1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



197 



The above is the Douay, or Catholic version. I 

 prefer this version of these verses to our common 

 version. Could there be a stronger condemnation 

 of Wiley's "scientific pleasantry"? 



Dayton, O., March 8, 1888. L. L. Langstkoth. 



FOOD OF LARVAL BEES. 



PHOF. COOK TELLS US THE EFFECT OF TOO MUCH 

 WATER IN THE WINTERING CELLAR. 



R. EDITOR:— I see by last Gleanings that 

 you do not wholly understand what 1 meant 

 to explain as to food of larval bees. As I 

 said, while the queen larva is usually fed 

 the secreted food— bee-milk— to the very 

 last, the worker larv.e are fed— must be fed— some 

 pollen and probably some honey just at the last be- 

 fore the cell is scaled. If we examine closely we 

 find the digestive tube of the full-grown worker 

 larva yellow with pollen. Dufour was partly correct, 

 then, in saying that larva^ are fed on digested food, 

 for certainly honey is digested nectar. Vet Dufour 

 supposed the cream-like food— bee-milk— to be also 

 digested food,while, asSchiemenzhas so well shown, 

 this is doubtless secreted material from the ccphaTc 

 glands. 



Occasionally a queen larva is found to have some 

 of this pollen. Berlepsch suggested that this was 

 wholly accidental. 



BEES IN WINTER. 



I have just been having an experience that is in- 

 teresting to me. Your readers know that we are 

 wintering our bees this winter in our new bee-house 

 cellar. Let me say that the bees were in very fine 

 condition last fall. They also had very nice honey. 

 I never saw bees in better trim for winter. The 

 bees were put into the cellar Nov. 13, 1887. 



I supposed the cellar was so I could control the 

 temperature exactly to my liking, and was so drained 

 that I could regulate the water at will. But, 

 "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft 

 a-gley." We have had very cold weather, and long 

 continued. I was away two weeks. When I left, the 

 bees were very quiet at 38° F. As I have wintered 

 bees admirably several times at that temperature, I 

 felt easy. When! returned, the temperature was 

 down to 30° F., and the bees were disturbed and 

 noisy. This has always been my experience. When 

 a cellar tempeiature falls below 3.j° the bees are 

 disturbed. With the temperature at 38° F. ihey 

 hardly made a noise as I entered with a light. At 

 30° F. they came rushing out as soon as I entered. 

 This corroborates what I felt sure years ago was 

 true— that bees are disquieted if the temperature 

 of the cellar containing them falls below38°r. to 

 40° F. The careful researches of Newport, years 

 ago, established the same truth. 



Well, I thought that here was a chance for a valu- 

 able experiment. I would leave the cellar at the 

 same temperature, 30° F., and see if the bees which 

 were in such good trim in the fall, and provided 

 with good stores, would mind the disquieting effect 

 of this low temperature. After four weeks of this 

 temperature we had a thaw— several warm days, 

 and water at 40" rushed into my cellar. My drains 

 would not work. The temperature rose to 40° F., 

 and the bees became very quiet. Last night we had 

 a heavy rain. This morning I was early at the bee- 

 house, and my cellar was a miniature lake. Some 

 hives were floating, others were filled to within 



two inches of the top of the frames. I fixed and 

 examined all as soon as I could. To my surprise, 

 not a colony was dead, and not a sign of dysentery 

 did I see. Of course, I was most happily disappoint- 

 ed, not to say overjoyed. Is it not more than prob- 

 able that, with the bees in best condition as to food 

 and strength, they will endure even a very cold 

 temperature? Let me say, that we excluded pollen 

 from the hives as we put them up in the fall. 



I had thought I would say no more on hibernation, 

 but I think our young bee-keepers are likely to be 

 misled, and so a word ought to be spoken. This 

 winter I was at Dr. Miller's. His cellars were at 

 the regulation tempei-ature, 45° F. We carefully ex- 

 amined hive after hive, and the bees in every case, 

 if we watched patiently, could be seen to move. 1 

 examined several colonies in my own cellar, with 

 temperature at 38° F., and again at 30° F. In every 

 case a little patience would detect the bees crowding 

 into the cluster. I have several winters kept nuclei 

 in observatory hives. By careful attention I found 

 the bees were never stationary for any considerable 

 time. I say, then, that, if bees sleep in winter, 

 their slumbei-s are, in every one of the numerous 

 cases that I have examined, under very varied con- 

 ditions, very frequently disturbed. 



Bertie, in splitting wood the other day, came 

 across some black ants. They seemed utterly dead. 

 Pinching or rough treatment of any kind would 

 not arouse them at all. They were brought into a 

 warm room, and soon were wide awake and lively. 

 These ants take no food the winter through. The 

 same is true of wild bees. Now, certainly this is very 

 different from bees. The bees move and must eat, 

 or die. If we say the bees hibernate, what do the 

 wild bees, wasps, and ants do? I think the word 

 hibernate had better be used to designate the ants' 

 winter state, and quiescence or inactivity, that of 

 the bees'. If bees truly hibernate, they would not 

 consume more honey in a cellar whose temperature 

 was 32° F. than in one Avith a temperature at45°F., 

 but I am sure they do. Now, Mr. Editor, I would 

 suggest that writers for our bee-papers do not 

 write from mere closet meditation, or simply from 

 the outpourings of their inner consciousness, but 

 that they go to the bees and question them, and 

 give us facts, then we shall have less chaff. 



Let me add, that it is not strange that bees live 

 for days and even weeks without food. Their very 

 life habits— I refer to swarming— demand provision 

 against starvation in case of long fasting. I have 

 known swarms to remain clustered nearly two days. 

 This was during the active season, when their vital 

 energies were fully intact. In fall, winter, and 

 spring, then, we should suppose that, if put to fast- 

 ing, they might live and not suffer severely, even 

 for many days; for now they are inactive, it is the 

 resting season. In all our speculation about or- 

 ganisms we must remember their natural peculiari- 

 ties and habits. 



Right here I wish to refer to the article by my 

 friend Bingham, for there are few whose opinion 

 in bee-matters I value more highly. I fully agree 

 with him as to facts. T have known bees to winter 

 exceedingly well— and several cases too— where the 

 cellar in which they wintered was as light as many 

 a living-room is. Every thing all right— food, bees, 

 and temperature, and the light does no harm. But 

 let the temperature go to freezing, or rise to 5.5° or 

 60° F., say, and I should fear light. 



Now for speculation: Because ire need light, it 



