1898 



GLEANINGS IN BER CULTURE. 



759 



the first egg.s of the season on the outside of 

 the chister. It's Nature's plan to lay they?;-.?/ 

 eggs of the season in the center, and it's just 

 as much her plan to lay the next further out, 

 and then further still as the brood-nest in- 

 creases in size. At least, that's the way it's 

 done ill colonies left to themselves in North- 

 ern Illinois. 



Whether interference with Nature's plan is 

 a good thing or not is another question. I 

 don't know. In your hands it may be all 

 right. If beginners are advised to spread 

 brood, in most cases I suspect the results 

 would be mischievous. 



Returning to the matter of entrances, you 

 say you tried ten with entrances l^i inches 

 deep, and ten with )^-inch entrances. It 

 would have been more to the point if you had 

 tried the four blocks ; but as far as you went 

 the proof was in the direction of establishing 

 the fact that, the larger the entrance, the 

 more swarming. It would have been more 

 satisfactory if you had given us the result as 

 to the remainder; for if the three you men- 

 tion were the only ones that swarmed with 

 the large entrances, and the other ten all 

 swarmed later, then the sum total of the proof 

 lies on the other side. But you certainly can 

 not expect to establish a general principle on 

 the say-so of those three colonies. 



My observation agrees with yours, that bees 

 with a large entrance either alight directly on 

 the cluster or else run along the floor till they 

 strike near the center of the cluster. 



Yes, distinctly I understand that fanning 

 cools nie, and that it's hotter on a sultry da}- 

 when the train stops; but I don't see what 

 that has to do with the question, unless you 

 mean that bees cool their hives by fanning — a 

 thing I never thought of disputing. But if 

 you want me to believe that they can do bet- 

 ter work fanniig with a small than a large 

 entrance, you must oflfer some proof other 

 than the bare assertion. I don't say I know 

 you're wrong, but I d like to know you're 

 right. If the bees can take in air at an en- 

 trance half an inch deep, and then by good 

 engineering drive it out through the same 

 opening, I don't see why they couldn't do it a 

 little more easily with a deeper entrance, or 

 with an entrance all around. 



You say the sections immediately above the 

 large entrance were slower in being finished, 

 and cite my objection to upper back entrances 

 as explaining wh3^ I suppose because cooler; 

 and if it's cooler for the sections, isn't it cool- 

 er for the bees ? And if cooler at the top of 

 the hive in front, doesn't that help to make it 

 cooler all through the hive ? 



I made some tests with the thermometer. 

 Except as to one point, I don't know that 

 they do any thing to help settle the question ; 

 but it may be of interest to report them. I 

 tacked on a strip over the entrance to a hive, 

 making it not more than ^'2 inch deep, and I 

 stuffed a roll of rags into the other three sides, 

 alternately trying a thermometer with these 

 three sides open and shut. Putting the ther- 

 mometer on the bottom-board, with the sides 

 all open, the temperature, Aug. 25, 9 : 15 a. m., 

 was 87°, while outdoors it was 73°. At 9 : 45, 



vdlh sides shut, it was 89°. At 10 it was 84>^° 

 open; at 10:30, still open. 79>^. This lower- 

 ing of temperature was, likely, owing to the 

 larger number of bees being afield, leaving 

 the cluster less dense below. At 10 :50, shut, 

 the temperature was 91°, the outdoor air being 

 about 15° lower. 



This shows that closing the sides made the 

 hive warmer, but there may be nothing con- 

 clusive about it. The weather was not hot, 

 and the temperature in the upper part of the 

 hive may not have acted as it did below. 



In the afternoon, the outside air being about 

 80°, the thermometer was placed on top of 

 the brood-frames. At 1:25 p. m., with the 

 sides shut, the thermometer stood at 90°; at 

 2, open, 91°; at 2:30, shut, 92;^°; at 2:50, 

 open, 92^^°; at 4:55, shut, 91°; at 5:20, 

 open, 91°. 



Now, if you can draw any satisfactory con- 

 clusion from that, you can do belter than I 

 can. At 2 : 30, with the sides shut, it was 1}4° 

 warmer than when open half an hour earlier — 

 clear proof that it's warmer with the sides 

 closed. But at 2 it was 1° warmer with the 

 sides open than 45 minutes earlier with the 

 sides shut — clear proof that it's warmer with 

 sides open. 



Aug. 30 was hot— 91° in the shade. With 

 the thermometer on the top-bars I took ob- 

 servations every 15 minutes, beginning at 2 p. 

 :m., having the sides alternately closed and 

 open. The result was as follows: Shut, 96>^°; 

 open, 97; shut, 98'^; open, 99>^; shut, 99}^; 

 open, 99; shut, dS)4 \ open 98; shut, 97)4; 

 open, 97. The outer temperature had gone 

 down to only 90° at the last observation, and 

 it looks very much as if some other influence 

 or influences were at work controlling the 

 temperature, without paying much attention 

 to whether the sides were open or shut. 



Sept. 1 was another hot day, and I dropped 

 the bulb of the thermometer into the middle 

 of the brood-nest. Result was no more satis- 

 factory. Temperature was lower in middle of 

 brood-nest, however, the highest being 97°, at 

 which it stood at 11 o'clock, whether the 

 sides were open or shut. The outer air was 

 then 88°; and when it went up to 91 outside, 

 it went down to 95 inside at 2 p. M., then rose 

 to 96 at 2 : 25. 



Evidently, it isn't an easy thing to prove 

 any thing by the thermometer — at least, for 

 me to do so ; and I may as well say frankly 

 that I supposed it would do a good deal to 

 settle the question. Just as frankly I may 

 say that I wish, Bro. Doolittle, that you could 

 give clear proof that your view is right. I'd 

 be glad to believe it, for it's some trouble to 

 hoist a hive on blocks, and would be a good 

 deal easier, and in some respects pleasanter, 

 if the hives could remain unchanged through- 

 out the season. But I can not believe that it 

 is easier for the bees to change the air with a 

 small entrance than with it open all around. 

 If there were a hole at some other place, so 

 that the air were forced through, something 

 on the principle of a tube, then I could easily 

 believe that any side opening might spoil the 

 tube. But in the present case there's nothing 

 of the kind. The air is driven out at the same 



