1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



oUS 



..Clear 



11. 



12 Kainy.... 



13 Damp 



14 Clear 



15 Showery. 



If) .... Clear. ... 

 17 ■• 



.Outside teniii-iSS". 



.Inside temp., 53° 

 (i2 

 66 



At this poiut the hibernation theory litid taken 

 pretty firm hold on me, and I had begnn to believe 

 that the temperature of the bees (ii(} sometimes 

 fall below the frcezinnr-point. But, still having- 

 doubts, I investigated, and found that the liees had 

 chang-cd their positions, on account of the foreign 

 substance in their midst, and left the thermometer 

 fully two inches from the cluster, where it had 

 doubtless been during the whole time. When it was 

 again placed in the cluster, with the temperature 

 outside at 16" above zero, it arose almost immedi- 

 ately to f^O"; and, before closing the hive, it regis- 

 tered 90° ! This knocked the hibernation theory 

 out of me so completely, that it has never returned. 

 The above table shows that the temperature outside 

 the cluster averages about '^j° above that of the 

 outside air. The bees behaved themselves tolerably 

 well after this, with the temperature rang;ng as 

 follows : 



* Near outside of clu ter. 



Owing to the varying position of the center of the 

 cluster, some observations are a little irregular; 

 but I think those taken on the ]8th, 2')th, and 20th, 

 are very nearly correct. You will notice one thing- 

 peculiar; that is, that the temperature is highest in 

 early morning, lowest at noon, and intermediate at 

 evening. This seems contrary to the natural order 

 of things; but all my experiments in co?(/ weather 

 tend to conflrm the above results. For some time I 

 was at a loss to explain this singularity; but 1 have 

 arrived at the following conclusions: 



The colder the weather gets, the more closely the 

 bees will pack themselves, and the harder will the 

 outer bees crowd for a warm corner, making, on a 

 cold morning, a knot of bees so dense as to be im- 

 pervious to cold, and which retains nearly all the 

 animal heat generated, thereby maintaining a high 

 degree of temperature. As the day advances, and 

 it grows lighter and warmer, the cluster relaxes and 

 unfolds itself more or less, to make motion possible 

 inside the cluster, in order to obtain their daily ra- 

 tions (and I think they are in almost daily need of 

 food), so that they may be able to withstand the 

 cold of another night. This, of course, would pro- 

 duce a lower temperature. 



Then, if bees hibernate at all, they must do so at 

 high temperatures; that is, the higher the temper- 

 ature of the cluster, the more complete is the 

 hibernation. I forgot to say, that the colony was 

 examined about a week after the conclusion of the 

 experiments, to ascertain whetlier or not it con- 



tained brood, and I found only a patch of eggs, 

 about the size of a dollar. 



THE CHAFF HIVE. 



In friend Bish's communication, page 128, 1886, he 

 says that I jn-oposed to change the inside dimensions 

 of the chaff hive; but, if he will refer back to my 

 article (page r~), he will find it to the contrary. 

 But, friend Hoot, why not change the dimensions, 

 making the hive 'i inch longer from back to front, 

 in uj'ppr story, thus making it possible, with the 

 ample space at the sides, to use a Simplicity body in 

 the ujiper story? I think such a change would be 

 received with great favor by bee-keepers in gen- 

 eral. It will not interfere with the usual manage- 

 ment of the hive, as the tin rabbets may still be put 

 in their places, and the wide frames may at any 

 time be used in the usual way. I think, then, 

 that the chaff and Simplicity hives will make a per- 

 fect system of hives, as the different parts of each 

 will be still more interchangeable. As you know, 

 it is a great advantage, when a swarm issues from 

 a hive, leaving incomplete sections, to be able to 

 place the story bodily on another hive; but if you 

 wish to change to a chaff hive, you have to pull the 

 frames all apart and handle them separatelj\ 



I have about concluded to change the inside di- 

 mensions I4 inch in the hives I make in the future— 

 at any rate, for my own use. This increase in 

 length will necessitate no increase in the length of 

 the siding, but only a fevv minor changes, which 

 will cause no trouble or extra expense on the part 

 of the manufacturer. E. B. Cross. 



Racine, Meigs Co., Ohio, March, 188(5. 



Frientl ('., jour experiments seem to be 

 quite conclusive, and are doubtless right.— 

 I do not know of any reason why the chaff 

 hive should not be made so a Simplicity may 

 be set down inside of it. We used them 

 this way some years ago, but it seemed to 

 be so dithcult to set the Simplicities in and 

 set them out again that we abandoned the 

 plan, and the chaff hive was contracted in 

 the way we make it now, because there 

 seemed'to be no object in making it large 

 enough to admit a Simplicity.— And now, 

 friends, as winter is gone and summer is 

 near, shall we not drop the subject of win- 

 tering, temperature, etc., for the time being? 



WHERE DOCTORS DISAGREE, WHO 

 SHALL DECIDE? 



DOES THE AEDIXION OF JIOISTLTRE TO A GIVEN VOL- 

 UME OF AIR INCREASE OR DECREASE ITS SPECIFIC 

 GRAVITY PER CUBIC FOOT? 



N the Scknii.fic American for Marcli ]8, a 

 querist, wliose initials are '' J. A. (f.," 

 asks as follows : 



1. Is it true, that moist air is lighter than drj- 

 air at all temperatures? 

 •Z. Is not moist air that is cooled to the dew-point 

 heavier than unsaturated air at the same tempera- 

 ture? 



The S(--lcntt,lic Antcrlran replies to the first 

 question : 



Moist air is always heavier than dry air at the 

 same temperature. 



And to the latter, 



Yes. 



Now, then, (Uiyofs Physical (Geography 

 contains tlie following paragraph in regard 

 to the distribufion of vapor in the atmos- 

 phere ; 



