38 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Reply to Mr. Dadant on Wintering. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



My experience and oteervalioii 

 proves tliat Mr. Dadant is correct in 

 his .iudgment tliat tlie space above is 

 the incentive wliicli draws the bees to 

 the top of the combs, and to tlie quilt. 

 I tlunk that I, perliaps, tell into the 

 common error of imagining that l\Ir. 

 Dadant's lixtures above were similar 

 to my own, the same as he had in con- 

 ceiving the shape of the space, and 

 size of the same. 



I nse only 8 Langstroth frames, 

 hence my hive is only II3.3 inclies 

 wide, instead of J4, as Mr. I), lignres 

 it. Perhaps, from the little I said in 

 regard to the -2 inch space, on page 

 275 of Bee Journal, lie had a right 

 to suppose that I used a space 2 inches 

 deep all over the entire top of my 

 hive. Such is not the case, as former 

 descriptions of my method will show. 

 I have used 2 bent pieces, thus --~, 

 about 6 inches apart in about the cen- 

 ter of the hive. You will see that the 

 ends of the bent pieces come down to 

 no space at all, for wliat keeps them 

 bowing is the fact that they are cut 

 enough longer than the inside meas- 

 ure of the hive to give any bow de- 

 sired, by slipping the ends inside the 

 side-boards of the hive. You will 

 now see that the ends of the quilt lay 

 upon the frames flat from the ends of 

 the hive toward the center, for about 

 4 inches, when it begins to rise gradu- 

 ally to the 2 inch height near the cen- 

 ter of the hive. The whole space 

 made amounts to about 108 cubic 

 inches of space opened up above the 

 bees, instead of 5(i») inches, as Mr. D. 

 supposes it to be (and so puts it on 

 page 354 of Weekly Bee .Journal). 



This season I have used but 1 bent 

 piece, which cuts the space down to 

 about I3 of what I figure and describe 

 above. I did not make the change be- 

 cause I saw anything detrimental 

 about the former space, but because 

 from what I had seen I thought that 

 the space made by one piece would 

 accomplish the object, viz : of mak- 

 ing a |)erfect winter passage cross- 

 wise of the combs, and one stick re- 

 quires less lumber and manipulation, 

 than two. 



1 shall never comply with the " in- 

 stincts " of my bees, where I think 

 my reason is a better guide, nor with 

 the instincts of my cows, horses, 

 sheep, swine, etc. My bees have an 

 instinctive liatred of having their 

 hives opened, but I shall continue to 

 open them whenever my reason dic- 

 tates so to do. We should follow their 

 instincts only, when our reason fails 

 to grasp the case. I reason that if it 

 is a rule that all bees in box-hives, 

 split open from top to bottom, winter 

 better than those that are tight, and 

 that Mr. Jerome Wiltse, in an ex- 

 tended observation found that bees 



that contained a large space above 

 them were almost the only ones that 

 survived, and Mr. Vandervort reports 

 the same thing, that mine will bear a 

 winter passage above the frames, not- 

 withstanding the fact that it is their 

 instinct to glue up every little crevice 

 about the top of the liive, as we are 

 told. 



I have never yet been able to de- 

 monstrate that any thin, or other 

 quality that the honey might take on, 

 had anything to do with the safe win- 

 tering of our bees. 



I believe this. The great losses that 

 apiarists suffer, by tlie death of their 

 colonies, has one common cause, viz : 

 dysentery. 1 do not believe that thin 

 honey will cause that disease. I know 

 that bees will liave it in its most ag- 

 gravated form when their honey is 

 thick and in perfect condition every 

 way, as far as the eye can detect. 



In regard to small colonies, there is 

 little to support a belief that they will 

 not surviveany of our severest winters 

 as safely as large ones. It seems to 

 me that it has been amply proven, that 

 cold does not directly damage bees. I 

 can bring more witnesses than you 

 could print tlie names of in a whole 

 column, to give testimony of the suc- 

 cessful wintering of very weak colo- 

 nies, during cold winters^ when many 

 strong ones died (not with cold, but 

 dysentery). There is something about 

 large colonies that seems to engender 

 dysentery, I think because of a higher 

 degree of heat they keep up in' the 

 center of the larger cluster, and greater 

 consumption of stores, both tending 

 to the use of pollen. 



Some years ago Mr. Hosmer, of 

 Minnesota, adopted and advocated 

 tlie plan of reducing every colony to 

 only one (piart of bees, for winter. 

