Vol. XIV. 



MAY 1, 1886. 



No. .9 



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NOTES FROM THE BANNER APIARY. 



No. 77. 



THE WINTERING PHOBI.EM. 



TN thp article quoted last month from Air. Qninby, 

 j^f it was apparently sliown that the I'ccdiiiji- of 

 ^r sugar did not prevent diarrhea. Mr. Quinby 

 ■*■ did not say so, but it is presumable that there 

 was bee-bread in the combs, and that the bees 

 were wintered out of doors. Such being- the case. 

 the trouble is easilj' accounted for, at least by some 

 of the leaders in the " Pollen Theory," by sa.ving 

 that the temperature was so low that the Lees 

 sought and consumed the liee-bread. 



Dr. Joslin says that the temperature should be 

 kept about 40° in the fore part of the winter, in or- 

 der that the bees may remain in that quiet state 

 that Mr. Clarke calls hibernation, ^^;hich is so con- 

 ducive to their health. Later in the season, when 

 they have commenced breeding, and are more live- 

 ly, he would raise the temperature, a Ja Hoardman, 

 to 45", or perhaps .50°. I do not know but I agree 

 with this. I would say, however, that some of my 

 colonies were nearly as (luiet when I took them 

 from the cellar the middle of April' as they were in 

 December. Dr. Joslin says, that "bees will not eat 

 pollen when kept warm enough," hence the theory 

 vanishes. Yes, but suppose they are ?(o( kept warm 

 enough, what then? And suppose that the honey 

 is full of nitrogenous matter, what then? No one 

 has claimed that pollen would cause dysentery 

 among bees unless they consumed it. How shall we 

 prevent its consumption? is the question. Shall 

 we remove it from the hive, or is it possible to keep 

 the temperature at such a point as to prevent its 



consumption? Perhaps a combination will answer. 

 We will bring the bees through, to the close of the 

 hone.y season, in nearly a staiving Condition, feed 

 them sugar, then hcep them warm. I have just been 

 back and read Mr. Doolittle's account of how he 

 warmed up his bee-collar, by artificial l:eat, to .50°. 

 It was HI the fore part of the season that he did this. 

 I can not help wondering-if the result would not have 

 been different if the heat had been used in the lat- 

 ter part instead of the fore part of the winter. 



You say, Mr. Editor, that your use of artificial 

 heat proved disastrous in the house apiarj'. At 

 what degree was the mercury kept, and at what 

 part of the winter was it employed? I have been 

 corresponding with Oliver Foster. He says his 

 house-apiaries are from warm to Imt according to 

 the ventilation, and during the past winter he has 

 lost only 2 colonies out of 296. He has tried sub- 

 earth ventilation in connection with house-apiaries, 

 and abandoned it on account of expense and m.s«-. 

 lensncHK. 



I put 25 colonies in my cellar, under my kitchen, 

 last lall. Some had natural stores, some sugar 

 stores, some no bee-bread {one was overloaded with 

 it), some were com parativel.y free from bee-bread, 

 some were prepared early, some late, some later, 

 and some latest, etc. The temperature was varia- 

 ble. It would average about 45'; in lact, there is 

 where it was most of the time. Some cold mornings 

 it would be found at 38°; in two hours, however, it 

 would be back to 45°. Two mornings it was at ;r>°. 

 In warm afternoons it would run up to .50°. There 

 is only a single door between the cellar and the out- 

 er ai The cellar is damp. It was visited several 

 times a daj;, scmctimcs with a light. Quite a good 

 many bees came out and died upon the floor. One 



