THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



441 



son, to confine the colony to the brood- 

 chamber, and no feeding will be nec- 

 essary. If, liowever, the extracting 

 has been done too close, during the 

 honey season, even if our fall yield is 

 not below an average one, the bees 

 will generally be unable to lind the 

 necessary supply for winter. When 

 everything is in our favor, precautious 

 are unnecessary, as a matter of course, 

 but to provide against reverses, shows 

 the standard of the bee-keeper. 



A number of bee-keepers argue in 

 favor of eight-frame hives, and even 

 smaller ones, claiming that they get 

 more lioney alcove eight, seven, six, or 

 even live frames. They are correct to 

 a certain extent. The queen occupies 

 every cell in the brood chamber and 

 keeps doing so until the season is past, 

 and every drop of honey coming in 

 can only be stored in the honey-cham- 

 ber. The queen having a certain 

 number of eggs to lay, is unrestrained 

 at lirst and keeps the brood chamber 

 tilled with eggs up to the last. No 

 gradual decrease in breeding takes 

 place, and when winter approaches 

 the combs of those colonies are empty, 

 and the bees would die of starvation 

 if not supplied with their winter 

 stores. This takes away our profit, 

 unless our time is worth nothing, and 

 sugar considerably below its present 

 market value. 



Another fact needs mentioning in 

 connection with wintering : It has 

 been repeated over and over again 

 that one or another wintering his bees 

 successfully for years, while he lost 

 all he had another season, wintering 

 them in the same cellar and having 

 prepared them in the same manner. 

 Others again, wintered their bees suc- 

 cessfully in double-walled or in chaff 

 hives, while all they had were lost 

 another winter. As stated above, 

 successful wintering can be accom- 

 plished in a number of different ways. 

 I have tested the matter to my satis- 

 faction, that, in our climate, it re- 

 quires neither cellar, nor chaff hive, 

 with plenty of food within easy reach 

 of tljeir cluster, and a dry air in their 

 hives, bees can withstand a greater 

 amount of cold than most of us im- 

 agine. My bees have been in well- 

 made chaff hives, in double-walled, 

 and in single-walled hives for at least 

 20 years, and in no spring have I been 

 able to say that they wintered better 

 in the one kind of hive than the other; 

 but I am positive in stating that my 

 strongest colonies in spring were 

 never is chaff hives. Single-walled 

 hives are handiest for many reasons, 

 and have proved to me the most de- 

 sirable of any, although during the 

 winters the mercury has for weeks 

 ranged in the twenties below zero. 

 Cincinnati, PO, 



For tbe American U,je JournaL 



Some TroiiMefl Bee-Lore. 



C. W. DAYTON, (UG). 



As Mr. Barber predicted, many bee- 

 keepers are " holding up their hands 

 in horror " at wintering bees in a tem- 

 perature of 60° to 90- ; and Mr. Bar- 

 ber brands them " unmanly and un- 

 just " in doing so. I winter my bees 

 so that I can watch the motions of 

 the bees, and the degree of hiberna- 

 tion. Usually the bees appear entire- 

 ly motionless, and continue so for 

 months at a time. In a few instances 

 tlie temperature was raised to 62^ or 

 65°, and the bees remained as motion- 

 less as before ; but there was an in- 

 crease of the roaring. At other times 

 a slight raise in the temperature from 

 4-5° set every cluster in the cellar in 

 motion. 



What puzzles me the most is, how 

 Mr. Barber can maintain a tempera- 

 ture of even 60'^ for one-fourth of the 

 time. After try ing frost-proof cellars 

 that were as air-tight as stone and 

 mortar could make them, and filled 

 with almost a colony of bees to the 

 cubic foot, I find them unable to 

 maintain a temperature as high as 50'^. 

 I have kept thermometers standing in 

 the clusters of colonies nearly all win- 

 ter, and it varied, when the bees 

 quiesced, never above 72P, and some- 

 times below 60°. As the temperature 

 of the earth at cellar-depth is about 

 45°, and as cold is much the stronger 

 element, it is plain thata temperature 

 maintained by quiescing bees would 

 not be very high ; even if the cellar 

 was one solid cluster of bees it might 

 fall below 65°. 



