834 



Oct. 4. 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



sections from a T su P er while on the hive. With the wide- 

 frame super it is easier than to remove a frame from the 

 brood-chamber. 



Dr. Miller often mentions his " go-backs." It is very 

 fussy work with the "f , to fix up a super full of these, but it 

 is very easy and simple with my super. Usually, if any 

 sections in a super are unfinished, they are found in the 

 outside row. In a moment these 4 are lifted out of one 

 super and returned to another. It may be done before the 

 honey goes to the honey-house, or before it is brought home 

 from the out-yard, or it may not be done till all is brought 

 in, ad libitum. 



The wide-frame super has all the advantages of the T" 

 super, and few, if any, of its disadvantages. 



I believe the wide frame originated with A. I. Root, and 

 was used in the double-tier. A double-tier super is, for 

 many reasons, undesirable, and all bee-keepers at the pres- 

 ent day use any of the supers in single-tier. 



It is needless to say that I am not interested in the sale 

 of wide frame supers, for, like the "f-super, they are not 

 offered for sale anywhere, to my knowledge. 



Naples, N. Y. 



The Object of the Honey-Bee's Creation 



BY GRANT STANLEY 



I have read and re-read G. M. Doolittle's article, on 

 page 63S, on " The Relation of Insects and Flowers," where- 

 in he says, "I understand that the first purpose for which 

 the honey-bee was created was for the fertilization of the 

 flowers." I can not agree with Mr. Doolittle on this point, 

 and hope to show that the honey-bee was created for the 

 very purpose in which it is engaged to-day — the gathering 

 of honey for the benefit of mankind — and that the question 

 of fertilization of the blossom was of a secondary nature. 



The fact that the honey-bee is a great aid in the fertili- 

 zation of certain plants at the present time, does not prove 

 that such has been the case throughout all ages of the 

 world. Is it not true that the blossom requiring the agency 

 of the honey-bee for its fertilization at present is in most 

 cases that which has been propagated or improved by man ? 

 That this is true of the various fruits and clovers very few 

 will deny. They have been crossed and re-crossed for the 

 purpose of improvement, and to produce new varieties, 

 which necessarily requires pollen from other plants of the 

 same kind to make the crosses effective. The further away 

 we get from the original, the more this becomes necessary. 

 We have some kinds of strawberries that require no outside 

 agency to fertilize them, as this feature is present within 

 their own power. 



This is not a feature, either, that has been brought 

 about by man, but one that has been with it from its very 

 existence, that it need not " nod its head to the breezes " in 

 quest of the honey-bee for fertilization — a feature that can 

 be traced back to most remote ages. In this very respect 

 you will find, upon close investigation, that away back in 

 the days of the patriarchs, when plants of every descrip- 

 tion grew wild, and dotted hills and forests everywhere, 

 these plants needed not to depend upon the honey-bee for 

 their fertilization ; but since man has become such an 

 active agent in improving and bringing out new varieties 

 of every description, it is evident that some agent to cross- 

 pollinate these flowers effectively, has become apparent for 

 this reason, that we have gotten so far from the origi- 

 nal that it makes it imperative, else the species would soon 

 die out entirely. 



This is not the first instance of this nature where won- 

 derful results have been achieved along particular lines at 

 the expense of great weakness in others. That there are 

 continual changes going on in all plants, either by the as- 

 sistance of man or otherwise, no one will dispute, and Dar- 

 win tells us, in his " Origin of Species," that the blossom 

 of the apple at the beginning was green, and from the con- 

 stant change it has undergone, we have the beautiful blos- 

 som we see to-day. I am not ready to believe this, however, 

 for the reason if so much change has taken place in the 

 blossom, the leaves remain green throughout all these cen- 

 turies, or has this change of blossom been brought about in 

 order that the bees be attracted to them to pollinate the 

 bloom in order to save the species ? 



