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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 2, 



As no record of the discussions was kept, it will avail 

 nothing to give the qnestinns aslft, but they were ably discust 

 by O. O. Poppletou, of Florida; \V. Couse, R. F. Holter- 

 mann, R. McKnight, I. Overholt, and M. B. Holmes, of Onta- 

 rio ; F. Danzenbaker, of the District of Columbia; Dr. H. 

 Basse and Dr. A. B. Mason, of Ohio ; and S. A. Niver, C. R. 

 Isham and E. U. Sturtevant, of New York. 



During the discussions Pres. York, Ur. Miller, Rev. E. T. 

 Abbott, E. Whitcornb, and others, arrived. After a brief re- 

 cess, and hand-shaking, Pres. York called the convention to 

 order, and the discussion of questions was continued till ad- 

 journment at noon. 



FIRST DAY — Tuesday Aptkbnoon Session. 



The convention was called to order by Pres. York at 1:45 

 o'clock. 



Mr. O. L. Hershisher had a piano placed in the hall, and 

 Dr. Miller was requested by the President to see if he could 

 tell what it was there for, and without answering " I don't 

 know," he at once led off with the "Bee-Keepers' Reunion 

 Song," as printed in the program, and all who could sing 

 seemed to try to see how much they could help the Doctor. 



At the conclusion of the singing Mr. R. F. Holtermann, of 

 Ontario, Canada, read the following paper, entitled. 



Pure Air, Vcniilalioii, and Arlilicial Heat iu tlie 

 Wiiilcring ur ttcc«. 



During the summer of 1S95 I had the good fortune to 

 visit the apiaries and home of one of our foremost and most 

 enterprising Canadian bee-keepers, C. W. Post, of Ontario. 

 Mr. Post exprest great confidence in artificial heat for cellar 

 wintering. He was kind enough to give me his ideas, and the 

 system he thought it would be well to follow, and as a result, 

 a very thorough test was made during the winter of 1895- 

 96, and again during the winter of 1896-97. 



I am perfectly well aware that a great many have applied 

 fresh and pure air in the wintering of bees, and with greater 

 or less success. I am also aware that artificial heat has been 

 applied, the instances on record are, however, less frequent, 

 and I do not know of any who for a series of years has made 

 a success of this, nor do I know of anyone who is constantly 

 using artificial heat and fresh air to replace the air made im- 

 pure by the bees. A combination of these will lead to suc- 

 cess. In the application of pure air the great difficulty has 

 been regularity of current, and regularity of temperature. 

 When cold outside it is necessary to exclude, or partially ex- 

 clude, outside air to keep the cellar the proper temperature ; 

 this we know leads to foul air. If this cold fresh air is allowed 

 to enter, the temperature falls, and the bee-keeper is often at 

 a loss to know which of the two evils is the lesser. 



Again, when the outside temperature is about the same as 

 the inside, there is a tendency to stagnation, and the atmos- 

 phere in the cellar becomes vitiated, the bees are correspond- 

 ingly restless and proportionately worn out and aged. Sub- 

 earth ventilation has been tried, but in this tjje above difficul- 

 ties have presented themselves to a lesser or greater degree, 

 and many have used them for a time, in the end abandoning 

 these methods. 



To cheer and comfort the fraternity (if comfort can be de- 

 rived by having brethern in tribulation), 1 may in passing say 

 that dairymen who require accurate temperatures and degrees 

 of moisture in ripening cheese have experienced all our per- 

 plexities, and those advanced in their calling are studying this 

 question as we are. 



What we require, is to be able to control temperature, and 

 to secure a cheap and practical power by means of which we 

 can secure a steady ventilation, or, in other words, draw or 

 push atmosphere. For some years my thoughts ran in the di- 

 rection of electricity, and altho it is not yet within the range of 

 the practical, I believe the time is not far distant when by a 

 system of storage batteries we will at a nominal outlay through 

 windmills, develop electric power which can be used as required 

 for power, heat and light, and by means of electric currents 

 ventilators will open and shut, heat be applied or cut off auto- 

 matically, as temperatures rise and fall in the cellar. But for 

 the present, by means of artificial heat we have the power to 

 force currents in whatever direction we may desire. The same 

 heat also serves to regulate the temperature, and here we have 

 an element within the reach of the practical. 



The first test was conducted under the following condi- 

 tions : A large stone cellar was divided Into five parts, four 

 being used for the bees, and these repositories communicated 

 with one another by means of doors, and also by means of 

 openings 14 Inches square near the top of the room, and through 

 these openings the pipe extended ran. The size of the pipe 

 was 6 Inches, the balance of the openings of course allowed a 

 circulation of air from one room to another. 



