THE AMERICA]^ BEE JOURNAL. 



215 



likes taking it before it is capped, for 

 by tluit means he sets each kind of 

 honey separate. His idea is that tlie 

 honey ripens by evaporation, and is 

 just as good as when allowed to ripen 

 in the combs. 



. Mr. G. W. Calhoun preferred to 

 extract the honey after it is capped. 



The Secretary stated that he likes 

 to have the upper story the same size 

 as the brood-chamber, so as to ex- 

 change frames if necessary, on ac- 

 count of its being so convenient to 

 have the frames all of one size. He 

 often found it necessary to extract 

 from the brood-chamber of a 10-frame 

 Langstroth hive, so as to allow ample 

 room for the laying of the queen. 



The subject, "Spring Manage- 

 ment," was then takeii up as follows : 



Mr. Cover puts bis bees out as soon 

 as the weather will permit in the 

 spring. He puts out a little honey to 

 attract them to their pollen feed. He 

 uses rye, corn and oats well ground, 

 and feeds some honey where they 

 need it. He keeps them supplied 

 with this pollen feed until they begin 

 to gather from the timber. One spring 

 his bees gathered natural polleu for 3 

 days in February, and all thought 

 that this was an unusual thing for 

 bleak (V) Iowa. 



Mr. Keeper prepares his bees well 

 before the time to put the hives on 

 the summer stands. Then on some 

 warm day, but not too early, he lets 

 them have a good flight, and on the 

 next day, if it is pleasant, he goes 

 over them and cleans all up, giving 

 each one its necessary attention. He 

 aims to get all colonies strong by the 

 time the white clover comes. He 

 places empty frames in the centre of 

 the brood-chamber as fast as they are 

 needed, and uses artificial pollen to 

 stimulate breeding. 



Mr. Keeler, Mr. Calhoun and others 

 said that they used about the same 

 methods as had been given. The 

 Secretary called the attention to the 

 use of a division-board with rubber 

 on the ends, so as to make it fit close 

 and be easily moved in contracting 

 the size of the hive to suit the colony. 



Nearly all present reported that 

 they put their bees into winter quar- 

 ters about Dec. 1, and the report of 

 all was that their bees at this time 

 were all right, or appeared to be in 

 fine condition. 



The whereabouts of Mr. F. H. Hunt 

 were inquired for, and whether the 

 honey that was sent to the State 

 Chemist had been heard from. The 

 Secretary replied that Mr. Hunt left 

 the State, and that Mr. Tamblin, of 

 Lincoln, Neb., the one who had the 

 honey forwarded to our State Chem- 

 ist at Iowa City, had died early last 

 spring. The Secretary had received 

 no report from the chemist. A num- 

 ber present were of the opinion that 

 all was not right with the man who 

 was once an Iowa bee-keeper. This 

 Association denounces all fraud or 

 the appearance of it. 



The subject for discussion at the 

 next meeting, is "The summer care 

 of bees." How to control swarm- 

 ing" will be treated of hy Mr. L. 

 Keeper. The annual election of offi- 

 cers will occur at the next meeting. 



The convention then adjourned to 

 meet at the same place on Saturday, 

 April 17, 188B, at 10:30 a.m. Bee- 

 keepers of other counties are invited 

 to attend. J. W. Sanders, Sec. 



For the American Beo Journal. 



Tbe Qniescence of Bees in Winter. 



17— Q. M. DOOLITTLE, (40-95). 



About the time I gave my report of 

 my winter loss of bees in my bee- 

 re'llar, during the winter in which I 

 kept the temperature of the cellar at 

 50° or more by the use of an oil-stove, 

 I told how I always found the bees 

 active every time I went into the bee- 

 cellar, and how, upon raising a quilt 

 over any colony, the bees were always 

 ready to come out to meet me and 

 buzz against the lamp. From this I 

 prophesied that I should lose those 

 bees, for heretofore, during winters in 

 which the temperature of the cellar 

 had been from 40° to 45°, I had always 

 found the bees inactive, and in a very 

 quiet state. 



A short time after this. Rev. W. F. 

 Clarke wrote me that he " was sorry 

 for my loss of bees in my bee-cellar, 

 but that my experiments hud been 

 the means of his making a great dis- 

 covery, which I would soon see in 

 print." He also added, if I mistake 

 not (I quote all from memory as I 

 have not the time now to hunt up the 

 letter), that if I " did not fully accord 

 with his views he hoped I would not 

 be hasty in harshly criticising them ;" 

 to which I replied that I would take 

 time before I said aught of his " great 

 discovery," whatever it might be. It 

 soon appeared that the "great dis- 

 covery" was his "hibernation of 

 bees," and as several years have 

 elapsed since he made that discovery, 

 I feel that I have kept my agreement 

 with him, and am at liberty now to 

 sav a few words on the subject. 



