GLEANINGS TN BEE CULTURE 



BEES TRIED BY FIRE 



A Remarkable Case Showing Hoiej 

 Bees Can Keep Down the Temper- 

 ature in the Hive 

 By E. R. Root 



Januakv, 1917 



AT our recent 

 lumberyard 

 fire a little 

 bac'klot apiary be- 

 longing to A. L. 

 I>oy(len's boys 

 was located mth- 

 in 100 feet of the 

 piles that were 

 l)urned. The heat was so great that it 

 looked at one time as if the lumber, includ- 

 ing all our manufacturing plant, would be 

 reduced to ashes. During the general ex- 

 citement the little beeyard was forgotten. 

 After the tire was over, a hive located near- 

 est the fire stood out as a remarkable in- 

 stance of the power of the bees to keep the 

 internal temperature of the colony down in 

 spite of a $25,000 lumber fire near by. The 

 engraving below, when it is understood that 

 there was a nice colony in the hive " after 

 it was all over," almost tells its own story, 

 and a wonderful story it is. 



The heat was so intense that all the wood- 

 work under the metal cover was burned 

 away, even the front rail. A piece of it 

 is shown where it dropped down at the 

 entrance. The fire not only burned deep 

 on the side but actually burned a hole thru 

 the center. The comb next to it was melt- 

 ed down, as will be seen by the black stain 

 where the wax ran on to the side board of 



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burned out from 

 under the tin roof, 

 but the top - bars 

 of the brood- 

 frames were char- 

 red half way 

 down. That a 

 colony could sur- 

 vive under such 

 conditions is unbelievable. 



Any one would have supposed that they 

 would have been driven out of the hive, 

 and that all the combs would have melted 

 down, and that the wax would have ignited, 

 leaving nothing but a pile of ashes. But, 

 remarkable to relate, at the time the photo- 

 graph was taken there was a nice colony 

 of bees, and all the combs were intact ex- 

 cept the one next to the hive, which had 

 been melted down. 



These bees, as soon as the hive became 

 scorching hot, must have gone into the 

 business of ventilating with the knowledge 

 that the flames of hades were after them. 

 The men who fought heroically to keep 

 down the big lumber fire could not have 

 worked harder, and every bee must have 

 gone into the business of fanning, blowing 

 a current of cold air into the hive and the 

 warm air out. It surely was a life-and- 

 death struggle. 



We have heard of instances where colo- 



tlie hive-stand. Not only was the wood"^ nies left out in the hot sun have had their 



The bees that kept the inside of the hive cool in spite of the fire. 