Other tests were made with ther- 

 mometers where the temperature 

 ranged from 75°to870, but the bees 



AVhen Keuewins; your subscription 

 please try to get your neighbor who keeps 

 bees to join with you in taliing the Bee 

 Journal. It is now so clieap that no one 

 can afford to do without it. We will present 

 a Binder for the Bee Journal to any one 

 sending us four subscriptions— with S4.00— 

 direct to this olHce. It will pay any one to 

 devote a few hours, to get subscribers. 



were in an unsettled condition, and 

 bees cannot pass the winter in a state 

 of activity. I believe that Mr. Bar- 

 ber only claims that the temperature 

 was 60° when the colonies were put 

 in, and 90° when they were put out, 

 with no record of temperature be- 

 tween times ; until of late, since he 

 practices wintering in a temperature 

 of 45° to 50'-. 



On page 293, Mr. W. F. Clarke 

 states what was said at the Detroit 

 convention, and amplifies with what 

 appears to me some pretty well de- 

 formed ideas. Xote the following: 

 Mr. Hall's honey crop averaged 250 

 pounds of comb honey per colony ; 

 and Mr. Clarke thinks that Mr. Hall 

 can go to other localities and do 

 equally as well. On May 20 Mr. Hall's 

 colonies averaged about 6 or 7 combs 

 of brood, and the honey-yield ends 

 about July 20. On page 212 of the 

 Bee JouiiNAL for 1883 Mr. Fayette 

 Lee says that he wants 9 combs of 

 brood in every hive by May 25, and 

 the manner in which it is said con- 

 veys the idea that he is able to get 

 them. Mr. Leg's honey yield ends 

 about July 25, and his average is less 

 than 100 pounds per colony of extract- 

 ed honey. I have always failed to get 

 more than 7)^ combs of brood in every 

 hive by May 25, but there was an aver- 

 age of 6 or 7 combs of brood in my 



hives by May 20 this year. Xow a 

 query is this : Does Mr. Hall have his 

 liives overflowing with bees, and yet 

 not containing but (> or 7 combs of 

 brood y I think not. From this it 

 may be seen that our stock of bees ou 

 ilay 20 is equal to Mr. Hall's, and his 

 good management or excellent loca- 

 tion for honey is the secret of his suc- 

 cess. Mr. Clarke attributes the suc- 

 cess to wintering in a high tempera- 

 ture. 



In my experience it would be im- 

 possible to store enough bees in a 

 cellar to maintain a temperature of 

 60° if they were at all quiescent ; and 

 if they do not need to quiesce, then 

 the hibernation theory goes immedi- 

 ately down. Not long ago a bee-keep- 

 er told me that it would be an easy 

 matter to maintain that temperature 

 in his cellar, as potatoes had sprouted 

 and grown. He had not tested with a 

 thermometer. Now I find that where 

 potatoes are kept in a steady tempera- 

 ture of 50'° they will not grow ; but 

 they may be kept in a temperature of 

 40-', and taken into a high tempera- 

 ture for 48 hours, they may be re- 

 turned to the low temperature and 

 they will immediately sprout and 

 grow. 



From an experience in building up 

 a large number of colonies in the 

 spring, it has become my belief that 

 the strength of a colony cannot be 

 reasonably increased in a temperature 

 no higher than 60°, as the labor in car- 

 ing for brood wears out bees as fast as 

 new ones can be reared. Even with 

 strong colonies it is hard to make 

 much progress before the arrival of 

 May and June weather, or a time when 

 one bee is enabled to care for several 

 cells of brood. 



Reports that colonies reared brood 

 and came out more populous in the 

 spring than they were in the fall, in 

 my opinion, is " four-thirds " mistake; 

 and placing the colony in the cellar on 

 a cold day with a contracted cluster, 

 and putting it out on a warm day 

 would make such a mistake po.ssible. 

 Experience has taught many, also, 

 that the amount of brood a colony has 

 when it is taken from the cellar", is a 

 very incorrect measure of the career 

 of the colony in the future length of 

 time which may not exceed 60 days. 

 Bradford, c^ Iowa. 



" Don't Stop "—that is what many write 

 to us about their papeis, when their time is 

 nearly out. One subscriber says : " It is not 

 conrenient for me to send the money now 

 to renew my subscription. It runs out with 

 this month ; but don't stop sending it. I will 

 get the money to you within three months." 

 Such letters are coming every day, and so 

 for the present we have concluded not to 

 stop any papers until requested to do so. 



Tlio Convention History of America 



and the American Bee Journal for one 

 year, will be clubbed for $1.15. 



Onr Catalogue of Bee- Keepers' Supplies 

 will be sent to any one de^ring to get a copy. 

 Send name and address, plainly written, on 

 a Postal Card for it. 



