372 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULf tJR^. 



June 



The bees were all set in Nov. 20. I went in the 

 next night after setting- them in, to see how they 

 ai)peared. All were quiet and nice, with now and 

 then a colony being- partially clustered outside, 

 similar to what thoy do in very hot weather in the 

 summer. Looking- at the thermometer, which is 

 always kept hang-ing- in the cellar, I found that the 

 temperature was .")0°. As the bees seemed so quiet 

 and comfortable at that degree of heat, and remem- 

 liering- that L. (.'. Root and others had recommended 

 50° as the light temperature for cellar wintering,— 

 Jra Barber even saying tliat froui()5° to 90^ was what 

 it should be,— I fell to wondering why it would not 

 be a good plan to keej) the temperature at an even 

 .")0°, if possible, instead of letting it go gradually 

 down to 42°, as it always did after the heat, caused 

 by the excitement of tiie bees during the process of 

 setting in, had sulisidcd. This certainly woiild be 

 nice for the nuclei, I tliought, so I told Mrs. D. 1 was 

 going to try an experiment with the bee-cellai", by 

 ])lacing an oil-stove between the two doors nearest 

 the cellar; and by turning the wicks up or down I 

 could regulate it to j)erfection. She expostulated, 

 by saying that she thought I was i-isking too much, 

 for heretofore I had never attempted to experiment 

 with more than two or three colonies at a time; and 

 thus if the experiment proved a failure 1 had but a 

 small amount to pay for the knowledge gained. I 

 told her it would hardly seem that L. C. Koot and 

 others could be mistaken; and if I tried the thing at 

 all, I must try the whole, for there was no way to 

 try a few. She reluctantly consented. So the next 

 day I placed the stove between the doors ; and as the 

 temperature began to lower in the cellar, I lighted 

 the wicks of the stove. At first I had to turn the 

 blaze very low, in order not to get the temperature 

 higher than 50° ; but after a little it took more of a 

 blaze. I soon ascertained that I wanted to keep the 

 temperature at 77° between the doors, to have it 50° 

 in the cellar; so after this I went into the cellar only 

 twice a month, that being on the 1st and 15th of 

 each month. I had no difiiculty in controlling the 

 temjjerature to within a degree or two; and as zero 

 weather came on, the sight of the condensed vapor 

 from the upper ventilator, rolling off like a cloud of 

 smoke from a chimney over a wood fire, made me 

 feel quite exultant over my experiment, for nearly 

 all the damp, foul air was being carried off' from the 

 cellar, to perfection. 



I had no thought but that the experiment would 

 prove a success till Jan. 15th, when I happened to 

 think that I would look at the bees under the quilt 

 at the top of the hive. Those clustered below the 

 frames, and on the outside of the hive, seemed so 

 quiet that I supposed those inside would be in that 

 semi-dormant state they always were in in the cellar 

 in the winter; but, to my sui-prise, as soon as I 

 raised the quilt they were ready to fly at the light, 

 and on to me, instead of being apparently lifeless. 

 I left the cellar feeling a little disheartened, but 

 thought that, of course, the 8° higher temperature 

 would cause them to be thus lively. February 1st 

 I found dead bees thickly strewn on the cellar 

 bottom, of which, previovis to this there had been 

 far less than I had ever known before, and most of 

 those clustered outside had disappeared. I began 

 to feel despondent over the matter, but thought if 

 I then took the stove away I should surely lose the 

 bees, so I kept the Are going the same as I had. 



The 15th of February matters were still worse; 

 and on the first of March several were dead, while 



the dead bees on the cellar bottom were nearly two 



inches deep. I now took the stove out, for I saw It 



would be sure death to all if I kept the temperature 



longer at 50°. By the 15th of March the temperature 



had gone down to i';", and on April first it stood at 



! 45°. I now began to set them out, and, much to my 



[ suri)rise, I found, upon taking the frames out of 



i those which had died first, that the temperature had 



lieen high enough so that the moth larva- had taken 



possession of the combs, spun their cocoons, and 



passed to the chrysalis state, and some even to 



moths. Ui)on getting all set out about April 20th, T 



found that four-fifths of the full colonies were dead, 



while three-fourths of the nuclei were alive. 



Well, 1 have learned something; Imt the cost is 

 greater than I wished to pay. It would have been 

 more jileasant to have jjassed over this without 

 telling of it, but 1 think it no more than just that T 

 give all my reverses as well as my success. I give 

 the above as a caution to all. If you have a plan of 

 successful wintering, stick to it, and don't be so 

 foolish as I have been in trying to learn something 

 good, to try an uncertainty. In the above I have 

 given the facts, and probably ditterent opinions will 

 exist as to the cause of the failure. My opinion is, 

 j that the bees were uneasy inside of the cluster, and, 

 I by a constant stirring, wore their life away, so that 

 by the middle of .January they began to die of old 

 age, thus lea\ing their hives as all old bees do when 

 the temperature is high enough so they can. 

 Some of the hives did not have twenty bees left in 

 them, they all went out so clean. In one I found 

 eight dead bees and the queen in a little cluster, 

 while, scattered over the combs, were nine more. 

 Out of all this loss there was one very noticeable, 

 and, to me, quite consoling fact, which was, that in 

 this cellar I had several colonies whose queens I had 

 purchased or exchanged for last June and July, 

 also some Cyprian colonies, and quite a large num- 

 ber of hybrids. Nearly all the above died, while the 

 larger proportion of my best Italians, which I have 

 spent years in breeding, survived. In this I have 

 some consolation at least. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y.. May 12, 1884. 



Well, friend D., it seems a little singular 

 to think that you and friend Hutchinson 

 have both lost, Avhen others have done so 

 well, and also that you both lost by cellar 

 wintering, if so we should term it. I confess 

 I am a little surprised to think that you 

 should make so rash an experiment, and I 

 am glad to know that your good wife did 

 protest against it. I tried artificial heat in 

 the house-apiary a good many years ago, and 

 I thought my coal-oil stove, or, rather, a 

 large coal-oil lamp, was just the thing ; but 

 my bees in the lioiise-apiary all jilayed out 

 about as yours did, while those outside, that 

 were let "alone, got along all right. 1 am 

 glad tliat both of you come out so frankly 

 and tell us of your reverses, and I heartily 

 approve of your injunction to the xV B C 

 class, to let well enough alone. I think it 

 quite likely, however, that L. C. Root, with 

 liis arrangement for getting a temperature 

 of .")U-, would get along all riglit. Are you 

 sure you had a sub-earth ventilator that gave 

 asiitlk'ient volumeof air for so many colonies, 

 and with a temperattu-e a few degrees higher 

 than you had formerly kept it ? Would not 

 plenty of fresh air have made it all right ? 

 Of course, this is merely a suggestion. 



