406 



GLEANLVGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



learn that we can keep bees from five to 

 ten days running, if at the end of every 

 period w^e let them w^arm up and feed, then 

 freeze again. If this thing can be continu- 

 ed indefinitely it would tend to show that a 

 freezing temperature does not kill, but that 

 when they can't feed because they are stiff 

 and cold they starve. — Ed,] 



A CONUNDRUM is offered byBro. Doolittle, 

 p. 369: How is it that the septum of a 

 brood-comb can preserve 92 degrees against 

 the frosty air at the side? Let's try. Take 

 a dish of wax boiling hot, and let it cool. As 

 soon as the surface is entirely congealed, 

 touch your finger lightly on it. Not very 

 hot, is it? Wait a while and it hardly feels 

 warm. Punch your finger in it, and it's 

 scalded. How could it be so cool on top and 

 so hot below? Because it is one of the 

 poorest conductors of heat in existence. 

 Even that thin septum will not allow the 

 heat to pass through. Another thing that 

 helps is the cocoons on each side of the sep- 

 tum. Still another is the air in the outside 

 cells being to a slight extent dead air. [This 

 experiment goes a long way to confirm the 

 statement made by Doolittle, that a brood- 

 comb is as good as a dummy. While the 

 dummy would prevent the warm air from 

 escaping around the ends and bottom, it 

 would not be as good a non-conductor as 

 the comb, so that one quality or factor 

 would counterbalance the other. —Ed.] 



"Of course, the veterans know that 

 bees should ordinarily be set out in the cool of 

 the morning or evening previous— better the 

 latter," says the editor, p. 354. Not in this 

 locality. Days just right for carrying out 

 are very scarce; and when one comes, the 

 whole of the bees must be got out as soon 

 as possible, and with limited help the work 

 can't all be done in the cool of the morning. 

 Carrying out in the evening is ruled out en- 

 tirely. In my whole bee-keeping life I never 

 yet knew an evening when 1 dared risk 

 taking out bees for fear the next morning 

 might bring disaster. [But, doctor, you 

 are hazing or obscuring the real point I was 

 trying to make— that whan one can set the 

 bees out in the cool of the morning when 

 there is prospect of a warm day ahead, or 

 in the evening if the weather reports indi- 

 cate "fair and warm" for the next day, 

 he should do so. I was trying to point out 

 the ideal time. Of course, localities will 

 sometimes compel us to take the time we 

 can get; but the average bee-keeper has on- 

 ly a very few colonies, and it would not take 

 more than half an hour to put them all out 

 of the cellar, hence he might as well select 

 the best time. When the weather reports 

 indicate "fair and warm " for the morrow, 

 and it is about the season for setting the 

 bees out, I would set them out the evening 

 before, so that they might quiet down and 

 avoid considerable confusion the next morn- 

 ing. When the bees are put out in a warm 

 atmosphere, fifty colonies at once, it is liable 

 to cause confusion. Then it is not best to 

 set them out all at once. We practice and 

 preach Doolittle's plan as described in this 



issue, setting a part of the bees out at one 

 time and the rest a week or so later. Some- 

 times it is an advantage to set out early. At 

 other times it is an advantage to set out 

 late. As it is impossible to predict what 

 the season will be, we are sure to catch 

 whatever advantage there may be, either in 

 early or late setting out— in short, reduce the 

 chance of some loss from either too early or 

 too late setting out. —Ed.] 



The Sibbald plan, which so interests the 

 editor, p. 358, is not likely to produce the 

 same results in all places and all hands. Let 

 me correct a mistake that may puzzle some 

 readers. P. 359, first column, a little below 

 the middle, "It will be remembered that, 

 ten days before, we had given No. 1" should 

 read "No. 2." You express the fear, Mr. 

 Editor, that swarming might be induced in 

 No. 2 by the fresh accessions. I don't be- 

 lieve there's the least danger, but I think 

 your fears in another direction are well 

 founded. You fear that, when shifts are 

 made to throw bees from No. 1 into No. 2, 

 some will hunt up No. 1, the strain of bees 

 having something to do with it. I doubt 

 much difference from strain of bees; but 

 surroundings make much difference. I 

 judge from some experience directly in 

 point. When No. 2 is first set with no 

 queen and only one brood, you may count on 

 the institution of a search for something 

 more home-like by the bees returning to it. 

 On an open plain, with no surrounding ob- 

 ject of any kind, you may pretty safely 

 count on the bees finding No. 1 and sticking 

 to it. With plenty of surrounding objects 

 by which to locate the old stand, there will 

 be less danger, possibly none. When the 

 second shift is made, you may safely count 

 that all field bees from No. 1 will go to No. 

 2; but if no surrounding objects, you may 

 just as safely count, if the bees are like 

 mine, that the field bees of No. 2 will also 

 go to No. 1. In other words. No. 1 and No. 

 2 will merely swap field bees. If No. 1 is 

 moved to an entirely new location in three 

 weeks from first shift, in many locations 

 there would be no danger of its swarming. 

 In my location there would be danger. In 

 the non-swarming plan, when, after ten 

 days, the old queen and all the brood is back 

 on the old stand as at the start, it may be 

 that, in Mr. Sibbald's locality and in some 

 other localities, the bees will have no fur- 

 ther thought of swarming. In my locality 

 they may be counted on to swarm in most 

 cases. I know, for I have tried it many 

 times. I'm not trying to throw cold water; 

 only telling what to look out for. [Perhaps 

 if I had substituted the word race instead of 

 strains it would have been more exact. 

 Some experiments we conducted a few years 

 ago went to show that black bees would find 

 their colonies, even when shifted around 

 considerably, while Italians would hover 

 around the old original spot until they died. 

 A shght mixture of hybrid blood might de- 

 feat the Sibbald plan to some extent. It 

 seems to me a good deal will depend on hav- 

 ing the hives exactly alike, so when a shift 



