1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1313 



face which gains heat slowly will part with 

 heat slowly by the process of radiation. 



The first half of each side of this law 

 is well known ; namely, that some surfaces 

 absorb heat rapidly, others slowly. It is be- 

 cause of this knowledge that mankind, es- 

 pecially the gentler half of it, has decided 

 to wear white in summer and dark colors 

 in winter. Whether this choice is wise is 

 open to doubt. 



If one studies nature closely he finds that 

 most animals which live in warm climates 

 are dark in color, and that animals of white 

 fur must be sought in the frigid zones. Of 

 interest in connection with this fact is the 

 change of fur which certain animals of 

 the temperate zone undergo contemporane- 

 ously with the shifting of the seasons. It 

 has been argued that animals put on white 

 fur in winter, and that animals of the frigid 

 zones are clothed in white, for purposes of 

 concealment from foes or from victims. Per- 

 sonally I believe this to be a minor cause, if 

 any cause at all, and would argue that the 

 true cause must be sought in the phenomenon 

 of heat-radiation. 



Before going deeper into the consideration 

 of the great question which we are approach- 

 ing, I wish to suggest a simple experiment 

 which anybody can easily try, and from 

 which he may gain a deeper insight into the 

 philosophy of heat radiation. 



Let the reader select two empty tomato- 

 cans and paint one white, the other black, 

 a dead black by preference. Pour boiling 

 water into each, and, setting them a few 

 inches apart, hold the hand midway between 

 them. It will quickly be seen that the side 

 of the hand which lies next the black can 

 is sensibly warmed. Let the experimenter 

 be blindfolded, and, while his hand is ex- 

 tended, let a second person shift the cans, 

 li his sense of heat is at all like mine he 

 can without error tell which is which. 



The experiment just described furnishes 

 solid ground for certain deductions, and will 

 let me say: "Dress in white if you are to 

 work in the sun ; in black if your work is in 

 the shade." "Animals are clothed in white 

 in winter that they may the more completely 

 retain their own heat." "Bee-hives should 

 be painted white if exposed to full sunshine, 

 but black if protected from the mid-day 

 sun." 



If any doubting reader will experiment 

 with white shirt and with black shirt, in 

 sunshine and in shade, he will quickly give 

 assent to the statements in the precedmg 

 paragraph. When the thermometer is 95 

 degrees and creeping up, put on a thin black 

 suit and sit down in the shade — better than 

 ice water, better than ice cream. 



A few years ago I began covering my 

 hives, side walls, and top, with " paroid " 

 roofing-paper. This was done for the pur- 

 pose of keeping out the wind and wet. Phe- 

 nomenal results along other lines led me 

 to consider the color question. This paper, 

 at first a grayish black, soon becomes al- 



rtiost black. I observed that colonies in 

 hives covered with this paper never swarmed 

 where well shaded, and that, in the trial 

 of wintering, all colonies thus housed fared 

 splendidly. 



Now, a colony of bees has not only the 

 heat of the sun to get rid of but its own 

 heat. If a white hive is in the shade it will 

 not absorb heat rapidly, to be sure; but it at 

 the same time can not lose heat readily. 

 Hence the bees must ventilate vigorously 

 during a hot day or night. If a black hive 

 is in the shade it will not absorb heat 

 rapidly, but it will let heat escape rapidly. 

 A colony in a black hive which is well 

 shaded does not ventilate much. 



In the sunshine, however, the white hive 

 gains less heat from outside than does the 

 black hive, and the black hive may, and prob- 

 ably will, gain heat on a sunshiny day more 

 rapidly than the radiation can take care of 

 it. Still, toward sundown, while the white 

 hive still has its front covered with bees, and 

 while the little insects are wearing themselves 

 out trying to cool off their home, the front of 

 the black hive will be free from bees, and 

 there will be but few bees fanning the en- 

 trance. These are facts. 



BLACK THE BEST COLOR THE YEAR ROUND. 



I consider that black is the proper garb 

 for hives in summer, provided the hives 

 can be protected from the mid-day sun- 

 shine. If unprotected there will be too many 

 cases of mclted-down combs. It is in winter, 

 however, that the greatest gain comes from 

 the use of the black hive. 



The last statement may seem to con- 

 tradict a previous statement concerning the 

 furs of animals, but allow me to explain. 

 Possibly, during the winter, surely to be ex- 

 act, a white hive will lose less heat by radia- 

 tion than will a black hive; but when one 

 studies further into the matter he will find 

 that color of the hive will have but little 

 to do with the loss of heat from the cluster 

 ot bees inside the hive. This cluster is sur- 

 rounded by cold air most of the time, and 

 hence little heat will get into the walls of 

 the hive to be radiated, regardless of the 

 color of the hive. How, then, does black 

 help in winter? 



That last question is one which every bee- 

 keeper should know the answer to, and he 

 should have unbounded faith in that answer. 

 What kills most bees in winter with the ex- 

 ception of bad ventilation? Is it not too 

 long a confinement in a semi-torpid cluster? 

 Is it not true that bees wintering out of doors 

 must break cluster in order to eat and live? 

 A white hive does not help in this matter, 

 but a black hive does. 



During every sunny day in winter the front 

 wall of the hive, facing south, if painted 

 black, gets thoroughly warmed, freed from 

 frost, and dried out. The bees loosen out on 

 that side of the cluster, stretch their limbs, 

 and are happier. 



During the hard winter of 1903, when so 

 many lost their bees, my colonies in black 