But from the above it will be seen that from these con- 

 tinual changes the time has arrived, and it will be more so in 



the future, when the honey-bee plays a strong part in the 

 fertilization of many blossoms, but it has not been true 

 throughout all the ages of the world. 



Now let us look at the question as regards man. Ask 

 the men who are making a speciality of bee-keeping to-day, 

 if they think such a wonderful little creature as the honey- 

 bee capable of doing so much, would be created for such a 

 minor object as that of the fertilization of blossoms. We 

 are told that milk and honey were the chief dainties of the 

 most remote ages, and butter and honey are alio mentioned 

 among articles of food. The Bible has many references to 

 honey, and speaks of it in very strong terms, and we find, 

 as far back as Moses.it speaks of the "land of milk and 

 honey," which would indicate that honey had been a staple 

 article in a very early age of the world, and not a matter of 

 secondary importance, as Mr. Doolittle would have us be- 

 lieve. 



Now, like Mr. Doolittle, I am no botanist, but I view 

 this question in just about the opposite from him, and what 

 I have written above has been for " leaving down the bars " 

 and have the opinion of others, and, in the meantime, show 

 that the honeybee was created, and has been improved, for 

 the very purpose I mention — the gathering of honey for the 

 benefit of mankind. Nisbet, Pa. 



Wintering Bees— Other Recent Subjects 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ 



A three cornered discussion, on how to keep bees warm 

 during the winter, has been going on lately in Gleanings. 

 The principal fact is that the bees, like all the other ani- 

 mals, eat to keep warm. The honey eaten is, so to speak, 

 burnt during the digestion, and the "combustion" pro- 

 duces the necessary heat. So the colder the surrounding 

 air, the more the bees have to eat to keep up the necessary 

 temperature of their bodies. 



A single bee can not eat enough to stand anything like 

 real cold, because her whole body is exposed to the cold. 

 But if a number are clustered, they can stand quite a low 

 temperature, because only the outside bees are exposed, and 

 partially at that. This is not strictly correct, however. A 

 cluster of bees is not air-tight, and therefore the warm air 

 inside must escape more or less at the upper part, and be 

 replaced by cold air entering from below. 



The larger the cluster of bees, the easier it is for them to 

 keep warm. There is far less surface exposed in propor- 

 tion. A cluster four times as large (in volume) has only 

 twice the surface exposed. Then the heat from the interior 

 having more space to travel to reach the outside, is thereby 

 considerably retarded, and the loss decreased in proportion. 



It might be asked here, What is the use of having a 

 hive if the heat is confined to the cluster ? That is, except 

 to protect the bees against the rain and the wind, and fur- 

 nish them a place for their comb and honey ? 



Well, there is ; and I think a comparison will explain 

 better than a theory. Suppose a house with thin walls of 

 clapboards and ceiling, badly jointed, the doors and win- 

 dows carelessly fitted, and perhaps some glass broken. Let 

 come a real, cold blizzard, and you might keep the stove 

 red hot the whole time, and the room would not be much 

 warmer than the outside world. But take a good, well- 

 built brick house, with double windows, and everything 

 tight, and a comparatively small fire will keep the room 

 comfortably warm. 



Now that is an exact parallel of the hive and bees. The 

 cluster of bees eating honey is the counterpart of the stove 

 burniug coal, and the two houses correspond to badly and 

 well protected hives. 



Temperature of the Cluster. 



The temperature of the cluster, and, in general, of the 

 hive, was first investigated in the early part of the last 

 century by Newport, in England, and Dubost, in France. 

 The temperature necessary for the brood is about 89 or 90 

 degrees. It may vary from 82 to 95 degrees, but outside of 

 these limits the brood seems to suffer. During a dearth of 

 honey in summer, when the bees cease to rear brood, they 

 are not so particular, and do not always keep the tempera- 

 ture so high. In winter the temperature of the cluster may 

 vary greatly, but even the outside of the cluster never falls 

 below 68 or 70 degrees. The inside of the hive, outside of 

 the cluster, is always warmer than the outside of the hive, 



