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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



basswood tree ; plant it this year. 

 Awaken tlie interest of your child- 

 ren and neighbors in this good work. 

 Having thus been industrious, your 

 conscience will tell you at your part- 

 ing hour from this world that your 

 works and deeds are sweeter than 

 honey. 



Besides Tilia, there are other trees 

 and shrubs, furnishing an abundance 

 of honey. Chief among many may be 

 mentioned Ascle^nas syriacu. I have 

 seen this plant covering the side of a 

 bill, having been there fifty years or 

 more. Its flesh-red blossoms are 

 eagerly visited by bees in summer and 

 fall ; the honey is said to be of excel- 

 lent quality. 



Another plant, furnishing a large 

 quantity of honey, is Borogo officincdis 

 (borage). Being an annual herb, it 

 must be sown every year and may be 

 made to bloom any time in the sum- 

 mer or fall, by sowing in proper time. 



Nepeta batavia (catnip) should also 

 be encouraged to grow wherever pos- 

 sible ; it is perennial, sometimes bi- 

 ennial. 



Especially recommendable is, Hy- 

 so2)piis officinalis (hyssop). This herb 

 blooms in the latter part of summer 

 when there is not much else for bees 

 to be had. It will grow anywhere and 

 sow itself afterwards. This plant 

 should receive special attention, as it 

 furnishes more honey than any other 

 plant occupying the same ground sur- 

 face. 



Well worthy of consideration also, 

 is Hedgsaruni cei6ric/M's ^esparsette), 

 fennel, rape, caraway. The first fur- 

 nishes as well good feed for cattle, 

 whilst the seed of the three last men- 

 tioned generally bring a good price in 

 market. 



[Planting for honey is the key note 

 to success ; and we are glad to note 

 the fact that not only are the best and 

 most progressive bee-keepers in 

 America now convinced of this fact, 

 but also those of Europe and Aus- 

 tralia. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Jounial. 



Effect of Dampness on Bees in Winter. 



S. CORNEIL. 



In looking over the back volumes of 

 the Bee Journal I find that writers 

 on wintering always give the tempera- 

 ture at which the repositories for bees 

 should be kept, but tliey never seem 

 to think of giving the proper degree 

 of humidity of the atmosphere, al- 

 though the latter is the more import- 

 ant of the two. The writers generally 

 seem to be agreed that bees when clus- 

 tered can endure severe cold, but can- 

 not stand dampness, yet it seems not 

 to have occurred to anyone to test the 

 degree of dampness at which they will 

 remain healthy, and beyond which 

 they will become diseased. The 

 natural laws relating to the produc- 

 tion of moisture by the consumption 

 of food, the evaporation of moisture 

 and the humidity of the air have been 

 pretty well investigated and ascer- 

 tained, and we only need to compre- 



hend and apply them to attain our 

 object. With a view to place before 

 your readers the ideas of some of the 

 leading scientific lecturers and writers 

 on those subjects I will quote some of 

 them. 



Mr. Frank Cheshire, in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal for 1879, page 277, 

 says: '-Honey is a hydro-carbon, con 

 sisting almost entirely of saccliarine 

 matter, and like common sugar does 

 not undergo digestion, but simply 

 transudes through the delicate tissues 

 into the circulation, being utilized for 

 giving heat and force. So used, it is 

 converted into water on the one hand, 

 and carbonic acid on the other. These 

 escape through the lungs, no residue 

 remaining to be carried off in the ex- 

 creta. When bees take honey it is 

 gradually absorbed into the fluids, 

 and passes off from the organism of 

 the bee through the breathing ap- 

 paratus."' 



It has been ascertained that about 

 70 per cent, of the honey consumed is 

 transformed into water, and will pass 

 off through the trachse as vapor, if 

 the surrounding air be dry enough to 

 absorb it. 



Mr. ij. C. Root, on page 218 of the 

 same volume of the Bee Journal, 

 says: "Some of Mr. Quinby's last 

 experiments led him to believe that 

 the liquid jiortion of the feces was 

 evaporated through the body of the 

 bee, when surrounded by proper con- 

 ditions." 



In Carpenter's Principles of Com- 

 parative Physiology, on page 3.56 and 

 3.58, we find these statements : " There 

 is no reason to believe that the pul- 

 monary exhalation is liberated in any 

 other way than by evaporation, under 

 the peculiarly favorable circumstances 

 afforded by the delicacy and permea- 

 bility of the respiratory membrane. 



