THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



37 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Cause of Moisture in Hives, etc. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



Although I have enough writing on 

 apiculture without opening any con- 

 troversy, yet when sucli is opened by 

 others, and by misunderstanding or 

 intent I am misunderstood or mis- 

 represented, not to have an uncon- 

 trolable desire to reply would be 

 something more than human. 



Allow me to call attention to Mr. 

 Corneil's quotations from my articles. 

 After reading them can you see why 

 Mr. Corneil should suppose that I 

 thought that the dampness in hives 

 was mainly due to an accumulation of 

 moisture caused by the absence of 

 heat after the death of the bees V It 

 seems to me that I have said enough 

 in past articles,to give any reader wlio 

 reads my articles as closely as Mr. 

 Conieil must have done, to under- 

 stand that I was aware that respira- 

 tion and transpiration were the main 

 causes of dampness in bee hives. 



In examining my colonies in the 

 spring, when a portion were dead and 

 a portion alive, on several occasions I 

 found much more dampness in the 

 dead colonies than in tlie live ones, 

 when all were treated precisely alike. 

 Many colonies had a lesser and some 

 a greater portion of tlieir numbers 

 dead, and in almost exact propotion 

 to the numbers of living and dead so 

 I found the moisture. This might 

 lead some, and undoubtedly would 

 lead Mr. Corneil to pronounce mois- 

 ture the cause of the mortality, but I 

 pronounced it the effect, and will pre- 

 sent to you, what are to me. valid 

 reasons for such a decision. First, if 

 moisture is the cause of dysentery, 

 why does not the moisture folks ac- 

 count for numerous such instances as 

 given by Mr. ]3alch on page 6, cur- 

 rent volume y Secondly, tliere is a 

 law by wliich it is an effect in such 

 cases as I have mentioned! During 

 such temperature as we have at the 

 season of the year mentioned, mois- 

 ture seeks tiie colder substances and 

 places, upon the same principle that 

 the pitcher of ice water placed upon 

 the summer dinner table gathers 

 moisture upon its outer surface. 



Upon this principle you see, as long 

 as there were live bees enough in a 

 hive to keep the temperature above 

 that surrounding it. no excess of 

 moisture would take place. As soon 

 as no life was left in the hive, and a 

 rise in temperature left the combs, 

 honey, etc., colder than the outside 

 air, condensation would take place in 

 the hive on the same principle that 

 our cellars are damper in summer 

 tlian in winter. Said" dampness does 

 not come from the eartli. but from 

 the warmer atmosphere outside, gov- 

 erned by the law above mentioned. 

 That the bodies of the dead bees may 

 contribute to this accumulation of 



moisture, I have reason to believe. 

 Let it be remembered that I am all 

 along referring to times wlien tlie 

 tem))erature is above the freezing 

 point— such times as we are examin- 

 ing our colonies. 



:Mr. J5alch has given us facts re- 

 garding the condition of his bees 

 wlien taken from the damp i-epository, 

 facts to which I was an eye witness, 

 as I have been to others similar. We 

 want to believe and know the truth, 

 whatever it may be, and we appre- 

 ciate learned theorizing, especially if 

 correct, but it cannot force itself 

 upon us as such while running con- 

 trary to such facts as given by Mr. 

 Balch. To reply to Mr. Halch's last 

 question in his valuable article, I will 

 say, that before I kept bees I learned 

 from observing others, that the best 

 way to gain self-respect, as well as 

 the respect ot othera, was to frankly 

 own right up when knowingly beaten 

 in discussion. That open confession 

 was not only good for the soul, but 

 wholesome for the opinions of others. 

 In recalling to memory all that I can 

 of my controversies with Mr. Balch, 

 I call to mind no other occasion for 

 sucli concession. If I remember cor- 

 rectly, this occurred in the second 

 year of my bee-keeping, and upon 

 that ground I ask Mr. Balch to ex- 

 cuse my weakness in supposing that 

 liis bright, healthy bees ought to 

 have been all dead coming from such 

 a damp, moldy pit — more especially 

 when this dampness was a common 

 dread, and even yet our scientific 

 friend across tlie line believes it to be 

 the Gorgon of our honeyed hopes. 



