from an injurious flight iu search of water. 



