THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



665 



another one of the " views " of bee- 

 keepers. 



I liad several colonies, during the 

 present summer, which contained 

 fertile ^vorl^ers. How to get rid of 

 them and save hreaking up the colo- 

 nies, puzzled me for a long time. 

 Finally I thought that I would try 

 what was to me an experiment ; for 

 all the information that I had ever 

 gotten before, advised lireaking up 

 the colony. I found that by the time 

 I was enabled to tell the presence of a 

 fertile worker, the bees had become 

 old enough to be called old bees. Of 

 course they would not receive a 

 queen, neither would they rear a 

 queen-cell, and I could not find the 

 fertile worker. I concluded to try 

 putting one frame of eggs and young 

 larva; into the hive, and changing 

 positions with a strong colony. The 

 bees that entered the hive now had 

 no use for a fertile worker, and killed 

 her ; and tlieu having the means, I 

 found them building queen-cells in a 

 couple of days afterwards. Since 

 then I have had no trouble with fer- 

 tile workers. 



In one case I changed a colony into a 

 fertile-worker colony to see "the re- 

 sult. A few minutes afterward I 

 opened the hive and found the queen 

 balled, but unhurt, by one set of bees, 

 and the fertile worker was balled and 

 killed by the other set of bees. I then 

 caged the queen for 24 hours, when I 

 set her at liberty, and she began lay- 

 ing unmolested. 



Stoneville, Miss. 



Colorado State Convention. 



A meeting of the Colorado State 

 Bee-Keepers' Association was held on 

 Sept. 14, 1884, at the Court House, in 

 Denver. 



As was anticipated, but few mem'- 

 bers were present, and in the absence 

 of President Godfrey, Vice-President 

 Milleson presided. Mr. Robert James 

 was chosen Secretary, J. L. Peabody 

 being absent. 



It was learned that most of the 

 records, as well as all copies extant of 

 the constitution and by-laws, had 

 been irrecoverably lost, which ren- 

 dered necessary the adoption of a new 

 series as nearly similar as possible to 

 the former, and on motion of Mr. J. 

 M. Clark, a committee to consider the 

 subject was appointed by the chair- 

 man, who named as sucli committee, 

 Mr. CUark and Robert James, and 

 directed them to report at the next 

 meeting. 



After some discussion regarding 

 the affairs of the Association and the 

 passing of a resolution of thanks to 

 the County Commissioners for the use 

 of their room, it was voted to adjourn. 

 — Colorado Fai-nier. 



^" The name of the Monroe City, 

 Mo., Bee-Keepers' Association was 

 changed on Oct. 1, 1884, to the North- 

 eastern Missouri Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation. The next meeting will be 

 held on Oct. 21, 1884, at Ilunnewell, 

 Mo. A. NOLAND, Sec. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



The Hibernation Theory. 



W. F. CLAEIiE. P 



I have every reason to feel pleased 

 and satisfied witli most of the refer- 

 ences which have been made by cor- 

 respondents of the Bee Journal, to 

 my theory concerning the hibernation 

 of bees. They luive been kind, appre- 

 ciative, respectful, and very much to 

 the point. Mr. Ileddon's critique on 

 the subject was especially good. Its 

 tone was admirable. In fact, I thought 

 the whole article quite a model of 

 controversial writing. The sugges- 

 tion of a possible co-partnership be- 

 tween the pollen and hibernation 

 theories interested me not a little ; 

 as it showed great magnanimity in 

 Mr. Ileddon to be willing, should "facts 

 require it, to share the honors of dis- 

 covery with one not actually devoted 

 to bee-keeping as a business. I am 

 not a little proud of the admission so 

 frankly made by him, that I have con- 

 tributed one of the points in that 

 triangular discussion which has done 

 much to solve the hard problem of 

 our winter losses. The complete solu- 

 tion of that prolilem which now seems 

 to loom up in the near future, will be 

 the jubilee of bee-keeping in which 

 we shall all rejoice together. 



It would trench too much upon the 

 valuable space of the Bee Journal. 

 which has already been largely taxed 

 in relation to the subject, for me to 

 reply to each and all of my brother 

 bee-keepers who have been kind 

 enough to take tlie matter up. Be- 

 sides, " the game is young," many of 

 our most experienced bee-keepers have 

 not yet taken a hand in it, and the 

 experiments of the coming winter 

 will doubtless throw much light on 

 it. I only desire, at this time, to say 

 a few things by way of keeping the 

 ball rolling. 



