J.nuiar), lyoQ. 



l^AmoricanBec .Journal 



wlialcvcr cITect it may exert as a laxa- 

 tive, is wluilly due to its irritating effects 

 as a fiircigii substance, being entirely 

 iinassiinilable, and can not on tbis ac- 

 count, if on no other, act througb the 

 organs of assimilation and excretion, as 

 cathartic medicines do. I also stated 

 I bat to say tbc most in favor of wax 

 when served in tbe shape of comb with 

 honey, il is simply ornamental : and I 

 will now in tbis connection say that a 

 great many persons, notwithstanding tbe 

 foregoing facts, will purchase and use 

 comb honey as food, just as many per- 

 sons buy and wear tight shoes even at 

 the risk of rearing an interesting crop 

 of corns. But it is but proper to state 

 that Iioney in tbe comb is not used as 

 food in quantities sufFieiently large for 

 tbe wax to do much harm. 



I also stated that a few persons can 

 not use comb honey as food, on account 

 of the fact that it produces spasmodic 

 colic, which is due to bee-sting poison, 

 which is spread over all tbe exposed 

 surfaces of the combs of all colonics 

 of bees. This is not a new idea of 

 mine, for as long ago as 1866, I had a 

 lalU with ]\'Ir. Langstrolh at bis home in 

 Oxford, Ohio, and, among other matters, 

 bee-sting poison being deposited upon 

 the combs of the hive was mentioned. 

 Concerning it he remarked, "What a 

 fine thing it is that so few persons are 

 susceptible to its influence." 



I have stated that the uncapping-knife 

 removed this bee-sting poison, and that 

 in all probability, persons who can not 

 eat comb honey may use extracted honey 

 without experiencing any .impleasant 

 symptoms. I also stated that extracted 

 honey can be produced in larger quanti- 

 ties with less labor and less expense than 

 comb honey, and that in tbe extracted 

 form it is in tbe most wholesome shape 

 as food. 



As to wliether bee-sting poison is 

 spread over the surface of tbe combs as 

 .1 vapor, or whether the bees deposit it 

 directly on the combs by traveling ovc. 

 them, is not important for practical pur- 

 poses. And as to increasing the sale of 

 boney, I stated, or meant to state, that 

 the pure food law, rigidly enforced, is 

 doing, and will continue to do, more to 

 increase tbe sale of boney, both in tbe 

 comb and extracted forms, for now peo- 

 ple who believe that comb honey is 

 manufactured by machinery and filled 

 with artificial honey, and sold as pure 

 honey, are seldom ever found. And 

 they are also rapidly learning that 

 when extracted honey is labeled "Pure 

 Honey," it must be such. I think that 

 no one knows better than Dr. Miller 

 that many people have, for years past, 

 refused to buy honey on account of its 

 being thought that pure honey was very 

 difficult to obtain. With this difficulty 

 out of the way, the sale of honey ought 

 to increase very largely, and I believe it 

 will. 



Dr. Miller also asks how I know that 

 all the bees in the hive thrust out tbeir 

 stings when their hive is materially 

 jarred. In answer I will state again 

 what I thought I had stated heretofore. 

 During the sixties I had one of the large 

 Langstroth observatory hives in use. 

 When the cover was raised three sides 

 of the brood-nest were exposed to view. 

 During cool days I often raised the cov- 



er, ,111(1 as f.ir as 1 could see every bee 

 in sight woidil thrust out her sling, and 

 a sni.dl |)article of lluid could be seen on 

 Ibe point of each sting. So that I feel 

 quite safe in reaching the conclusion 

 that every worker-bee in any hive will, 

 and does, resent any and all such dis- 

 turbances of their home. And when 

 the poison is thus thrown out in the hive 

 it is not at all likely that it is entirely 

 removed from the hive, but reaches tbe 

 surface of the combs, and as the process 

 of evaporation is constantly going on in 

 the hive when honey is being stored, it 

 is not likely that any poison is ever com- 

 bined with the honey in tbe cells, and it 

 is almost absolutely certain. that the bees 

 never dip either their feet, body, or 

 wings into tbe unsealed honey in tbe 

 cells. 



Now, if Dr. Miller or any one else has 

 a better solution of tbis question, no one 

 will be more ready to accept it than my- 

 self. For actual facts are what I hope 

 all of us are in searcli of. as nothing 

 short of tbis method of dealing witli un- 

 solved problems will ever place tbe in- 

 dustry of bee-keeping on that higii plane 

 that it merits and the wants of humanity 

 demand. 



Lvons, Kans. 



No. 2.— Bee-Keeping in Col- 

 orado 



BY E. C. AIKIN. 



WiNTERiNn Bees in Color.\do. 



