630 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



laws in connection, either with food, 

 heat, ventilation, moisture or physi- 

 cal characteristics. These cover the 

 whole ground ; and whilst one apiar- 

 ist conte ids for one of these points, 

 and anotlier for some other one, and 

 each seems to thinli that if the popu- 

 lar misapprehension in regard to the 

 special phase of the point which he 

 views as the seat of the ditticulty, 

 could be removed. unsucces<ful win- 

 tering would be a thing tliat was. 

 Wliilst this is the case, the fact re- 

 mains the same, that the points which 

 I have enumerated embrace the whole 

 field wherein the controversy lies, and 

 which, without a shade of doubt, 

 holds in the rectification of the popu- 

 lar practice in respect to one or more 

 of these things, the solution of the 

 problem. 



Having thus defined in a general 

 manner tlie ground where the danger 

 lies, I am no^ going to make the claim 

 that I can lay my finger on it and say, 

 " Here it is," nor be so egotistical as 

 to pretend to turn this anicle into a 

 bullet of deadly aim, and lay it low at 

 one shot. My powers of observation 

 must be further cultivated, an i my 

 experience more extended before I 

 could presume to malie this attempt ; 

 but as one who recognizes the Held 

 wherein "the lion's'den" must be 

 located, I shall throw out some cau- 

 tionary signals, or to employ another 

 figure, bv firing a '• broadside " at the 

 enemy, slay him by quantity, if not 

 necessarily by correctness of aim. 



Before laying out my methods, 

 however, to more thorouglily clear the 

 way, let us inquire : first, " Wliat are 

 the native instincts of the bee regard- 

 ing the change from summer to win- 

 ter V" second, '• How far is it within 

 the domain of human reason to inter- 

 fere witli tliese instincts beneficially V' 

 In respect to the first, it is a rare 

 thing in the state of nature to hear of 

 a colony of bees being winter-killed. 

 How many of us have heard of such 

 a thing V In 99 cases out of 100. 

 where do we see bees winter-killed 

 when they are located in their un- 

 trammeled condition of nature— a 

 hollow within the trunk or limb of 

 some tree at a distance from the 

 ground ? So much for situation. Let 

 us examine the internal economy of 

 the house, and what do we find V We 

 find the honey above the cluster prin- 

 cipally, and everything overliead as 

 air-tiglit and snug as propolis and wax 

 can make it. ;\6 upward ventilation 

 in nature ; this is a rule with scarcely 

 an exception. Below the combs and 

 cluster is a large air-space or column 

 of dead air. and by means of this the 

 ventilation of the hive is secured ; 

 and with what success, observation 

 has revealed to us. These then are 

 the conditions under which the bee 

 exists when left to follow its own in- 

 clinations, and we see them carried 

 out, as far as circumstances will ad- 

 mit, in every box-hive and " log-gum" 

 in the land, and with the degree of 

 success following which their re- 

 stricted quarters entail. 



The foregoing, then, is what obser- 

 vation teaciies us concerning the in- 

 stincts wliich impel the bee to carry 

 out '■ tlie first law of nature "in its 



preservation during the winter sea- 

 son. Xow, let us ask, who is the 

 author of these instincts V iind is it 

 placed within the province of man to 

 interfere with them, with Iseneflt to 

 himself V In other words, are these 

 instincts of the bee insufficient to 

 secure its own highest well-being in 

 the economy of nature, apart from 

 human aid '? Let it be understood 

 that when we speak of instincts, that 

 we mean what we say, and liave no 

 reference whatever to those slight 

 changes in form, size, color, activity, 

 etc., which may be produced by cross- 

 ing two varieties of bees, or building 

 up and perpetuating some freak of 

 nature. For instance, such as we see 

 in the so-called Albino bee. which, as 

 Prof. Cook truly says, may frequently 

 be found in our ordinary Italian colo- 

 nies. Tliese variations from nature 

 constitute what Agassiz classes in his 

 Natural History, as " breeds." 



But I refer to none of these things, 

 but exclusively to those cardinal prin- 

 ciples which are implanted by God in 

 the nature of the bee. whicli consti- 

 tute its characteristics, make it what 

 it is, and which no amount of schem- 

 ing or contriving by man can destroy. 

