1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



137 



kind of god-father to protect the clus- 

 ter from the inclement rigors of win- 

 ter which prey upon and in many 

 cases sap the last atom of warmth and 

 vitality from the cluster. 



In saying the cold gets in slowly, 

 and out more slowly, it must not be 

 forgotten that there is no frost nor 

 frozen material nor moisture in nor 

 about the packing case. The ideal 

 packing material would be of a 

 porous, dry nature, and a good non- 

 conductor of heat and cold, and one 

 that will exchide as nearly as possi- 

 ble all the air from 'between the hive 

 and packing case. Right here lies the 

 secret of success of insulation, in us- 

 ing a material that excludes most of 

 the air and yet is a good non-conduc- 

 tor of heat and cold. Exclusion of air 

 from insulation prevents fluctuation of 

 temperature. When all conditions are 

 right the insulated colony will have all 

 hive walls and cloth cover dry enough 

 that you can strike a match upon 

 them any day in winter. It is but 

 little short of crime to leave bees 

 e.xposed to the inclement rigors of 

 winter so they will be forced to fairly 

 drench themselves with moisture from 

 respiration, from laboring so hard to 

 keep warm. This condensed moisture 

 given off from cluster while violently 

 exercising will saturate their cloth 

 cover, combs and inner cover of hive 

 and often run out of hive and make 

 a puddle on the ground. This damp 

 condition within the hive is hard on 

 bee life, the same as it would be on 

 people. When kept warm, their quiet 

 state of rest prevents moisture forma- 

 tion. 



In missing an opportunity for flight 

 I must say that my findings have been 

 different to that of Friend Burdick. 

 My bees are comfortable and easy 

 every hour of the winter, and when 

 the sun shines out warmly they are 

 ready for a good voiding flight. Theo- 

 retically, he may be right in saying 

 bees come out more readily from 

 the single-wall hive than from the 

 packing case, but the reasonable ap- 

 plication of science has proven the 

 ideal wintering conditions to be where 

 they appro.ximate that perfect state 

 of quiescence, for in its last analy- 

 sis, good wintering means nothing 

 more nor less than the nearest possi- 

 ble approach to absolute quiescence. 

 Seldom, if ever, does a month pass in 

 this State without a flight from pack- 

 ing case, but possibly it is because our 

 bees are of a rustling kind, though I 

 doubt it. It is alleged that the pack- 

 ing case keeps them hidden away so 

 far from the light that they miss their 

 voiding flight on many nice days; but 

 take it from me that you can trust 

 them for that. You can no more keep 

 them indoors on a suitable day than 

 you can keep a bunch of children in 

 the house on. a fine warm day after a 

 bad spell of weather. In fact, we feel 

 that our bees fly more than is neces- 

 sary in winter when there is several 

 inches of snow and when things are 

 frozen hard. It is just possible that 

 some folks may have lazy bees ; if so, 

 better change the strain. 



Relative to brood-rearing out of 

 season, we have never noticed one 



case where there was much brood be- 

 fore there was natural pollen avail- 

 able, and from then on there has al- 

 ways been a regular development of 

 brood, unless something out of the 

 ordinary prevented. 



As to the neighbor whose bees win- 

 tered poorly from insulation, some 

 essential was neglected, and proper 

 conditions did not ol)tain. It is diffi- 

 cult to get things just right the first 

 time, and a person seldom makes the 

 same success at first as later by ex- 

 perience. 



The atmosphere within the hive 

 must be dry, fresh and pure, and yet 

 maintained at an even temperature 

 wliich will give the bees comfort and 

 ease with a minimum cluster tem- 

 perature of 57 degrees and a maxi- 

 mum of not much above that. If there 

 is any way to obtain thvs in cold cli- 

 mates without some form of insula- 

 tion we are an.xious to get the formula. 

 The cellar is one form of insulation, 

 also a number of other methods are 

 in use, but insulate you must for best 

 results. 



The bare gunnysack alone for win- 

 ter compares with a warm cloth cover 

 with 12 or more inches of warm, dry 

 insulation on top of it, similar to a 

 luan sleeping under a sheet in zero 

 weather, while the other fellow is 

 snugly covered with sufficient blan- 

 kets to keep him comfortable, or 

 with the modern "Seemore" ball 

 gown compared with the comfort of 

 a sealskin overcoat. In each case 

 one generates and gives off as much 

 heat as the other, the difference bt 

 ing in the conservation of that heat 



-Actual experiments of science have 

 proven that a wind blowing 20 miles 

 an hour will blow through a 13-inch 

 brick wall, and due to this fact it is 

 unreasonable to claim that in zero 

 weather bees will be comfortable 

 within a one-inch wall, and some with 

 cracks and holes in them. 



One pound of honey will produce 

 1.485 calories — the calory being the 

 unit of heat required to raise the 

 temperature of one gram of water 

 1 degree C. This means that the 

 pound of honey will produce enough 

 energy heat to raise the temperature 

 of one gram of water 2,673 degrees F., 

 or raise the temperature of 2,673 



grauis of water 1 degree F. Take 45 

 pounds of honey for the average col- 

 ony — this being the amount recom- 

 mended by the Bureau of Entomology 

 — ^and when consumed you will find 

 the colony has generated and given 

 off enough energy heat to raise the 

 temperature of 120,285 grams of water 

 1 degree F. In view of this fact I 

 fail to understand how a man thor- 

 ouglily grounded in theory and prac- 

 tict can consistently claim that it is 

 not beneficial to conserve all this ani- 

 mal heat for the comfort of the clus- 

 ter. 



It has been proven through scientific 

 experiments that live stock will reap 

 as much benefit from 2 pounds of food 

 when they are warmly housed as they 

 will from 3 to 4 pounds when kept 

 out in bad weather. Then does not 

 the same principle hold true with 

 bees? 



Were it not impolite and lacking in 

 courtesy, I would say that the claim 

 tliat insulation is a refrigerator that 

 keeps bees Chilled and causes heavy 

 losses is a fallacy, for in reality this 

 fallacious statement is harmful to the 

 undecided man who is earnestly 

 casting around for a better method 

 to tide him over the winter losses. No 

 theory is stronger than the actual re- 

 sults it will give through scientific ex- 

 periments. 



I have been making experiments 

 with wintering some colonies in cel- 

 lar, some in packing cases and some 

 on their summer stands unprotected. 

 As a rule those in cellar and those out- 

 side do not vary much in final results, 

 while those kept insulated all year 

 give a marked advantage over the 

 ones taken out of packing in spring, 

 and the ones in packing case from 

 fall to spring do better "than the cel- 

 lared bees. 



It must be reinembered that the de- 

 tails of insulating can not be carried 

 out in the same manner in all locali- 

 ties. In a dry region you triay put 

 your insulation directly on the ground, 

 being careful to prevent all moisture 

 from getting under, but in a region of 

 much precipitation the packing case 

 must be raised well up from the 

 ground. One can. insulate anywhere 

 where hay or forage will keep dry in 

 the barn, but in exceptionally humid 



Some colonies produced 300 pounds of clover and basswood honey in the apiary of F. J. Thurn, 



Edgewood, Iowa, in 1920. 



