440 



(;LEAN1NGS in 13EE cultliue. 



July 



THE "WINTERING DIFFICULTY 



Solved at Last. 



hookah!! 



Tip T least, Bro. Clarke thinks it is, for the 

 9^^ above three headings are his own. 

 jNr' However, it were no more than fair to 

 -*'^ give him a liearino:. So, friends, our 

 friend W. F. Clarke takes the floor, 

 and we will liear what he has worked out 

 that is new : 



Friend Roof .-—Believing- that! have "lit" upon 

 tbe true prineinle of wintering bees successfully, 

 and beinp anxious to make it known as widely as 

 possible for consideration, discussion, experiment, 

 and adoption, I lose no time in sending- to the A. B. 

 J. and Gleanings an account of the matter, dif- 

 ferently vi-orded, but each embodying- an unre- 

 served statement of my discovery. I am one of 

 those who can never be satisfied until I get hold of 

 a great principle to guide and govern me in what I 

 do, and it has always been my difficulty in regard to 

 wintei'ing bees, that no method in use seemed to be 

 based on a rational and sound principle. Almost 

 the only rule laid down has been, "Maintain a uni- 

 form temperature in the hives all winter." This, 

 indeed, has been the grand mistake about winter- 

 ing, as I shall have occasion to show before I have 

 done. 



In common with most practical bee-keepers, I 

 have studied very hard at this problem of wintering, 

 and what I believe to be the true solution of it came 

 to me like a flash. I was lying in my bed the other 

 night, unable to sleep by reason of rheumatism, and 

 trying to think of something interesting enough to 

 divei-t me from the sense of pain. Amid my rumi- 

 nations, my mind went back to the days of youth 

 Avhen I was busy chopping and clearing up a bush 

 farm. In the midst of my reverie, "says I to my- 

 self, says I," "Do you ever remember cutting down 

 a tree in which a colony of bees had been winter- 

 killed?" "Never," was the instant response. And 

 then 1 quickly remembered that 1 had never either 

 heard or read of such a thing. Although such cases 

 may have happened, it is quite evident they are 

 rare, and I came to the conclusion, there and then, 

 that the true principle of wintering bees lay hid in 

 a hollow tree-trunk. 1 resolved, if possible, to dig 

 it out, and I firmly believe 1 have done it. 



Friend Root, the key to this whole mystery lies in 

 one y^ovA— hibernation. Bees hibernate in the win- 

 ter time, and their habitat must be such as to enable 

 them to do it, if they are to live and prosper. I 

 know some scientific authorities doubt whether bees 

 hibernate; but the weight of the best opinions on 

 the subject is that they do, and I shall assume this 

 to be a fact, without now going into the proof, of 

 which, however, I think there is abundance. In- 

 sects hibernate in various stages of their growth- 

 eggs, pupa, larva, imago, but never hibernate in 

 more than one. Bees hibernate in the perfect, or 

 fully developed state. Insects, like animals, hiber- 

 nate differently. Some, like the bear, sleep all win- 

 ter. Others, like the squirrel, have spells of drow- 

 siness out of which they wake at intervals, take a 

 " square meal," and then go to sleep again. These, 

 of course, lay in a store of food that they may have 

 something to eat when thej' wake up. Bees hiber- 

 nate like the squirrel. They can not, like the bear, 

 eat themselves fat in the fall, subsist all winter on 

 the adipoge tipsuen, ond then wake lean, hungry, 



and active in the spring. They must have an occa- 

 sional meal during the winter. Herein, so far as bees 

 are concerned, is the utility of occasional warm 

 spells in winter. These rouse up the little sleepei-s. 

 They are like the angel that touched Peter when he 

 was in a trance, and said, " Rise and eat!" 



Now right here, friend Root, you can see the mis- 

 take of keeping up a uniform temperature in the 

 hives all winter long. If the degree is too low, the 

 bees will sleep the sleep of death, or wake up be- 

 numbed, to eat frozen victuals which kill them. If 

 the temperature is too high, they can not go to sleep 

 at all; are kept active when they should be torpid; 

 eat too much; get the dysentery, and die. Give 

 them the tree-top conditions, and these, with their 

 own power of regulating temperatui-e, will enable 

 them to hibernate. 



What are the conditions of tree-trunk wintering? 

 Well, here are some of them, enough to go upon 

 practically. Elevation above the damp, foul gases 

 that hover at the surface to the earth; plenty of 

 pure but still air; a long hollow shaft, ventilated by 

 a crevice which forms the entrance of the bee-nest; 

 last, but not least, provision for dead bees to fall to 

 the bottom of the hollow tree, so that the bees' 

 home is not made into a cemetery or charnel-house. 

 I must not forget to add, no upward ventilation. In 

 such winter quarters, bees can use their own venti- 

 lating machinery as necessity requires, and it is well 

 known that they can, when the conditions are nor- 

 mal, vary the temperature at-will very consider- 

 ably. 



Now the question arises. Can we get up a hive that 

 will secure the same conditions substantially as 

 exist in the hollow tree in the woods? I answer. 

 We can, simply by having a movable bottom-board, 

 and an attachment underneath it similar to the air- 

 shaft of a hollow tree. I believe a flat-roofed build- 

 ing would best secure the necessary conditions, and 

 I do not see why a bee-house can not be built on 

 this principle. Have the lower story as a work-shop 

 and storehouse; ascend by a stairway to the flat 

 roof; place the hives around the outer edge, each 

 with its winter hopper and tube extending down to 

 within a foot or two of the ground. A plan of this 

 kind would give the long air-shaft, but it would 

 necessitate protection for the hives, which would 

 be very much exposed at so high an elevation. 



I am sanguine in the belief that all the essential 

 points in the hollow-tree wintering can be secured 

 without going up so high into the air. The damp, 

 foul gases hover very close to the ground; and if 

 we can get our bees up two or three feet, perhaps it 

 will answer all necessary purposes. Acting on this 

 idea, I have made a hive-stand which can be adapted 

 to any hive. Mine is calculated for a Langstroth 

 hive. The stand is simply a box about table high; 

 the bottom, a piece of iVi-inch plank 20x26 inches, 

 which is spiked to a couple of bits of round cedar 

 for sills, in order to have the least possible contact 

 with the damp, cold earth. The box is tight, with the 

 exception of four auger-holes about six inches from 

 the top, which are covered with wire gauze. Be- 

 neath the hive is a sliding- bottom-board, to be kept 

 in place during the honey-gathering season, and re- 

 moved when all danger of comb extension is past. 

 Just beneath this movable bottom-lioard, and fitting 

 tightly to the top of the stand, is a hopper, like the 

 hopper of a fanning-mill, terminating iu a hollow 

 tube, lour inches square. Dead bees, excrement, 

 etc,, elide down the flaring sifle of the hopper to the 



