792 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



bottom, while, according to some, the 

 heat would have been at the top. 



Years ago when I was a boy, father 

 used to put pails on his box-hives in the 

 fall, after he had taken the honey-boxes 

 off. These pails were simply placed on 

 the hives, and the holes leading through 

 the top left open, with no covering of 

 any kind over them ; yet such colonies 

 always wintered well. According to 

 theory, the heat should have been in the 

 pails ; but I often found, by looking in 

 them on moderate days, that nothing of 

 the kind was there ; but on the con- 

 trary, the pails were full of frost, which 

 did not melt until the weather became 

 warm enough to melt it from the outside 

 temperature. 



Again, I once cut a bee-tree, the 

 combs of which showed that bees had 

 lived in them for years. These combs 

 were six feet long, but the bees had built 

 and filled them, so that during the win- 

 ter they had always had three feet of 

 air-space above them, yet they did not 

 die. Why is this, if there is truth in 

 this small air-tight-hive principle? Well, 

 I will try very briefly to explain my 

 ideas regarding the matter. 



If we hive a natural swarm of bees in 

 a large box, and closely watch them 

 work, we find that they suspend them- 

 selves from the top in a compact form, 

 appearing like an inverted cone, which, 

 to all appearances, is nearly motionless, 

 so that it will appear as if the bees were 

 idle ; while the fact is, that these ap- 

 parently idle bees are really the colony 

 proper, and inside this, active work is 

 going on, building comb, etc. This is 

 easily seen by passing a wire suddenly 

 through the cluster horizontally, and 

 letting the lower half drop. 



Outside this living hive, or crust of 

 bees, the temperature is often not more 

 than 50°, while just inside they are 

 working wax nicely with from 90° to 

 95°, as I have found by making careful 

 tests with a thermometer. It would be 

 interesting to follow this living hive 

 further, as it expands until it finally 

 touches the hive ; how the combs grow 

 inside, etc., but space forbids, so I will 

 simply note the fact that they will fill 

 the hive, unless it is very large, or the 

 supply of honey fails too early. 



Now, as cool weather comes on and 

 storage ceases, this living hive contracts 

 instead of expanding, thus keeping the 

 heat inside of its walls to a sufficient 

 extent for the prosperity of the colony. 

 As it becomes extremely cold, the walls 

 of the living hive become more and more 

 condensed, until the larger part of the 



bees are engaged in forming this hive ; 

 still, I have yet to see a colony which 

 does not have an active force of bees in 

 the center of this living hive, ready to 

 push their way out for an attack, if the 

 box holding the cluster is roughly dis- 

 turbed. It takes some time for these 

 crust bees to become lively enough to 

 fly; but the inside force can do so at a 

 moment's notice, in any colony I ever 

 experimented with ; thus showing that 

 the material enclosing this living hive 

 had little to do with the heat of the 

 cluster, that being controlled by the 

 walls of the living hive. 



This living hive is all the while throw- 

 ing off moisture, and if the box enclos- 

 ing them is of such shape that this mois- 

 ture will not collect about the bees, they 

 remain dry, healthy and nice. This is 

 the reason why all kinds of packing are 

 employed to advantage, in my opinion. 

 Instances have been given where colo- 

 nies of bees have been wintered success- 

 fully in a large hive containing less than 

 one-eighth of the comb they would when 

 filled ; in fact so little comb that the 

 bees eovered all of such comb, except 

 the outer edge, all winter. 



After years of contracting the number 

 of combs to suit the size of the cluster, 

 in a part of the hives in my apiary, and 

 leaving a part not so contracted, I have 

 come to the above conclusion ; hence 

 the present finds me leaving the same 

 number of combs in the hives in winter 

 as in the summer. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Suggestions on Honey-Adultera- 

 tion from California. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY GEO. W. BEODBECK. 



Mr. Newman's article on page 697 is 

 of much interest. In it he states : 

 " Evidently the Union intends to take 

 no steps for a change so as to take up 

 this work as suggested sometime since, 

 for not even one response to that appeal 

 has been heard." 



I, as one, plead guilty, but if it is not 

 too late I desire to add a few words in 

 support of the work suggested. 



I do not think the members of the 

 Bee-Keepers' Union have been inten- 

 tionally lax in response to this subject, 

 but have been disposed to await develop- 

 ments, trusting that some person, or 

 persons, would take the initiative to 

 further this project. 



Then, again, Prof. Cook has digested 



