THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



(i;5 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wintering Bees. 



In the cxi)ericMicc related by Mr. 

 Hester, in the American Bee Journal 

 for Fcbruar}', I cannot recognize that 

 in the cases i-eported there is bee-mahi- 

 dy. Mr. Hester remarks, that in the 

 autumn of 1808, one or two bee oums 

 perished ; the bees dying one after an- 

 other, in November. Is it not probable 

 that the colonies were queenless, and 

 that the bees perished for that cause? 

 In a normal colony, the place occupied 

 by the queen is tlie central point foi" 

 ^ tiie bees to cluster. In a queenless col- 

 ' ony, the bees, having no queen to keep 

 them compact, the cold nights kill 

 those which ha])pen to be outside of the 

 main cluster ; and soon the number of 

 bees is too much reduced to maintain 

 the warmth necessary for their exist- 

 ence. 



The surviving stocks were put by Mr. 

 Hester in a room which was too much 

 exposed to the effects of the external 

 temperature 



•of the room fell to the freezing point. 

 \and that accident, according to Mr. Hes- 

 ter, took place several times from Nov- 

 ember to the last of February, the bees 

 -were forced to eat more to maintain the 

 temperature in their cluster, and of 

 <'ourse needed to empt}' themselves; 

 i)ut as they remained four months in 

 rheir repository, they got the dysentery. 

 It is probable that the colonies would 



ofbees, canbe too warm, if there are 

 .six;ty stocks heaj)e(l u]> in it. The bees 

 become restless: fatigued l)y their ex- 

 ertions, they eat too nmch, and they 

 die of dysentery. 



But there was neither bee-malad}-, 

 nor bad hone}-. In the fii'st case, there 

 was too much cold ; in the second, thei-e 

 was unevai)orated hone}' not fit to win- 

 ter bees, unless they can go out some- 

 times to eni])ty their intestines; and 

 pi'obably too much warmth foi- them to 

 remain as quiet as it ii^ necessary for 

 their health in winter. 



Cn. I)AnANT. 



Hamilton, 111. 



For the American Bee .lournul. 



Do Bees Injure Fruit ? 



Mr. Editor; Last fall I wrote an 

 article, under the above heading, to the 

 New York Tribune, in which I stated 

 my observations, and censured that 

 wise (?) Professor Eiley for his bee-de- 

 When the temperature 1 stroying recipes and advice. But they 



did not see fit to publish it. 



Perhaps Prof. Eiley know^s all about 

 bees; so did Agassiz, and yet we know- 

 he was in error, when speaking about 

 s-u^arming, comb-building, etc. 



Had Prof. Eiley made close observa- 

 tion, he would have found that bees do 

 not puncture fruit, and would have had 

 no occasion tojjublish his ignorance, by 

 giving his cobalt recipe. He would 

 have been all jilive in the spring, had ! have benefited mankind a great deal 



Mr. Hester given them the chance of 

 emptying thcii- intestines once or twice 

 in the course of their long confinement. 



In the winter of 1870, Mr. Hester put 

 ten stocks of bees in his cellar, and they 

 Avintered in fine condition. In the same 

 ■cellar, in 1871, forty-three colonies out 

 -of sixty perished. This winter, tAventy- 

 scA'en colonies, put in the same cellar, 

 ill January appeared A^ery healthy. 



Nowhere can a bee-malady be proA-ed 

 by such facts. Certainly the unevapo- 

 rated honey, which the bees of 1871 had 

 to eat. was one of the causes of the death 

 of the forty-three colonies ; but the 

 w.irmth of the cellar Avas A'cr}' apt to 

 help in the bad result. A cellar which, 

 with ten or twent}* colonies, is of a 



more had he taken a dose of the mix- 

 ture himself, for I think avc can spare 

 such professors better than the bees he 

 has caused to be killed. 



This fall I- took a bunch of Delaware 

 grapes (the most tender variety we 

 have here), and put it on a hive, direct- 

 ly over the bees, and watched proceed- 

 ings ; but not a single berry was opened ; 

 then I broke a fcAV berries, upon which 

 they Avent immediately to Avork, suck- 

 ing them dry, thus shoAving that some- 

 thing l)esides bees does the mischief 



Now, if bees Avere so destructive to 

 fruit as some tr}* to make out, how is it 

 that so many are kept in Germany, 

 France and Italy, where fruit, especial- 

 ly grapes, is so extensively raised 



suitable temperature for the Avintering | They knoAv that bees are beneficial to 



