EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



AT TWO DOLLARS PER ANKUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



Vol. YI. 



J^krVXJASl^^, IS^l. 



No. 7. 



1 from the Bienpnzeitung, for the American Bee 

 Jourual.] 



[Transla 



On the Variations of Weight in a Colony. 



So long as several factors or elements in any 

 problem operate concurrently, their separate 

 values never having been investigated and ascer- 

 tained, we are not in a condition to estimate 

 properly, or accurately assign their several con- 

 tributions to the general result. We can only 

 take the latter into consideration in any process 

 having reference to the particular elements or 

 factors ; and if in such case, the inferences thence 

 deduced do not involve any obvious contradic- 

 tion, we may i-egard the process as proper and 

 legitimate. Hence, the evaporation of moisture 

 from the honey stores in a hive, the departure 

 or absence of bees, and their presence or return, 

 their loss and consecpient diminution of the 

 population, and the quantity of nutriment re- 

 quired for the sustenance of the colony, must 

 be regarded as variable factors, which in the 

 course of a day affect the weight of a hive. 

 That the weight of a hive ascertained at dift'er- 

 ent periods of the day, will furnish evidence show- 

 ing the general effect of these several influences 

 and of the activity or inactivity of the popula- 

 tion ; but it does not enable us to ascertain the 

 positive loss or gain of honey. For example (to 

 make myself more clearly understood) if a bee- 

 keeper, at a time when pasturage is plentiful, 

 weighs his hive at 9 o'clock in the morning, and 

 finds the gross weight to be 33 lbs. 10 oz., and 

 and at 9 o'clock in the evening finds the gross 

 weight to be 39 lbs. 10 oz., he would not hesi- 

 tate, in accordance with popular views, to assume 

 and assert that his hive had that day gained G lbs. 

 of honey; and this without intending to indulge a 

 spirit of exaggeration, or with any design to palm 

 off" on the ignorant as truth an unquestionable 

 error. 



According to my observations, when I ap- 

 proach my hive, at 6 o'clock in the morning, in 

 favorable weather, thousands of bees have 

 already gone forth to forage, and the hive weighs 

 from five to eight ounces less than it did on the 

 preceding evening ; and it continues to decrease in 

 weight, so that by 9 o'clock we shall occasionally 

 find a diminution reaching fully three pounds. 

 Only then does it again begin to grow heavier, 

 showing that the returning workers, with their 

 gathered stores, are gradually overbalancing the 



still issuing multitude. At about noon the 

 tlu'ee pounds apparent loss noted in the morning 

 are again made up ; and thence forward, on a 

 fine day, the hive steadily increases in weight 

 from hour to hour, till it reaches its maximum at 

 about 3 o'clock, P. M ; for though the outgoing 

 throng, though greatly diminished, still continues 

 its movement, the weight of the hive varies only 

 slightly. Unremitted observations enable me to 

 fix the weight and name the hour with much 

 precision. 



At about 7 o'clock in the evening perfect 

 quiet ensues, and the weight of the hive now 

 ascertained, compared witlr what it was found 

 to be at the same hour the preceding evening, 

 shows how much it varied after the lapse of a 

 day, and now only can we come to the conclu- 

 sion that the increase, if any, is to be credited 

 exclusively to the honej^ meantime gathered — 

 the other previously enumerated fixctors affecting 

 the weight having meantime really served to 

 diminish it. 



This relative result (since we may regard the 

 scantily introduced pollen — probably as 1 to 10 

 in propoi'tion to the honey — need not here be 

 taken in account) is the true value which must 

 serve as the basis of our calculations when the 

 pure gain of honey is to be ascertained. And 

 here let me say that 3|- lbs. is the greatest in- 

 crease which my very populous colony gave me, 

 in any one day in the last two years. 



If then, proceeding from this standpoint, we 

 would present our observations figuratively, we 

 should be struck by the remarkable uniformity 

 which the line representing the measurements 

 obvious with reference to time and weight both 

 in the general term and, when closely considered, 

 in detail also. So, for example, how in summer, 

 the decrease is rapid from the opening season 

 till towards the middle of July, and thence for- 

 ward maintains an equilibrium. And, still more 

 how, after the blooming of heather to the 15th 

 of September, the weight diminishes at first 

 rapidly then scarce perceptibly ; so tliat in both 

 years, of the diminution of five pounds in weight 

 in tlie course of the entire months, four pounds 

 were lost in the first half of the period, v/hilst 

 the loss of the remaining pound occurred in the 

 second half of the period. One might suj^pose 

 that some temperance society had here brought 

 its just apprehensions into play, and that after 

 wasting hilariously their stores in riotous living 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by Samuel Wagnor, in the office of the Librarian of Congret-s, at 



Washington. 



