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274 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[June, 



[For the American Bee Journal,] 



An Old Man's Views on Hives, 



If the great losses annually sustained by the 

 bee-keepers of this country, did not so often fall 

 on those who are the least able to bear them ; 

 the old, the feeble, and on such as are unable to 

 procure a living by more laborious callings ; I 

 should feel greater reluctance on account of my 

 age, being nearly seventy seven years, which 

 necessarily renders me an old fogy in the opinion 

 of so many;, and the fact that I have not at- 

 tempted to write with a pen in ten years, on 

 account of my trembling hand, to present this 

 communication to brother bee-keepers, who may 

 have had the same woeful experience as myself 

 in regard to the safe wintering of bees; yet I 

 hope there are some, among the many, who will 

 not too severely censure what is well intended, 

 if its want of merit should prevent their ap- 

 probation. 



I have read with great interests the discussion 

 of the bee-keepers of this wide country, in their 

 conventions, as reported in The Bee Journals, 

 on all of the topics in relation to bee-keeping; 

 and I marvel that so many bee-keepers should 

 have been so mistaken in regard to the cmtse of 

 the calamities attending the safe wintering of 

 bees, and should have entirely overlooked the 

 absolute necessities of the bees, in the construc- 

 tion of all the improved hives now in general 

 use; when such hives could have been so easily 

 made to conform to the necessities of the Ives, 

 without abating anything from the value of the 

 improvements. The allwise Creator, no doubt 

 has given to the creatures He has created, in- 

 stincts in accordance with their natures, and to 

 the honey bee the instinct, to provide for 

 its ow r n future wants in winter's cold, and 

 summer's heat and wet, and drouth, (without any 

 aid from man,) and to propagate themselves in 

 every country, and in every latitude through all 

 time, wherever the Creator Himself had pro- 

 vided for their necessities. In the native and 

 natural bee hive, the entrance is below the place 

 occupied by the bees, and the air space above, 

 and below the entrance, is often from two to 

 five times as large, as the space occupied by the 

 bees; and if it is not larger, than in the im- 

 proved hives, it is the exception, and is not 

 common. Now a beehive cannot hold itself 

 twice full at the same time, any better than any 

 thing else. In the first plan, the hive is full of 

 air, and whatever is put into the hive forces out 

 so much air. The space occupied by the bees 

 is all filled with combs, without any air space 

 around them, except below, and these combs 

 may all be filled, (and often are,) with brood and 

 honey without any detriment to the bees. Al- 

 most every person knows that air seeks to be 

 of an even temperature, the same as water seeks 

 to be of a level, — that air expands when it is 

 heated, and is therefore lighter to the cubic 

 inch, or foot, than cold air. Now in the natural 



hive, this large air space is necessary, — it is cooler 

 in summer, and warmer in winter ; it lets the 

 dead bees and every thing fall down clear from 

 the combs, and keeps them clean and dry — it 

 contains so much air, that it cannot become 

 moist from the breath of the bees; and when 

 cold weather approaches, the pressure of the 

 cold air at the entrance compresses the warmer 

 air on the inside of the hive, and the cold air 

 enters, but it cannot go up, but must go down, 

 because its specific gravity is greater, and the 

 warmer air rises up and is constantly floated to- 

 ward the bees, and the warmest air at the top 

 being the most expanded, is the most easily 

 compressed, and as it increases in density, in- 

 creases in specific gravity, and sinks down and 

 is forced out at the entrance ; and this gives a 

 little more room for cold air to enter; and thus 

 a constant circulation, equalization and purifi- 

 cation of the air is kept up in accordance with 

 the established laws of nature : and thus safe 

 wintering is the rule, and not the exception. 

 Any disregard, evasion, or violation of these 

 laws, will endanger the lives of the bees. 



Let us now look at the difference between 

 the natural and improved hives, now in 

 general use. The standard size of the im- 

 proved hives, contains two thousand cubic 

 inches, which is less than one foot and a 

 quarter, cubic measure. This hive if filled 

 with frames of combs full of brood and honey, 

 will occupy two-thirds of the space, except the 

 half-inch under the frames : and now if you put 

 in a common swarm of bees, of twenty or thirty 

 thousand, that is from four to six quarts of bees, 

 the hive must be nearly or quite full, except the 

 half-inch space under the frames. Now as I 

 said before, a bee-hive cannot hold itself twice 

 full at the same time. It is also a conductor of 

 heat and cold, but not of air; and when cold 

 weather conies on, and the bees are all confined 

 within the hive, this very small amount of air, 

 for so many bees, must soon, become very moist 

 from the breath of the bees; and if the air, out- 

 side of the hive is moderated by beehouse, cellar, 

 or other contrivances, and is too warm, the pres- 

 sure at the entrance will not be sufficient to 

 force into the hive sufficient air to abate the 

 moisture, and the poor wet bees sweat it out, as 

 best they can. For this moisture cannot be 

 abated with quilts and absorbents, so long as the 

 bees have the breath of life in them, any more 

 than the moisture from a kettle of boiling water 

 in a hot stove, can be abated by lining the room 

 with absorbents. The absorbents only keep the 

 moisture from increasing and condensing, but 

 cannot abate it, so long as there is water in the 

 kettle, and fire in the stove. "Upward ventil- 

 ation will do it," many are ready to exclaim. 

 Upward ventilation is better than no ventilation, 

 but is unnatural, as the bees have been created 

 with fickle natures, and erring instincts. Vent- 

 ilation at the bottom is unsafe in the improved 

 hives, because the dead bees are almost sure to 



