IS'.fJ 



liLKA.M.Ni.N l.N KKK tUl.TURE. 



881 



writor has discarded tlic whole of tliem. be- 

 lieving tliero is not enousli siaiiied toeonipen- 

 sate for tlie trouble. 



Tliat tlie bees would die witiiiii an ineli or 

 less of siieh pussaiiew ays, as s|)ol<eii of above, 

 and ttiat stu-h death of bees rarely oeeiiired ex- 

 cept dnriiii: tiie liist heavy freezi' each fall. I<d 

 me to investjirate tin' matter closely, said in- 

 vestigation proving to my mind that these bees 

 died fnnn lack of vitality (or old age) rather 

 than fioin the cause assigned. Tsnally we 

 have cool cloudy weather from two to four 

 weeks before the tirst severe cold, so that the 

 old b(H>s lio not leave the hive to any extent to 

 die. as they do all through the siimnn'r months, 

 so that the number of dead bees dying from 

 this cause would be considerable, providing 

 none were chilled. Hnt at this time of year, 

 instead of dying at once these old bees seem to 

 linirer along for a i-liance to get (nit of tin' liivc 



gain of dead bees seemed to be made among the 

 combs with each expansion and contraction, 

 while the advocates of these; wintc^r passage- 

 ways state that this loss is kept up ev(^ry time 

 it warms up and turns cold again, all winter. 



There is one way to prove all these things; 

 and that is, iiy setting apart a certain number 

 of coloiues and making passageways through 

 the combs, whih; another number like the Hrst 

 are left without. A careful comparison of the 

 two lots, during tin- ivfuAe winter, will tell who 

 is corn'ct in this matter. 



Borodino, N. V.,Nov. 17. (I. M. Duouttle. 



[Mr. Doolittle may be and probably is right 

 regarding the g(Mieral cause of small knots of 

 bees dying away from the cluster. Some three 

 or four years ago, in a chaff hive a whole col- 

 ony died on the combs. It was a very cold 

 w inii'f. and the bees ])robably, durin<r a severe 



111 Al DIKI) ().\ A COMI! OUinX*. WINTKK. 



10 die. and so gather in little clusters of two, 

 three, six, or more, in a place, where they re- 

 inain in a sluggish state till caught by extreme 

 cold, or a chance is offered for a flight. 



I well recollect one year when a fine warm 

 day occurred iinmediately preceding the first 

 very cold weather. The bees all fiew nicely, 

 and at evening I was surprised to find sluggish 

 bees clinging to th<; board walks, fences, etc., 

 all about, while close examination showed 

 them all around on the grass and ground. This 

 season I had the same thing occur, only to a 

 far greater extent, as the most of the colonies 

 with which I go into winter quarters are com- 

 posed of united nuclei, hence had many old 

 bees in the hives. After their flight the 14th of 

 November (the 23d day of October being their 

 last previous flight). I found little knots of bees 

 all about on the corners of tht; hives, on the 

 grass, ground, and walks, to an e.xtent beyond 

 what 1 ever saw before. When I saw these 

 knots of bees several years ago. I believed then, 

 as I do now. that I had discovered the real 

 cause of the nuitter. and, sure enough, no little 

 clusters of dead bees were to be found about in 

 the hive that winter, nor do I think there will 

 be this winter, but all were clustered compact- 

 ly for winter without passageways. Then, 

 again, I have often noticed that these little 

 knots of bees were left to die only with the 

 first contraction of the cluster, as afterward no 



" cold snap," starved to death, although there 

 was plenty of good sealed sugar stores within 

 two inches of the cluster. It was a nice large 

 colony, and the bees were scattered over the 

 combs as natural as life. One could scarcely 

 believe thetn to be dead, so natural were they. 

 It occurred to us that we could secure a good 

 picture, because, you know, they would "hold 

 still;" but the result is not as satisfactory as we 

 expected to get. A glauce at the picture, which 

 has not heretofore been printed, shows no honey 

 in the comb, but there were stores, and plenty 

 of them, in the next two combs. Evidently 

 these bees died of starvation. No doubt many 

 of our readers, in outdoor wint(>ring, have wit- 

 nessed the .same. In all our experience we have 

 scarcely one out of 2{X) colonies die in this way.] 



THE WINTERING PROBLEM (1) IN CALIFOR- 

 NIA. 



WI.VTKi: FI-OKA FOB Hi;KS — WHAT, AND WHEN IT 

 OPENS UP. 



In most of the States of our I'nion the winter- 

 ing })roblem is the most serious one which con- 

 fronts the bee-keeper; but in the warm climate 

 of California and of the (iulf States, " winter- 

 ing '"does not rise to the dignity of a problem. 

 Even in these places, however, there are some 



