222 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



almost unobstructed exit to all moist- 

 ure, and that too, directly through 

 the board and the propolis. 



I am prepared to say from ample 

 experience that every kind of upward 

 ventilation through free openings or 

 loose porous coverings is pernicious 

 and liable to disaster ; for the life of 

 a colony of bees subjected to cold 

 goes out with the loss of heat which 

 is forced strongly upward through 

 free outlets by the pressure of cold 

 air coming in at the entrance. We 

 can now see why bees instinctively 

 stop up all crevices with propolis. 

 It is to prevent the loss of heat which 

 nature has taught them is life ; and 

 had beekeepers been as wise as the 

 physiologist who said "heat is life," 

 we should have saved thousands upon 

 thousands of colonies lost in winter- 

 ing, largely through the follies of up- 

 ward ventilation. It has been a dear 

 lesson indeed that has taught us that 

 our theories of absorbents have been 

 all wrong. Wt now know, if we can 

 retain the heat, there is no difficulty 

 about getting out the moisture. The 

 heat expels it as heat expels moisture 

 from a kiln of lumber even when 

 sealed up as tight as it can be made, 

 and it is heat that causes evaporation 

 of moisture and dryness everywhere. 

 Where the temperature about the 

 hives never goes below 45° or 50°, as 

 in cellar wintering, we have a different 

 state of things than exists in out-door 

 wintering. Even with very free bot- 

 tom ventilation if the hive is tight on 

 top the bees may get too warm and 

 become restless. Hence it will be 

 seen that bees must be ventilated to 

 suit their surroundings, the leading 

 object being always to keep them in 

 winter confinement in as torpid a 

 state as possible ; for we have learned 

 that activity means waste of tissue, 

 excessive consumption of food, loss 

 of vitality and premature death. 

 Spring dwindling can be traced to no 

 other source. The bees are worn out 

 with activity, with constant struggles, 

 with adverse conditions of their life. 



Successful wintering means conserva- 

 tion of vitality which is best accom- 

 plished through what is known as 



HIBERNATION. 



This state which bees begin to en- 

 ter, upon the approach of frosty nights 

 in the fall, is one which cannot elicit 

 too close attention by beekeepers ; 

 for upon it hinge the greatest suc- 

 cesses of the future. It is simply a 

 conservative state that the bee enters, 

 enabling us to bring the bee of the 

 fall to the bee of the spring with all 

 of its vitality and working capacity 

 intact, and unchanged by the inter- 

 vening time. A bee's life is only too 

 short but its length is measured by 

 its activity ; hence, to span the long 

 winter months, it must have rest from 

 its labors. Nature has provided this 

 rest in what we shall henceforth call 

 hibernation. It is not of course the 

 profound hibernation of many other 

 insects, nor does any one claim that. 

 The bee becomes torpid, lethargic 

 and respires imperceptibly. There is a 

 considerable reduction of the tem- 

 perature of the cluster from that ex- 

 isting in a state of activity to the 

 lowest point consistent with vital ac- 

 tion, — asHght respiration and imper- 

 ceptible movement. The reduction 

 of temperature is about 20°, enough 

 to justify those who are claiming true 

 hibernation for bees that they are in- 

 dulging in no gibberish. It is a state, 

 however, requiring food at intervals 

 of from three to five days. I only 

 know that they have regular feeding 

 times when the whole colony becomes 

 active and each bee seems to help 

 itself to honey. When all have feasted 

 they settle into the torpid state again. 

 A colony of bees properly hiber- 

 nating will consume not more than 

 one pound of honey per month and 

 this state continues if all goes right, 

 from the first of November to the 

 first of February, when breeding com- 

 mences. More heat is then required 

 and the bees are no longer in a per- 

 fectly listless state. The patch of 



