10 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Jan. 1 



this hive has a three-inch eke placed be- 

 neath the inner or brood-frame box, allow- 

 ing that amount of aerating space below the 

 winter cluster. 



Condensed moisture settling on the inner 

 ceiling, or even on the walls, of such a hive 

 as I have described, is rarely if ever observ- 

 ed; and, indeed, I think it is next to an im- 

 possibility, during even a continuance of 

 zero weather, or in course of a prolonged 

 snowstorm, when the hives are buried in 

 snowdrifts for weeks together. Some add a 

 bottom ventilator capable of being opened 

 or shut when desired; but I have never yet 

 discovered any need of its use, although in 

 a moister climate with a higher temperature 

 at times it might work for good. Neither 

 do I use a Hill or any other device for the 

 tops of frames, as there is a tendency to 

 draft unless coverings are extra carefully 

 attended to; but I leave on all brace-combs 

 above frames during the winter to provide 

 winter passages for the shifting cluster to 

 work around to new sources of nectar if they 

 require it when long confined. 



I do not adopt an antagonistic attitude 

 toward sealed covers, as I have wintered 

 bees here safely in my own Langstroth hive, 

 but not with such an ideal measure of suc- 

 cess; and I have now provided a lift, and 

 practice the more successful plan with it. 

 I tried American oilcloth unsuccessfully. 

 Boards placed close over packing proved an 

 evil. So did such materials as old maga- 

 zines used liberally. Glass quilts overhead 

 had a fair trial. Bees came out fairly fresh 

 and strong; but the expense as well as the 

 worry entailed taught me to discard them 

 as inferior all around. Convinced as I am 

 that the three points I have touched on all 

 tend toward successful wintering I submit 

 them to your readers, and trust something 

 may be done to test their value on your 

 side. The wintering problem is a trying 

 one at best, and every one who provides 

 some food for thought advances the solution 

 one step further. 



Gleanings advocates a vestibule or out- 

 er chamber in connection with cellar win- 

 tering, whereby the chill outer air is modi- 

 fied before it reaches the inner room in 

 which the hives are deposited. In general, 

 bee-cellars are below dwelling-houses, or 

 have some workroom above; consequently 

 these apartments are ideal winter recepta- 

 cles, because the inner sanctuary is aerated 

 gradually, pure air being permitted to enter 

 only after its severe temperature has been 

 raised to something approaching 45°. Most 

 consider this works most successfully for 

 the bees' well-being. 



Now, here is this W. B. C. hive with a 

 layer of pure air above, below, and all round 

 on every side of the inner body boxes. The 

 chill is taken off the fresh air previous to 

 its entrance, so that no rude lowering of 

 temperature attends the entrance of the 

 volume of air carried into the hive interior. 

 The dead air all round the brood-nest body 

 secures an equable temperature, while the 

 deep space overhead, aided by the ventilat- 



ing cover, allows the vitiated air to be dis- 

 sipated almost insensibly. The idea of a 

 "lukewarm" air-space around the brood- 

 nest body already exists with you in a crude 

 elementary form in the system practiced by 

 some bee-keepers in Northern States where 

 they "clamp" their hives, and, to a cer- 

 tain extent, in a modified form when they 

 enclose their hives in winter cases. 

 Banff, Scotland. 



NATURAL SELECTION AND DISEASES OF 

 BEES. 



The Meaning of Immunity; Why Certain Strains 

 of Bees Become Immune. 



BY G. W. BUIiliAMORB. 



The majority of bacteria obtain the nutri- 

 ment necessary for the carrying-on of their 

 vital functions from dead animal or vegeta- 

 ble matter which they break up into simple 

 compounds. Some of them are found in 

 the cavities of living animals where they 

 lead an apparently harmless existence with 

 no power of invading the living tissues. 

 Others have developed this power and can 

 attack living protoplasm. This latter class 

 are the pathogenic or disease-producing 

 bacteria. 



Some pathogenic bacteria are capable of 

 leading a harmless existence on dead mat- 

 ter, but set up disease when they gain an 

 entry to the living body. Others are incapa- 

 ble of growth apart from the host except 

 under highly artificial conditions; and as 

 their object is to live and multiply, it is ob- 

 vious that the death of the host, although 

 caused by the bacteria, is a misfortune 

 which tells against them. 



The power to resist bacterial invasion is 

 an attributewhich varies with the individu- 

 al; and, when i^resent to a marked degree, 

 constitutes immunity. 



It must be clearly understood that im- 

 munity and vigor are not the same thing. 

 Although the breakdown of health may 

 mean loss of immunity, no amount of vigor 

 will protect a susceptible individual if the 

 right germ comes along. 



Immunity is of two kinds. An attack of 

 disease often renders the individual immune 

 to that disease for the future. This is ac- 

 quired immunity. The other kind is pres- 

 ent without such stimulus, and is transmis- 

 sible to offspring. In the study of bee-dis- 

 ease it is the latter kind with which we are 

 interested. 



When a disease visits a district for the 

 first time, all the very susceptible stocks 

 are killed. The immune (if any) and those 

 capable of recovery perpetuate the species. 

 Successive epidemics will weed out those 

 who revert to susceptibility, and a balance 

 is at last established in which the disease, 

 although propagated at the expense of the 

 stocks, is not sufficiently virulent to inhibit 

 the production of honey and swarms. The 

 bee and the bacilli become mutually adapt- 

 ed, and the disease becomes endemic. If 



