THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



lUOo. 



to be UO degrees, a reduction of one de- 

 cree would produce saturation and 

 condensation of •some of the vapor 

 within the liive into water if the hu- 

 miditj' were 95 per cent. The hive sur- 

 faces, the comb and the bodies of the 

 iices would be wetter, and the heat 

 01 tlie bees would be drawn oif so rap- 

 idly that they might not be able to 

 make it good by a larger consumption 

 of food. i]ven if they could, this enforc- 

 ed excessive consumption of food with- 

 out opportunity for evacuation of the 

 \va.ste, might of itself seriously injure 

 the bee« if they did not succumb to the 

 cold. The foregoing is based upon the 

 nssumption that the air in the cellar 

 icmaius 90 per cent saturated. But, as 

 we have seen, a fall of temperature 

 of one degree in the cellar would pro- 

 luce saturation throughout the cellar, 

 md before long the air within the hive 

 would, by diffusion, seem saturated 

 without any reduction of the temiiera- 

 ure in the hive. Apparently the bees 

 n a cellar-hive live ordinarily in an 

 itmosphere of vapor that is almost 

 saturated, and slight temperature fall« 

 within the cellar serve to completely 

 ^aturate the hive air and condense the 

 rapor. 



Though for want of observations we 

 lave been obliged to take as.sumed 

 i-alues for temperatures within the 

 live-s. the relative humidity values are 

 well within the truth. Tlie writer re- 

 epeatedly saw water and ice inside of 

 I hive in his cellar last winter, and the 

 •omli and frames came out mouldy in 

 he spring. 



Meanwhile Avhat would be the con- 

 lition of a colony wintering outdoors? 

 kVe saw that the average January tem- 

 lerature for Boston i.s 27 degrees and 

 he relative humidity 73 per cent. The 

 emperature would have to fall nearly 

 o 23 degrees before the outdoor air 

 vould be so damp as that we have a.s- 

 umed for the cellar; viz., 90 per cent 

 aturated. Tlie superior dryness of 

 liis outside air assisted by better ven- 

 ilation of the hive would reduce the- 

 lumidity within the hive to say 80 per 

 ent is against 95 per cent, that of the 

 ellar hive. The temperature inside tlTe 

 utdoor hive would probably be a little 

 iwer on the average than "that of the 

 ive in the cellar. Assume it to be at 

 "i degrees or even 50 degrees. At 50 

 egrees the temperature would have 

 r> fall below 44 degrees to make the 

 ir within the hive as damp as that in 

 he cellar-hive at 59 degrees. 



It matters not how much these as- 

 umed value.s for the hive interior may 



49 



be in error. It is the relative values 

 only between the hive in the cellar and 

 the out-door hive that coucei'n us here; 

 and these assumed absolute values 

 serve to illu-strate what laige dif- 

 ferences of moisture there is likely to 

 be any time between hives indoors and 

 those outside; and also to show how 

 much more the moisture in the hives is 

 increased by the ^ame temperature 

 fall in the one ca-se than in the other. 



The outdoor hive has the further ad. 

 vantage that it can dry out on warm 

 and dry days. 



To sum up: a fall of temperature to 

 the freezing point leaves the outdoor 

 bees much more comfortable and bet- 

 ter able to maintain their normal tem- 

 perature than those in the cellar be- 

 cause (1) the air in the outdoor hives 

 is much drier, and (2) because the bees 

 outside have occa-sional opportunities 

 for evacuating the waste arising from 

 any e-xces^s of food they may have to 

 consume during cold spells. 



It does not follow, however, that 

 bees may not be more comfortable in 

 cellars than out of doors. By -suitable 

 ventilation many cellars can* be made 

 sufficiently dry. though this may re- 

 quire artificial heating. 



The humidity of the air can be readi- 

 ly measured by any one with an in- 

 expensive insti'ument called a sling 

 psychrometer. It consist-s of two ther- 

 mometers mounted side by side on 

 a single frame, with a cord or handle 

 at one end of the frame so that the in- 

 strument can be rotated or slung round 

 and round in the air. The bulb of one 

 of the thermometers i-s covered with 

 a piece of muslin. "When dry both 

 thermometers read alike, but if the 

 muslin be wetted the swinging of the 

 instrument hastens the evaporation of 

 the water on the muslin, and thereby 

 cools the wet bulb, making that ther- 

 mometer read lower than the other. 

 From the difference of the readings of 

 the two thermometers the percentage 

 of 'Saturation (relative humidity): the 

 temperature at which saturation would 

 occur if the temperature should fall 

 (the dew point), and the number of 

 grains of water vapor in a cubic foot 

 of air (absolute humidi+y) can readily 

 be obtained by any one, from table.g 

 constructed for this purpose. 



Fairhaven. Mass., Dec. 19, 1904. 



Langstroth used ''blind staples" for 

 spacing frames from each other and 

 from the ends of the hive, putting the 

 staples at the lower corners of the 

 frames. He described this in iS6!:. 



