126 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Dec. 



were in the worst possible condition, and fail- 

 ed- Could the temperature have been up to 60" 

 a few times, all would have been well. Bees 

 confined in a close room, will always raise the 

 temperature a little above that out of doors. 

 In rooms adjoining one where there was fire, or 

 they had access in some way to artificial 

 warmth, they wintered well, without an excep- 

 tion, as far as appears. When buried, or cover- 

 ed well in a snow bank, if the honey was prop- 

 erly distributed, and a good strong colony, and 

 not exposed too early to fly in the cold winds, 

 they did very well, and this may be the next 

 best situation. 



Many bees that were in a cool situation, but 

 not quite cold enough to freeze them, and no 

 warm days to intervene to invigorate them, did 

 not, of course, start any brood in early spring 

 or late winter, as they do where they have or- 

 dinary spring weather; such being set out the 

 first ^pleasant day, perhaps only moderately 

 warm, the light inducing many to fly that were 

 not thoroughly warmed, perished. The weath- 

 er remained moderate for only a day, perhaps. 

 The first hour of sunshine would bring out 

 more bees, only to perish . in the cold wind. 

 Many colonies becoming so much reduced, in 

 three weeks, as to be unable to warm up a space 

 of comb large enough to rear brood to amount 

 to anything, became discouraged, and swarmed 

 out. Nine cases in ten, they left honey and a 

 small patch of brood. It was the effect of cold, 

 nevertheless. 

 * In other cases, where the bees were kept in 



till late in spring, one month later than usual, 

 until the temperature of the weather had warm- 

 ed them in-doors, as it usually does, brood was 

 started in many of the combs, as there were 

 bees enough to nurse and protect it, and when 

 set out a less number were lost by chilly winds. 

 Such as were lost, were then replaced by the 

 young bees hatching. These bees remained 

 strong, and ready to take advantage of the ear- 

 ly yield of honey. While those reduced ones, — 

 such as were not entirely gone, — required the 

 whole summer to get into condition for another 

 winter. 



Now, is there not enough in these hints to 

 point out the way of escape ? 



Let us prepare for any emergency that the 

 coming winter may bring. Keep the bees 

 warm and dark at any rate. If uniform, per- 

 haps 45o will be nearly right, if not, experi- 

 ence will tell us. If much below that, it ought 

 occasionally to go above to balance. Yet too 

 much heat should be avoided, as they waste by 

 leaving the hive. Don't guess at the degree of 

 temperature ; a thermometer costs but little, and 

 may pay many times to get it. It may be a 

 guide to others. Investigate, and report re- 

 sults. M. QUINBY. 



St. Johnsville, N. Y. 



P. S. — Instead of sending the foregoing when 

 ready, a fortnight since, I have waited to see if 



something would not appear in the Journal 

 on this all-absorbing subject at this time. 



On page 108, Mr. Rhey inquired: "What 

 made the bees die off so the last two winters ?" 

 Mr. Hoagland says: " That is just what I want 

 to know. I attended the N. A. B. C. last win- 

 ter, to learn, if possible, a solution of that ques- 

 tion, but returned no wiser than I went." This 

 seems to imply that there was no satisfactory 

 solution ofifered, and, in fact, there was none 

 that was wholly so. 



Let us suppose the herbage was all killed in 

 a certain latitude the middle of June. What 

 killed it ? Mr. A. says : " I think it must be 

 the effect of the cold rain and snow that we 

 had last winter ; the ground was in a bad situ- 

 ation, wet or dry, or something ; the herbage 

 was too old, or too young, or the gases that 

 nourished the plants made them unhealthy." 

 Mr. B. thought it much more likely that the 

 hard frost did it all. " It was colder for several 

 days than ever known before at that season of 

 the year." All knew of the frost, and finally 

 concluded that such a degree of cold would 

 kill tender plants. Is there any parallel ? 



"Novice," on page 113, says: "We cannot 

 help feeling that Mrs. T. reads the journals to 

 as little purpose as did Mr. Q., when he sug- 

 gested that the blame might be laid to the cold 

 north winds, forgetting that bees carefully 

 housed had suffered from the bee disease just 

 about equally with those left on their summer 

 stands." I don't think I forgot any such 

 thing, from the fact that I failed to find one 

 such case to forget. If he knows of any, he 

 can say whose they were, and where to be 

 found. I have as much interest to get the 

 thing correct as he has. I claim that all are 

 not " c^efully housed," that are brought in- 

 doors. I know of many cases where they were 

 brought in, and yet suffered from the northwest 

 winds, not from its blowing directly upon 

 them, but its continued cooling blast reduced 

 the temperature surrounding them, even inside 

 of some houses, and kept it so steadily, till 

 health, if not vitality, was exhausted, and they 

 came out but little better than those on their 

 summer stands. What are quilts put on for, 

 but to keep them warm ? 



It is true that I have made experiments in 

 feeding sugar, and am pleased with the result. 

 But I have failed in my experiments to show 

 that it IS a preventive of the disease, dysentery. 

 I have fed ninety this fall from five to twenty- 

 five pounds, and have not the least confidence 

 that they will escape the disease any better than 

 those beside them that have their own stores. 

 I shall try and keep them warm, and see, and 

 hope others will do the same. 



1 have more to say to " Novice," another time. 



M. Q. 



♦-♦- 



If you get stung, remove the sting, squeeze 

 out all the poison you can, and apply hartshorn. 