" In insects, it has been ascertained 

 by Newport, tnat transpiration of fluid 

 takes place to a considerable extent ; 

 it is, of course, difficult to ascertain 

 what proportion of the loss of fluid 

 takes place from the external surface, 

 and from the prolongation of it that 

 lines the air passages, which in this 

 class are so extensive and minutely 

 ramified ; probably it is from the res- 

 piratory membrane that the principal 

 lil)eration of it occurs 



" If, however, the external air be 

 saturated with moisture, and be of 

 the same temperature with the body 

 (so as to be unable to acquire its heat 

 any increase of capacity for vapor), it 

 is obvious that the evaporation from 

 the lungs, as well as that from the 

 skin, will be entirely checked." 



From the principles here laid down, 

 it is plain that if the air breathed by 

 the bees be overloaded with moisture, 

 the large amount of water generated 

 by the consumption of honey will not 

 be exhaled by evaporation from the 

 respiratory membrane, but will re- 

 main in the bodies of the bees, and, 

 if this condition of the air be long con- 

 tinued, it is at least sufficient cause 

 for the bees becoming sick, and, I 

 think, the most probable cause of 

 abdominal distension and dysentery. 



It will, perhaps, surprise some to 

 learn that the natural dampness of 



the atmosphere is much greater dur- 

 ing the coldest weather than it is dur- 

 ing the months when the bees are 

 most active. The results of observa- 

 tions, at the observatory at Toronto, 

 show that for a period of thirty years, 

 from 1841 to 1871, the monthly means 

 of relative humidity were as follows : 

 Of course^O, representing dry air and 

 100 the point of saturation. January 

 S3-', February Sl^^, March 78^, April 

 72°, May 71°, June 74°, July 73°, 

 August 76°, September 76°, October 

 79°, November 81°, December 81°. 

 Average for the year 77°. Taking the 

 months of November, December, 

 January, February and March, during 

 which Ijees are confined to their hives, 

 the average is about 81° ; while for the 

 remaining seven months, when they 

 can fly, the average is a little over 74°, 

 a difference of more than six degrees 

 of dampness when the bees are least 

 able to resist its effects. 



The report also shows that the 

 humidity of different winters varies 

 as much as does their temperature, 

 and it often occurs that excessively 

 cold winters are also excessively 

 humid, and on turning to tiie reports 

 of bee-keepers, I find those are the 

 winters in which the heaviest losses 

 have occurred. On the other hand, it is 

 found that when the humidity has 

 been about normal the bees have 

 wintered well. For instance, in the 

 winter 1874-5, the temperature for 

 December was 1° colder than the 

 average for that month ; January 6.89°, 

 February 12.74°, and March 5.20°. 

 The humidity for Januarv was 84°, for 

 February 86°, and for March 81°. Prof. 

 Cook, in his prize essay, refers to it as 

 " That terrible winter of 1874-5, terri- 

 ble alike for its cold and bee-mor- 

 tality." He might have approjiriately 

 added " and remarkable for its hu- 

 midity." 



Again, in the winter of 1880-1, De- 

 cember was 4.30° colder than the 

 average for that month, January 6.35°, 

 February 2.87°. The mean relative 

 humidity for each of these months 

 was 85°. The heavy losses sustained 

 by bee-keepers during that season 

 were too serious to be readily forgot- 

 ten. 



On the other hand, in the winter of 

 1877-8, the temperature for December 

 was 8.68° above the average for that 

 month, January 1.60°, February 1.60°, 

 March 8.18°. The humidity for De- 

 cember was 81°, January 84°, February 

 81°, March 79° ; on the whole, being 

 about normal and in no case varying 

 more than a degree from the average 

 for each particular month. So far as 

 I can learn from the reports of bee- 

 keepers for that season, the bees win- 

 tered well. 



The humidity as well as the tem- 

 perature of different localities in the 

 same latitude varies considerably. In 

 selecting a location, and in preparing 

 bees for winter, it is of importance to 

 know exactly how those matters stand. 

 We are told that in the old country 

 they have meteorological societies 

 whose special object is to ascertain 

 the degree of heat, cold, and moisture 

 in various localities and the usual 

 periods of their occurrence, together 

 with their effects on the health of the 