 What, then, is the very first of these 

 principles or laws of its Ijeing V Is it 

 not tlie siyne as that which hold the 

 like position over the whole range of 

 animated nature ; viz : its self-preser- 

 vation y Then is it within the power 

 of the human mind to improve upon 

 this grand, impelling motive of its 

 being — a motive which leads it to 

 " provide its meat in the summer," 

 and to give itself no upper ventila- 

 tion for the winter V Yes, it is within 

 man"s power when he also has reason 

 to think that his ingenuity could 

 teach the bee to gather clay for pollen, 

 water for lioney, or place its stores 

 beneath the Ijrood instead of above, 

 or the drones to spend tlieir energies 

 in honey-storinf^ instead of using 

 them in the fertilization of the queen. 

 Yes, when he seriously imagines that 

 he can iinpro%'e upon these other in- 

 stincts of bee nature, tlien will lie 

 also have license to think that he can 

 improve upon their wintering-in- 

 stincts as well. 



However, to those who prefer to 

 view the case in a different light, and 

 are willing to fall in line with the 

 wisdom of God. and shape their nlans 

 and activities to best promote the full 

 execution of the principles which He 

 has established in the economy of the 

 bee, (and I profess to be among the 

 number), to those I would say. let us 

 so endeavor to enlarge our powers of 

 observation, and increase our faith in 

 the doctrine tliat the mental charac- 

 teristics of the bee are as completely 

 defined in their way as its physical ; 

 as to so regulate our manipulation in 

 the apiary, as to best promote the 

 fullest development of those divinely- 

 furnished attributes, wbicli, so far as 

 concerns its own preservation, is as 

 much shared by the bee as the head 

 of creation — man. 



Hence, we conclude first, that the 

 instincts of the bee in its own preser- 

 vation, are definite qualities given it 

 by its Maker to secure this end. and 

 are best fitted to do so ; and second. 



that these instincts have a defined 

 territory which is beyond the province 

 of human reason to invade with 

 benefit to man, and that inasmuch as it 

 does so, injury to the bee is sustained, 

 and loss to its owner results. 



Then with these foundation-princi- 

 ples before us, we shall come to the 

 question in hand, and on account of 

 my favorite method of wintering, 

 being on the summer stands, I shall 

 treat the matter from this stand- 

 point ; but the principles which may 

 be elucidated are equally applicable 

 to every other style of wintering, al- 

 though we leave it to others to do so. 



Xow, as we have before remarked, 

 failure in wintering infallibly pro- 

 ceeds from incorrect practice in con- 

 nection with one or more of the five 

 points already alluded to. We shall 

 enumerate them once more, and then 

 after giving our system of fall prep- 

 aration of the colony for wintering, 

 shall deal with each in detail : Food, 

 heat, ventilation, moisture, and physi- 

 cal characteristics. 



As regards the fall preparation of 

 the colony for wintering, much has 

 been said concerning stimulative- 

 feeding ; some would have brood- 

 rearing in full blast until the middle 

 of October, and to this end often feed 

 from 6 to 8 pounds of syrup to each 

 colony during the fall. We believe 

 this to be mistaken economy, for 

 three reasons: 1. Because a good, 

 prolific queen (and the apiarist should 

 tolerate no other), and one not too 

 old, will, under any circumstances, 

 providing there is a good supply of 

 honey in the hive, keep on breeding 

 during the fall quite sufficiently to 

 give a good force of young stock for 

 wintei', and thus tlie trouble of feed- 

 ing is saved. 2. Unnecessary expense 

 is entailed both during and after the 

 stimulative-process ; for the money 

 for the syrup is gone, or all that rep- 

 resents it are colonies boiling over 

 with hungry consumers. 3. Such is 

 not the practice of a large part of our 

 most successful apiarists of the day ; 

 and what they can dispense with and 

 yet succeed so well, giving reports 

 every whit as large as those who prac- 

 tice it, I should certainly not recom- 

 mend ; but this advice, however, only 

 applies in those cases where the col- 

 ony has had a proper queen during 

 the honey-season, and when a good 

 supply of brood in all stages was in 

 the liive when the season closed. 

 Now, as tliis begins to hatch out, con- 

 tract the brood-chamber, if a large 

 hive is employed (my own takes 18 

 frames 14?^xlli4), by removing the 

 empty frames and placing them out- 

 side the division-boards. This causes 

 the remaining frames to be better 

 covered with bees, and so less danger 

 of the brood becoming chilled ; and 

 at the same time, on account of what 

 little pollen and honey tliat may be 

 gathered, being stored in less compass 

 in the hive, the queen, in our opinion, 

 is stimulated to lay longer and more 

 largely than otherwise. 



When the time has come to finally 

 prepare the colonies for wintering, the 

 first precaution to be taken, is in re- 

 spect to the first point in my category. 



