306 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



ought to be out in the sunshine instead of a 

 dark cellar, and their uneasiness and irrita- 

 bleness only added to the trouble we were 

 trying to help. 



Any thing that excites bees takes from 

 their length of hfe; as their life is not 

 numbered by days but activities, and all our 

 effort in wintering has been, and properly 

 should be, concentrated on how to cause them 

 to remain in that quiet semi-dormant condition 

 so much to be desired. Is it desirable for 

 us now to begin backward and introduce a 

 very disturbing element ? Some one might 

 say the excitement will come any way, when 

 they are set out. Admitted; but it will be 

 for only once, and why double their troubles ? 

 A man with weakened vitality might be able 

 to saw a cord of wood in one day; but to 

 saw two cords in two days might be the 

 death of him. Our bees are weakened by 

 cellar confinement; and if we take extra vi- 

 tality from their already weakened powers 

 we must expect to shorten their lives and 

 prepare for spring dwindling. 



There are times, however, when bees are 

 wintering poorly and it seems almost impos- 

 sible to keep them in the hive as they are 

 so restless that a flight might help matters, 

 not as a good thing of itself, but as a choice 

 of evils. Under such circumstances I could 

 see where it might be of great benefit to 

 give them a chance to breathe fresh air and 

 feel the sunshine, provided this time of ex- 

 ercise could be so timed that the permanent 

 setting-out would come before the bees 

 again became restless, say inside of three 

 weeks. 



CONSERVING ENERGY. 



All a bee-keeper's effort in spring manage- 

 ment is, or ought to be, directed to con- 

 serving the vitality of the remaining bees 

 that have lived through the winter; for on 

 these, he knows, depends the caring for 

 the brood that is to fill his hives for the 

 summer start; and why we should want to 

 wear them out by excitement on a winter 

 flight is not comprehensible. We say, go 

 slow, prove it first. 



Richland Center, Wis. 



»»... ■ . * 



WINTER FLIGHTS. 



Indications when they are Necessary. 

 BY G. BOHRER. 



My experience has led me to conclude that 

 if bees, when put into the cellar or other in- 

 door respository, remain quiet in a temper- 

 ature of not less than 35 nor higher than 45, 

 they may be regarded as in perfect health, 

 and should not be molested until they are 

 put on their summer stand permanently. 

 But if from any cause their bodies become 

 distended, and they become restless, and be- 

 gin to crawl out of the hive, they should by 

 all means be given an open-air fiight if a 

 warm day can be had. 



I remember quite distinctly that, during 

 the winter of 1872, many bees died in Indi- 

 ana of what was called dysentery or bee 



cholera. They died in the cellar and on the 

 summer stands alike. The cold periods were 

 protracted, so that, when bees came out of 

 their hives, it was only to perish, as but few 

 of them were able to enter the hives again. 

 I carried several into a warm room and let 

 them fly out against a window which they 

 plastered almost all over with their excre- 

 ment. I cleansed out the hive in each case, 

 and dried as best I could the combs, and 

 then brushed the bees into a basin and turn- 

 ed them back into the hive, and at night 

 returned them to the cellar. All that I 

 treated in the above manner went through 

 the winter much reduced in numbers, but 

 recuperated, while nearly all not so treated 

 died. 



In Central Kansas, where I now live, our 

 cellars are for the most part very dry and 

 dusty all the year through, so that, if bees 

 are put into them in healthy condition and 

 both temperature and ventilation are prop- 

 erly regulated, they will, as a rule, pass 

 through winter in fair condition without be- 

 ing carried out to the summer stand for an 

 open-air flight. But if it is found necessary 

 to give them such flight, the day must be 

 quite mild or a great loss of bees will result 

 from it. 



Lyons, Kan. 



[See editorial comments on this general 

 subject of winter flights in the editorial de- 

 partment. —Ed.] 



THE FLOW OF NECTAR. 



How it is Dependent on Atmospheric Conditions; 



the Effect of Thunder-storms; some 



Interesting Observations. 



BY J. E. CRANE. 



The effect of the weather upon the flow 

 of nectar in flowers is not, perhaps, a very 

 practical question, and yet it is one in which 

 I have been greatly interested for the past 

 35 or 40 years. It is not probable that 

 Franklin had any thought of telegraphs or 

 telephones, electric lights or trolly cars, as 

 he studied the phenomena of electricity. It 

 is not at all certain that, if we knew just 

 the effects of the weather upon flowers, we 

 could in any way alter those effects; yet it 

 may be well for us to understand them. 

 Beyond the suggestion that the season was 

 either too wet or dry, or too cold, we seem 

 to know little upon this subject. 



If we place a populous colony, with an 

 abundance of room, upon a pair of scales 

 we can not help being interested during the 

 honey season at the almost constantly vary- 

 ing yield of honey from day to day. Some- 

 times we may be able to tell with some degree 

 of certainty the cause, but more frequently 

 we may not. I remember very distinctly my 

 experience some twenty-five or thirty years 

 ago when I kept a careful record of the 

 weather, using a wet and dry bulb ther- 

 mometer. Two days stand out very clear 

 in my memory. It was during white-clover 