 That movement, and its discontinu- 

 ance, simply i)roves that the catholicon 

 does not rest in the size of the colony. 



One spring, after a good snug vcin- 

 ter, I was buying some colonies of a 

 farmer, when he pointed to a hive 

 (box) that I had supposed empty, and 

 said ■' I'll present you witli that one," 

 when I turned it up, and found three 

 pieces of comb, all not aggregating 

 three-fourths of a square foot, and 

 tliereon about a tea-cup full of bees. 

 This hive had stood out under a "bee- 

 shed," warmed by its shadow, and 

 above the snow level. I took tliem 

 home, and let them alone, as an ex- 

 periment. They survived and made 

 a colony, unaided, except by a little 

 feeding. 



I have no evidence that cider, stored 

 in combs, causes dysentery — I don't 

 know. I know that during tlie fall of 

 1879 my colonies worked so lively on a 

 large cider mill here that they came 

 near taking possession of it, during 

 the hot weather of October. Though 

 the following winter was very mild, 

 they were conrined more than weeks 

 at onetime (if I remember right), and 

 yet they had no dysentery. I believe 

 that when the exact cause of the dis- 

 ease is known, it will be seen that it is 

 not cold, acids, nor thin liquids that 

 cause it, but solids, in the shape of 

 pollen. 



Because I "lost two-thirds of my 

 colonies," it will not do to say that the 



strongest survived, for such was not 



the case, only the fittest survived ; 

 and why the fittest I defy anyone to 

 tell. 



I now have just 222 colonies in one 

 apiary, put up in 5 or 6 different ways 

 (some in a cellar), and does anyone 

 suppose that Mr. Dadant or any other 

 man can, by a complete over-hauling, 

 " spot " the ones that the coming win- 

 ter is going to condemn '? I am a 

 " doubting Thomas." 



An old ignorant farmer, some 15 

 miles away, wintered all of his SO colo- 

 nies which were almost entirely neg- 

 lected. Does anyone believe that all 

 his sudden increase, to these 80 colo- 

 nies, were all strong ? 



I admit that very frequent and ex- 

 tensive flights completely prevent or 

 cure dysentery in its first symptons, 

 but I also admit and assert tliat there 

 are other conditions over which we 

 may hope to get control that also pre- 

 vent it. though the bees do not see the 

 liglit for 6 months of tlie coldest 

 weather. I know of many such cases, 

 and I also know of the disease raging 

 so badly in Kentucky and Missouri, 

 where the flights were freijuent, that 

 thousands of colonies succumbed. 



As long as we depend upon "flights," 

 whether caused by the rising tem- 

 perature alone, or that combined with 

 our efforts to arouse ourslumberers, in 

 this locality, we shall be at the mercy 

 of the blind forces, as of old. When 

 I said semi-dormant state, I meant 

 that quiet state which they rest in 

 through tlie winter, even when cross- 

 ing combs or exercising to keep up 

 tlie temperature. I misjht have called 

 it the " quiet state," for no shifts in 

 the hive or degree of cold outside 

 causes tlie physical and mental excite- 

 ment, that jarring or opening the hive 

 does. 



The main reason why putting bees 

 in the cellar with some accumulation, 

 is bad, is because of the disturbance 

 by the removal. 



Mr. Dadant wishes to knovs^ upon 

 what I base my idea that brood-rear- 

 ing causes dysentery. It is this : Ex- 

 perience and observation have shown 

 me that of all the colonies that die 

 with it, a vast majority leave brood. 

 Of all those that are healthy at the 

 same time, a huge majority have no 

 brood. Reasoning has forced ine to 

 conclude tliat brood-rearing demands 

 the use and manipulation of pollen 

 and in the course of such manipula- 

 tion the bees partake of it, during 

 this early period in the season, when 

 they cannot fly to void their feces, and 

 that pollen is a substance thatiiosesses 

 a residue that cannot be passed from 

 the system by sensible and insensible 

 perspiration, as could the excess of 

 water contained in thin or cider 

 honey. Dysentery is the result. I do 

 not claim to be just right in this mat- 

 ter. I only claim to give my honest 

 opinion, formed from my experience 

 and observation, 



I presume that in many of the 

 points at issue, Mr. Dadant and my- 

 self are both correct. Soil and cli- 

 mate make great differences, and 

 educate us in very different directions. 

 It seems to me that such honest and 

 friendly controversies cannot fail to 



