16S 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



November 



cess wintering in a cellar with a fur- 

 nace in it. I built two rooms of or- 

 dinary building paper — one with a 

 window in it to use as a root and 

 meat cellar and the other only divid- 

 ed from it by the paper, for the bees ; 

 this latter had a window blind as a 

 ventilator, or more properly speaking, 

 temperature regulator opening into 

 the main cellar. Between the win- 

 dow in the roof room and this win- 

 dow blind I could keep the bees at al- 

 most the exact temperature. If you 

 winter out of doors, pack your bees 

 the first warm day, slide up your di- 

 vision board and fill in with chaff, 

 saw dust or cut hay. Make a cushion 

 of the same three or four inches thick 

 and put on top. Place the hives in 

 a sheltered spot and either face them 

 to the north or place a board over the 

 entrance in such a way that the bees 

 can get out, but the sun cannot shine 

 in. This is done to prevent them 

 from thinking it is a warm day when 

 it is not. When they fly out chilly 

 days they soon are benumbed and 

 fall to the ground to rise no more. 

 See that the entrances are of such 

 size as to prevent the entry of mice. 

 A poor, hungry mouse, lean and bony, 

 squeezes into the entrance and has a 

 feast on honey, and becomes compul- 

 sory tenant — he is too fat to get out. 

 — B. K. M. 



HOW HONEY BEES BREATHE. 



Bees require a breathing aparatus, 

 quite as well as ourselves, and I 

 think it will astonish you when I 

 tell you how complicated it is. In 

 the first place bees have no lungs 

 like a horse or bird. They do not 

 depend upon one organ to supply the 



oxygen necessary to enable the sever- 

 al parts to perform their functions. 

 Before going further let me explain 

 that the air we breathe is composed 

 of three gases, one of which, oxygen, 

 is the element that sustains life, as 

 well as the fire which burns in the 

 grate. Life may be called a burning 

 process. 



In ourselves, our blood comes in 

 contact with oxygen within the lungs 

 snd then travels by the most delicate 

 channels to every part of our body. 

 In the bee there is a blood pump like 

 our heart. It is called the " dorsal 

 vessel," and resembles somewhat an 

 injector such as is found on every 

 locomotive, but depends on the open- 

 ing and shutting of valves, for its 

 successful operation. It leads the 

 blood received, through the several 

 ojjenings in it, to the head, whence it 

 oozes back through the whole body. 



Instead of lungs, bees have what is 

 called a tracheal system — a trachea is 

 merely an air tube — and these air 

 tubes travel in every conceivable di- 

 rection within the body. They re- 

 ceive the outside air through open- 

 ings in the body, called spiracles, 

 Adult bees have fourteen of these 

 openings. The spiracles open into 

 large sacs, from which branch out 

 the air tubes before spoken of. As I 

 before said the blood does not receive 

 the oxygen from lungs, and hence 

 these air tubes must perform this 

 life-giving function. Every part, 

 every member, however small, how- 

 ever delicate, must be reached by 

 these breathing tubes. Bees breathe 

 with a regular motion, but instead of 

 an expanding and contracting of the 

 chest, it is a lengthening and shorten- 