Mr. Ileddon is right in wishing a 

 clear definition of the word " hiber- 

 nation." He has given the Dictionary 

 explanation of it. I gave the scien- 

 tific use of the term, as it is employed 

 in works on natural history. There 

 are these twosignificatidns of it. Let 

 us agree in this discussion to use the 

 word in its scientific meaning, which 

 imports the state of torpor or semi- 

 topor into which various animals and 

 insects are wont to go during the sea- 

 son of winter in a cold climate. Let 

 it also be luiderstood that hibernation 

 may be complete or partial. The bear 

 is an example of complete hiberna- 

 tion. Mr. Ileddon says, " If they 

 hibernate, no food will be consumed." 

 It would be more correct to say lohik 

 they hibernate no food will lie con- 

 sumed. But I have already stated 

 very distinctly tliat bees hibernate 

 like squirrels, at intervals, and do not 

 take one long winter sleep. Hiberna- 

 tion too, has its degrees. In some 

 cases there is, as Mr. Heddon says, 

 " total inactivity or suspension of the 

 functions of life." I do not claim 

 this in regard to bees. I have only 

 contended for what Mr. Heddon ad- 

 mits, viz: " a quiescent state." Nor 

 do I desire a better example of the 

 hibernation of bees than he himself 



gives in the case of that particular 

 colony, which consumed only a single 

 pound of honey during the winter ; or 

 of those colonies which varied all the 

 way from 2^ to 5 or 6 pounds in their 

 winter consumption of honey. I. put 

 it to him and to the bee-keeping fra- 

 ternity in general, if it will not be a 

 grand discovery to find out how to 

 winter colonies of bees well with so 

 small a consumption of honey V lie 

 testifies that it has been done at least 

 once by himself.- If we can ascertain 

 the conditions on which we can all do 

 this each and every winter, what an 

 immense gain it will be to the bee- 

 keeping interest, in the preservation 

 of colonies, and also in economy of 

 winter stores. I do not pretend to 

 have done more than to have evolved 

 the principle tliat the state of hiber- 

 nation, or, if yon please, " quiescence " 

 is the normal condition into which we 

 should seek to bring our bees in a 

 cold climate like ours, and that if we 

 do this, they will winter in the best 

 possible manner. 



Here let me say that my position is 

 not thoroughly understood by some 

 who have written on the subject. 

 Thus, Mr. Gresh says, on page .599, " I 

 do not believe that hibernation is in- 

 dispensable to the safe wintering of 

 bees." Nor do I. Mr. G. states my 

 position more correctly when he re- 

 marks a little further on, " I believe, 

 though, that hibernation is the nat- 

 ural state in which bees can success- 

 fully pass through considerable sever- 

 ity of cold." No doubt bees can be 

 wintered " safely " in a high tempera- 

 ture, but it is difficult to do it in our 

 climate, and involves a prodigal con- 

 sumption of honey. 



My fellow-Canadian, Mr. Pringle, 

 says, " If Mr. Clarke means that bees 

 will not winter well on the ground, 

 he is certainly mistaken." I do not 

 mean that. Under certain circum- 

 stances bees have wintered well on 

 the ground and under the ground, but 

 for all that, I think it a mistake to 

 put them where they are exposed to 

 dampness, to foul air, and liability to 

 suffocate from accumulations of snow 

 and ice. Mr. Pringle thinks that 

 there is, after all, "some truth" in 

 my " new-fangled notion." I am sur- 

 prised, therefore, that he should poke 

 fun at the " nocturnal travail "with 

 which it was brought forth. I sus- 

 pect that he is a sound sleeper, and I 

 envy him, if it be so. He,- too, gives 

 an example of what 1 mean by hiber- 

 nation. Certain of his bees were in a 

 "profound slumber," gave no re- 

 sponse to " several pretty hard knocks 

 on the hive," and showed a lethargic 

 indisposition to move. Mr Heddon 

 says that he never knew bees to get 

 into such a state of torpor as not to 

 respond to " the least tap or jar." 

 Many bee-keepers, however, like Mr. 

 Pringle. disagree with him— notably 

 Mr. L. C. Root, who, in his new edi- 

 tion of " Qninby's Mysteries of Bee- 

 Keeping," mentions a case of winter- 

 ing which is very similar to that nar- 

 rated by Mr. Pringle. 



Mr. Latham's article on page .5-50, is 

 pretty somid, and quite interesting as 

 furnishing proof that bees incline to 

 go into " a semi-dormant repose " as 



