1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



285 



it be introduced, if only there be enough. 

 If the bottom be sufficiently open, the top 

 may be hermetically sealed; if the top be 

 sufliciently open, the bottom may be her- 

 meticall}' sealed. My first cellar winter- 

 ing- was with box hives; and, following the 

 lead of Quinb}', I turned them upside down, 

 making them hermetically sealed at bottom 

 and entirely open at top. To-day my hives 

 in the cellar are sealed at top, and pretty 

 wide open at bottom — a two inch space un- 

 der bottom-bars with entrance two by twelve 

 inches. A much smaller opening will an- 

 swer if there be an opening above and be- 

 low, as in the case of a comparatively small 

 entrance below with a crack above, the cov- 

 er being held up by a nail laid flat under it. 



Outdoors we can not control the tempera- 

 ture of the surrounding air, and must meet 

 conditions as well as we can. In a severe 

 climate measures must be taken to make the 

 hive warm, so as to lessen the demand on 

 the bees for keeping up the heat. The 

 change of air in the hive is. in general, 

 caused by the fact that the warmer air in 

 the hive is lighter than the outer air. In a 

 mild climate with no strong winds, a large 

 entrance at bottom, with every thing else 

 closed, may do almost as well as in the cel- 

 lar. In a cold climite, such free entrance 

 would allow more air than needed, the ex- 

 tra amount only causing more consumption 

 with its attendant ills. In a perfectly still 

 atmosphere this would not be so bad; but 

 let a strong wind prevail and the rapid 

 cooling would make too great a demand on 

 the bees. A hedge or fence may protect 

 against these winds, and the matter may be 

 helped in another way — contract the en- 

 trance below and leave a small crack above. 

 With a crack above, an entrance of two 

 square inches would allow as much change 

 of air under most circumstances, during a 

 perfect calm, as an entrance of twenty inch- 

 es without the crack above; while a strong 

 wind would have comparatively little effect 

 upon the two-inch entrance as compared 

 with its effect on the twenty-inch entrance. 

 The point is, that the small entrance be- 

 low with the crack above produces a con- 

 stant passage of air that can never be great 

 at any one time, and reduces the ill effects 

 of a strong wind to a minimum. 



A cushion of chaff or other absorbent ma- 

 terials, as they are called, over the brood- 

 nest, is supposed to allow the air to pass 

 through all its parts slowly, although ex- 

 periments across the water seem to show 

 that the benefit comes from the non conduct- 

 ing cushion retaining the heat, the air not 

 passing through the cushion but through 

 the cracks at the edges of the cushion. 



One advantage of the cushion overhead is 

 that it keeps relatively warm, and so the 

 moisture from the bees does not congeal up- 

 on it and fall in chilling drops upon the 

 cluster. 



I resist the temptation to enter at length 

 upon giving the why of the conflicting opin- 

 ions of those who are equally successful 

 with apparently opposite plans, or unequal- 



ly successful with precisely the same plans. 

 A careful application of the principles here 

 given will probably help to solve most of 

 such problems. 



For example, my correspondent says that, 

 for many years, he wintered without the 

 loss of a colony that had enough honey with 

 every thing sealed above, and an entrance 

 of one and a half square inches, adding: 

 "And I was in a zero country, too, where 

 the mercury occasionally went down to 20 

 degrees below zero, and was frequently be- 

 low zero for several days in succession. 

 Now I am told by bee men, bee books, and 

 bee- papers, that there must be ' upward ven- 

 tilation.' Can you tell me how this is? 

 what upward ventilation is? and how it can 

 be had without an ' upward draft of air,' 

 which is forbidden?" And, although he 

 does not say so, I suspect that he finds that 

 the plan that worked so well in a colder cli- 

 mate will not work so well in the warmer 

 climate of Southern Missouri. 



As already explained, the change of air 

 in the hive is caused by the difference of 

 temperature inside and outside the hive: the 

 greater that difference, the more rapid the 

 change. In his former location the cold 

 was so great that a one-and-a-half inch en- 

 trance changed the air as rapidly as the 

 bees used it: where he is now, the bees will 

 suffer without a larger entrance unless the 

 change be aided by a crack above. 



"Upward ventilation," as the term is 

 generally used, means the passage of air 

 through the hive by means of a small open- 

 ing or openings above. It can not be had 

 without an "upward draft of air." He 

 who sa3's an upward draft of air is forbid- 

 den, probably means that there must be no 

 upward passage of the air more rapid than 

 needed by the bees. 



Marengo, 111. 



[I take it, doctor, that you are a firm be- 

 liever in ventilation of some form in the 

 cellar. Some of our leading successful bee- 

 keepers, however, have argued for almost 

 no ventilation. As Mr. A. C. Miller point- 

 ed out some little time ago, probably some 

 of these non ventila.tor winter- repositories 

 were constructed in such a way that a large 

 amount of air would percolate through the 

 sides enough to maintain the necessary 

 quiet in the hives. — Ed] 



A mat to Queen-breeders ; an Interesting Article. 



BY E. F. PHILLIPS. 



In works on apiculture and in bee-journals 

 we continually see the word "fertilization;" 

 and since the word is used in two entirely 

 different meanings it may be well to define 

 it and explain more fully what takes place 

 during each act. We say that a queen is 

 fertilized when she takes her marriage-flight 

 and meets a drone, and that a worker egg 