In last month's article I mentioned 

 something about the very dry climate of 

 tbis country. I have lived in the Mis- 

 souri valley — rather, I should say, in tbe 

 Nodaway valley, which is a tributary of 

 the Missouri and of course is a part of 

 the great valley — spending over 25 years 

 there. I know what it means to meet and 

 be cut and chilled by the damp penetra- 

 ting atmosphere of those lower and 

 moisture-laden climates. I know what 

 it means to have not only days of cloudy 

 and partially cloudy weather, but weeks 

 at a time. I can recall one winter when 

 bees on the summer stands did not have 

 a flight for about 5 months, and when 

 they did fly it was a case of swarming- 

 out, queens and all, and piling up to- 

 gether, clustering on hives and any- 

 where, and I had to separate as best I 

 could and hive again. Tlie sad part of 

 it was that the great majority had "gone 

 where the woodbine twineth," and have 

 not yet returned. 



But you say that was an extreme win- 

 ter, and it was : but a winter there that 

 bees would Hy the most w-ould not fairly 

 represent one here in which they flew 

 tbe least. The range or extremes of 

 temperature in Colorado are about the 

 same as the same latitude in the Mis- 

 souri or Mississippi valleys, but the 

 changes here are more rapid and abrupt. 

 I am writing this on the evening of 

 Nov. II. Bees flew quite freely on the 

 <Sth and 9th, and the mid-day tempera- 

 ture was S0° and upward. The loth it 

 snowed, and this morning the tempera- 

 ture was 4° Delow zero. Today was 

 partly clear, and mid-day temperature 

 well nigh the freezing point, and if to- 

 morrow should be clear and calm we 

 will probably see mid-day temperature 



of alioul 40' to 50" in the shade. I have 

 just looked at the thermometer on our 

 li.ick porch, and it is at only 6' above 

 zero at a few minutes before 9 p. m.,' 

 and will probably be about zero in the 

 morning. Between 8 a. ni. and 12 noon 

 il wijl probably rise easily 40' should it 

 be clear, and, if so, bees will be on the 

 wing by noon. We have just such rapid 

 changes here, and lots of them, too. 

 .\nd bees will fly when the temperature 

 gets above freezing if it be calm and the 

 sun strikes the hive. They fly here at 

 a lower temperature than in the more 

 damp climates. 



(Later — This is noon the 27th. Since 

 the llth inst. there have been only one 

 or 2 days when it was below freezing 

 all day. Morning temperature would be 

 from the freezing point to within a few 

 degrees of zero, and the mid-day 40° to 

 (0°. All snow melted except a few spots 

 in the shade north of the house. Five 

 inches more snow feel 3 days ago, and is 

 still on the ground, but melting. At day- 

 light this morning the temperature was 

 2° above zero ; now, at l p. m. it is 34" 

 in the shade on the north side of the 

 house. Bees have flown 3 or 4 days 

 out of the past 10 days.) 



But it makes all the ditterence whether 

 the bees are in the sun or shade. I have 

 seen bees resting against tbe hive front, 

 and even coming out on the alighting- 

 board with the sun shining on the hive 

 front while in the shade the thermome- 

 ter was at or near zero. A colony kept 

 in the shade will perish of cold w-hile 

 one exposed to the sun will come 

 through the winter all right. The rea- 

 son for this is that the dry atmosphere 

 does not penetrate or lay hold like a 

 damp one. The Easterner knows how a 

 damp air without sunshine is most op- 

 pressive in both heat and cold. Well, 

 here our very dry air does not penetrate 

 or convey either heat or cold, and the 

 colony of bees in tbe shade on the north 

 side of the house gets cold, and stays so, 

 and it takes a whole lot of warm wind 

 to warm it unless the sun strikes it. 

 Likewise the hive that got the sun dur- 

 ing the day got a good warming, and it 

 takes a lot of cold wind to get that heat 

 away from it, so it is fairly comfortable 

 through most of the night. To know 

 how hot or cold it is in Colorado we 

 look at the thermometer — the mercury 

 tells the tale regardless of moisture in 

 the air. 



You will want to know what all this 

 has to do with the wintering of bees : It 

 has much to do with it, and if you do 

 not think so just try wintering a few 

 colonies where they will be continually 

 in the shade as against an equal number 

 in a sunny nook. I have wintered some 

 in chaff hives for about 15 years, and 

 from 50 to 75 colonies, and larger num- 

 bers in single-wall hives. Unless the 

 chaff hives have very strong colonies so 

 that the animal heat of the mass warms 

 the whole interior of the hive : or unless 

 the hive be so placed that the sun can 

 strike it with full force so as to pene- 

 trate both walls and the packing, reach- 

 ing the interior, the bees in the packed 

 hive do not winter as well as in the plain 

 single-wall one. 



Let me give another illustration or 

 two that show how little penetrating 

 power the atmosphere has, so that a 