Let me say to Mr. Turner that my 

 case without tlie divisions (which he 

 did not use) is not my case at all, nor 

 is it worth the tenth part as much as 

 the one I use, in my estimation. With 

 our leading honey-producers, the tide 

 has been steadily moving away from 

 the use of glass in surplus-storing 

 supers or cases, and when with this 

 class of bee-keepers the tide turns 

 back upon itself, will be time enough 

 for nie to begin to think of going back 

 over the old, old ground. Mr. Turner 

 cites to my average yield of honey. 

 No greater mistake has ever been 

 made than that of attaching impor- 

 tance to the arguments of him whose 

 name appears under "a big report, 

 simply because of such report. First, 

 is tlie report true V Secondly, if so, 

 are tlie conditions causing it neces- 

 sarily coupled with great wisdom V 

 Here, we have not had much over half 

 a crop of nectar secreted by the flora 

 since I hist saw the name of Mr. 

 Turner, and, perhaps, since Jlr. 

 Turner lirst saw mine. I am not old 

 enough to yet have reached my first 

 year of dotage. 



I believe I knew less about bee- 

 keeping, in all its branches, ten years 

 ago than at present. At that time I 

 scored pro rata yields far in advance 

 of that reported by Mr. Turner, and I 

 think equal to any thing I have seen 

 reported this side of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. If I should get another such 

 yield the coming season, shall I re- 

 write my article against the use of 

 movable- sided cases? Jlr. Balch's 

 article, seems to me. to be a concise 



answer to one in the same issue by 

 Mr. II. V. Train. 



The report of Ira Barber, on page 

 12, deserves more than a passing 

 thought. .V young man reported 

 similarly upon the same subject about 

 12 years ago at our Kalamazoo ('on- 

 vention. If bees kept in so higli a 

 temperature can crawl outside and 

 void and go back with safety, as in- 

 ferred by JSIr. Barber, most assuredly 

 they can breed, and use all the pollen 

 they desire. But it seems from this 

 extensive experience that even in so 

 high a temperature, as a rule, there is 

 no breeding (see fourth line on page 

 12), and if such be the case, I should 

 not expect any consumption of pollen, 

 as a free and unrestricted choice of 

 food is left to the bees in such tem- 

 perature. This is the fourth or hfth 

 time that my attention has been 

 called to this principle, and though 

 it has worked considerably upon my 

 mind each time, never more strongly 

 than now, for Mr. Barber is known to 

 us as a practical man of integrity and 

 ability, and his report is uiion a scale 

 sufliciently large to make it more val- 

 uable. A\ bile this high temperature 

 may save the bees, again the low 

 tempered cellar is not a cause of the 

 disease, because many are the apiaries 

 tliat come out of such cellars in ex- 

 cellent condition. 



I wish Mr. Barber would tell us 

 more about it. Tell us how long he 

 has wintered in this high temperature. 

 All about his successes and failures, 

 and conditions accompanying them. 

 Where is Dr. Southard upon this win- 

 tering question V Come out Doctor 

 and give us your experience, observa- 

 tions and conclusions. No matter 

 with whom they may run crosswise, 

 we cannot afford to do without them. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



" Button Bush Honey " Again. 



REV. SI. MAniN, D. D. 



In the Bee .Jouknal of Jan. 2, 

 1884, R.. S. Becktell writes about but- 

 ton bush honey, and says that it is far 

 inferior to buckwheat lioney, tiiat it 

 has a very sickening taste, and that it 

 is black and stingy. I am very cer- 

 tain that he is mistaken in supposing 

 that the honey he describes was gath- 

 ered from button bush, and that while 

 his bees were working on that shrub 

 they were getting large quantities of 

 honey from some other and unob- 

 served source. 



Button bush (cephalrmthus occiden- 

 ioKs) used to abound in tills section, 

 until tlie ponds were drained and 

 cleared up ; and in the earlier days of 

 my bee-keeping my bees gathered a 

 good deal of honey from it. 



I am sure that Mr. Becktell is mis- 

 taken, because wliile button bush 

 abounded in the locality of my apiary 

 I have never seen any sucli honey as 

 he describes, and his must have been 

 gathered from some plant that does 

 not grow in this vicinity. I have had 

 abundant opportunity to determine 

 tlie quality of button bush honey, 

 liaving repeatedly removed it with the 