A stove called the "Tribune," was placed in the first room 

 and near the cellar door which commuuicated with the outside, 

 and through this floor the fresh air from the outside had access. 

 The air in its natural course by means of the opening.* around 

 the stovepipe past from room to room, and finally in the fourth 

 room past out by means of a similar opening in the chimney — 

 the same chimney into which the regular pipe entered. This 

 chimney had in addition, entering it, a pipe from the stove 

 used in the living-room above. 



The fuel used at first was wood, but the pipe was too hot 

 and irregular, and it resulted in more or less odor from the 

 pipe, particularly the last portion which became cool before 

 entering the flue. Stove coal was used and the fire kept up 

 for 3X mouths ; stove coal was the size, and 2,550 pounds 

 used. 



There were 70 colonies in Part 1, 75 in Part 2, 80 in 

 Part o, and in Part 4. 75. The bees were put In Part 1, Oct. 

 26 ; Part 2, Nov. 20 ; Part 3, Nov. 21 ; and Part 4, Nov. 22. 



In the records (with one exception) the variations in tem- 

 perature were very slight. The night of Feb. 14, the fire went 

 out, and the next morning the cellars registered as follows: 

 Part 1,138 J, Parts 2 and 3, 40^, and Part 4, 42=. You will 

 notice that the temperature was raised by the bees as it past 

 from cellar to cellar. There was a wet and dry bulb ther- 

 mometer in each cellar, and the temperature half way between 

 the floor and ceiling was as follow^ : 



The difference in temperature of top and bottom of Part 2 

 was three degrees ; in Part 4, six degrees. In Part 4, there 

 was a fire in the room above ; in Part 2, this was not the case. 

 I draw attention to this as some may consider these variations 

 sufficient when taking the temperature of a cellar. You will 

 notice that Parts 1 and 4 dry bulb both stood at 46^, but the 

 wet In Part 1, the first cellar into which the pure air past, 

 stood at 43'-, and Part 4, at 453; j,)tg [jjjg tjjg ^\^ went after 

 being through the other three cellars, the added moisture we 

 would expect to have been expelled by the bees in the previ- 

 ous cellars. Moisture and temperature were taken, but how 

 about the impurity ? I think I can give you several practical 

 Indications of this, at least the weight of evidence tends to 

 show that pure air is an important factor. 



The bees in Part 1 cellar appeared to be quieter than in 

 Part 4 ; leaving a lamp burning for even a half hour in Part 1 

 the bees never flew to the light in Part 4 ; altho they did not 

 fly to any great extent to the light there was a tendency in this 

 direction. In fact, all through the winter they were more rest- 

 less in the last cellar, and to prevent great injury to the bees, 

 fresh air from another source was allowed to enter Part 4 cel- 

 lar. 



There was no perceptible difference in the first three cel- 

 lars — the bees could be seen clustering quietly in Part 1, some 

 of the hives being within 7 feet of the stove. A thorough in- 

 spection was made March 19, the contents of the hives being 

 examined at the entrance, and upon lifting cushions and quilts, 

 when possible, not the slightest indication of mold or damp- 

 ness could be detected. Only two colonies showed the least 

 sign of dysentery, and these had bees whose queen had shown 

 symptoms of the same disease the winter before, and were kept 

 purposely to see if they would have the disease again. 



Part 1 cellar contained 60 colonies, with bottom-boards 

 on the hives as on the summer stands, and entrance full width. 

 Fifteen had 2-inch rims placed under the brood-nest. 



Part 2 contained 50 hives, with the back ends of the hives 

 3 inches higher than the front, and the brood-chamber % Inch 

 from the bottorr-boards, and 25 colonies with 2-inch rims 

 under the brood-nest. 



Part 4 had 75 colonies, all the backs of hives raised % 

 inch from the bottom-boards. 



All the hives were covered with acloth, and over the cloth 

 one Inch of sawdust. The bees were placed on their summer 

 stands April 7, 8, 9 and 11. As to method of adjusting en- 

 trances and bottom-boards, there appeared to be no great dif- 

 ference in results. With the exception of several starved and 

 mice-destroyed colonies, every one came through alive and in 

 good condition. The Indications of good wintering were : 



1st. Their quiet condition. 



2nd. Bees clustered compactly. 



3rd. Individual bees did not fly to the light from the 

 stove, lamp or outside door through which the fresh air had 

 access. 



4ih. There was no brood in the hives when placed on 

 their summer stands. 



The air passing from cellar to cellar Is not a condition to 

 bo desired, but it served as a splendid object lesson to the bee- 