During all this time 1 had been 

 trying to find out just what Mr. 

 Clarke meant by his word " hiberna- 

 tion," but I could not fully do so 

 until I read Dr. Tinker's article on 

 page 5. To this, Mr. Clarke cried 

 " Eureka 1" " Henceforth ' Hiberna- 

 tion ' is the word," expressing the 

 quiescent state in which Dr. T. found 

 his bees. When Mr. McNeil wrote in 

 the Bee Journal, a year or so ago, 

 that Mr. Clarke had made no new 

 discovery regarding the hibernation 

 of bees, Mr. C. replied : "What I did 

 was this : I called attention to a 

 fact or principle in bee-life, not un- 

 known, but practically overlooked in 

 our theories of wintering. .. .In this 

 condition (hibernation) their con- 

 sumption of honey is very trilling, and 

 if we can find out how to get them 

 into it, we shall secure their winter- 

 ing at the smallest possible cost." 

 When I read this I said to myself, 

 " I believe Mr. Clarke is mistaken in 

 thinking that the above conditions 

 had been ' practically overlooked ' 

 until he ' called attention ' to them ;" 

 but I was not positive of it until he 

 accepted Dr. Tinker's definition of 

 the " hibernation of bees." As soon 

 as he did this. I turned to page 145, 



Vol. Ill of the American Bee Joub- 

 NAL, where I found these words writ- 

 ten by my old teacher in bee-culture, 

 E. Gallup, who, by the way, ought to 

 receive greater credit for his practical 

 articles of 15 years ago than we are 

 giving him. The words are these : 



" Walk down into my cellar and 

 see the bees, it will take but a few 

 minutes. Step up and look at them 

 by the light of the lamp. Do you see 

 the striped fellows in this hive? 'Yes, 

 but Gallup, they are dead as a door 

 nail.' Not a bit of it. ' Well they 

 don't stir.' Let us breath on them a 

 trifle. ' They are alive ; that is a fact. 

 Do they keep as quiet as that all 

 winter V' Certainly. And that is not 

 all ; they scarcely consume any honey 

 all winter." The title of the article 

 from which I have quoted is "Pre- 

 vention of Bee-Diarrhea," and I re- 

 quest that it be republished entire, so 

 that Mr. Clarke, Dr. Tinker, and all 

 may read how to winter their bees in 

 safety, for I know from an experience 

 of 17 years that the vital principles 

 regarding the safe wintering of bees 

 are found in that article.* 



The reason why I knew that my 

 bees were going to die that winter, 

 was because they were not in the 

 quiescent state which Mr. Gallup 

 describes as a requisite to safe win- 

 teriug— the state mine had always 

 been in when I had been successful 

 in cellar wintering. I have just seen 

 ray bees that are in the cellar, and I 

 find that all those which are properly 

 ventilated iire entirely motionless, 

 except as they are disturbed by being 

 breathed upon or otherwise, while a 

 few that I tried to keep warmer by 

 confining the heat in the hive, are not 

 clustered as compactly, and are easily 

 disturbed by the rays of the lamp. 

 The temperature of my cellar is 43°, 

 while in another of Mr. Gallup's arti- 

 cles, he says that his was 40°. 



I should like to tell the readers all 

 about how the different colonies of 

 bees act in my cellar; how they com- 

 pare with their actions of other win- 

 ters ; how I have watched them for 

 hours to seethe change in the cluster, 

 of which Prof. Cook speaks, etc. : but 

 it would make this article too long 

 were I to do so. But I must say that, 

 with Prof. Cook, I object to " this 

 winter quiet of bees " being termed 

 "hibernation." Any thing that ean 

 be aroused to activity by a simple 

 breath of air cannot be said to hiber- 

 nate, according to my understanding 

 of the word. Prof. Cook illustrates 

 hibernation on page 87, by means of 

 the wasp. I wish to illustrate it a 

 little more by telling a story of a 

 colony instead of an individual, as 

 some might say that there would be a 

 difference. It is as follows : 



During the fall of 1876 I built a new 

 house on my present location, 40 rods 

 from any other building. In 1876 I 

 built mv shop and put in a steam en- 

 gine. Where I had formerly lived I 

 was bothered with black ants which I 

 supposed were the same as those 

 which throw up mounds of earth in 

 meadows and elsewhere in this local- 

 ity ; so I expected to soon have them 

 about in my new location, as I noticed 

 these earth-mounds all about. Much 



