THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



G93 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Ventilating Bee-Hives. 



H. w. s. p 



The subject of ventilation of bee- 

 hives is often mentioned in the Bee 

 Journal, and yet I do not remember 

 tliat any writer has ever said anything 

 as to how mucli ventilation should be 

 provided for, or in what direction, 

 whether through, around the mass of 

 bees, or whether occasionally or at all 

 times. Once in awhile upper or lower 

 ventilation is spoken of, but nothing 

 of what is meant by either. The sub- 

 ject seems to be very carelessly 

 thought of, and, I suppose, often very 

 carelessly practiced, when practiced 

 at all. Now, I wish to "ventilate" 

 my thoughts on the subject. 



When bees are hibernating (by 

 which 1 mean, passing the winter in 

 close quarters, generally in a quiet 

 and sometimes dormant state), they 

 throw off a great deal of vapor, which, 

 in a state of nature, generally in a 

 hollow tree, passes into and is ab- 

 sorbed by the rotten wood, and there 

 retained until used up by the living 

 tree, or evaporated by the heat of the 

 succeeding summer. Bee-keepers 

 often neglect to make any provision 

 tor imitating this natural process, 

 consequently the vapor condenses and 

 runs down the sides of the hive, as 

 water, sometimes freezing up the en- 

 trances, and always incommoding the 

 bees, thus making the combs damp 

 aud moldy, and otherwise causing 

 injury. 



To remove this accumulating vapor, 

 in any manner imitating the natural 

 way, seems to me to be very desirable, 

 and to do so, many plans are used, 

 which plans are generally called 

 "ventilation." But here coines one 

 of the difficulties. Some seem to 

 think that a strong breeze should 

 blow through the hives, and thus, I 

 think, many weak colonies are act- 

 ually killed, although a very strong 

 colony with ample supply of honey 

 can stand almost any amount of ven- 

 tilation. In practice, it seems to me 

 that a very slow ventilation is what is 

 wanted, and all that is wanted, any 

 other than a slow one being injurious. 

 This is often accomplished by filling 

 the second story with chaff, or any 

 loose material which will allow the 

 vapor-laden air to slowly pass through, 

 or will retain it and hold it as water 

 until spring comes, when it can be 

 dried out for use again during the 

 next winter. 



There are many inconveniences 

 about this plan which I avoid by the 

 plan I use. and which I have practiced 

 for several years, having learned it 

 from Mr. Joseph Savage, of Ludlow, 

 Ky., opposite Cincinnati. I make a 

 frame of thin lumber, say half or 

 three-quarters of an inch, of the same 

 size as the second story of a Langs- 

 troth hive, but only 6 inches high. 



On the bottom, or a little way up 

 from the bottom (varying, as I use 

 them on the lower or second story of 

 a hive), I use coarse, strong muslin. 

 This receptacle 1 lill with layers of 

 cotton-batting. 1 use one and a half 

 pounds in each, but that is, perhaps, 

 more than is necessary. Mr. Savage 

 makes them only four inches higli, 

 and uses less cotton. Before putting 

 these over the colonies, I put a couple 

 of small strips across the frames, and 

 above them a cover of muslin. 



The sticks keep the muslin slightly 

 raised in the middle, so that the bees 

 can pass over the tops of the frames, 

 from one frame to another, without 

 being chilled in very cold weather, 

 the top of the hive being the warmest 



Elace. Whatever vapor is produced 

 y the bees, rises and passes through 

 the muslin cover, and the muslin bot- 

 tom of the top-box and passes into the 

 cotton-batting, rising as long as it is 

 in the state of vapor. If it condenses, 

 it is held as water. 



In putting on the wooden cover or 

 roof, I leave one end raised about 2 or 

 3 inches, which allows any wind to 

 pass through, over the cotton-batting, 

 taking up any vapor which may hap- 

 pen to be there ; and I find that when 

 thus arranged, the cotton is always 

 dry ; but it the cover is put down 

 close, the cotton is often wet, and 

 thus partially hinders the passage of 

 the vapor. The muslin and the cot- 

 batting seems to allow just about 

 rapid-enough ventilation. If it were 

 more rapid, it would not only take off 

 the vapor, but also the heat ; and if it 

 did not freeze the bees, it might make 

 them uncomfortably cool, and thus 

 cause a greater consumption of honey. 

 The muslin and cotton-batting re- 

 semble the bed-clothes upon a sleep- 

 ing person. The bed-clothes allow 

 the moisture to pass through suih- 

 ciently, but retain the heat. You will 

 see that this arrangement resembles 

 very much the plan of filling a top- 

 box with chaff, and perhaps, so far, is 

 no better ; Init it is much handier. 



Whenever you wish to look at your 

 bees in winter, you can lift off the 

 top-box without the least danger or 

 hesitation, and then you have only the 

 muslin cover, of which you can turn 

 up one corner or more, dependent 

 upon the activity of the bees, or 

 other circumstances ; whereas, if you 

 have a box filled with chaff, perhaps 

 with a loose bottom, you very likely 

 have to operate lo or 30 minutes be- 

 fore you can see the bees. I have 

 found this plan very successful, and 

 so has Mr. Savage. 



I have several times noticed the 

 mention of the use of enameled cloth 

 over the bees in winter. It appears 

 to me that the use of such material, 

 directly hinders the desired effect, as 

 it is impervious to air or vapor. On 

 page, 663, Mr. C. W. Daytou relates 

 his experience in using enameled 

 cloth, and shows how the vapor con- 

 densed on the under side of the cloth, 

 which he got rid of by turning back 

 .part of it, thus opening a passage up- 

 ward ; and in another case by perfor- 

 ating it, and thus allowing the mois- 

 ture to pass through. The whole 

 secret, in my opinion, is to cause a I 



slow, upward passage of the vapor, by 

 the use of a porous cover. Then a 

 roof must be used to shed the rain, 

 but it must hf open at the sides to 

 allow the wind to blow the vapor 

 away. By raising it at one end it 

 makes a greater slope to carry the 

 rain off. 



I put my ventilators on the hive as 

 soon as cold weather approaches, say 

 in the latter part of September, and 

 leave them on until May or June, and 

 I do not think that it would do any 

 harm, but possibly would be best, to 

 leave them on through the summer. 

 They are excellent equalizers of heat, 

 keeping it in in winter, and I think 

 that they would also act to keep it out 

 during the summer; but I have never 

 tried them in the summer. 



Cincinnati, O. 



For 5he American Bee JoumaL 



Utah Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



The Bee-Keepers' Convention met 

 at 7 p. m., at the City Hall in Tooele, 

 on Oct. 6, 18S4. Mr. A. M. Musser 

 called the meeting to order. 



Tooele City was represented by Mr. 

 T. W. Lee, of Tooele county. There 

 are thirty bee-keepers in Tooele City. 

 Last fall they put into winter quar- 

 ters, 214 colonies of bees, and during 

 the winter their losses were 38, and 

 their increase was only 1.5 ; hence a 

 decrease of 23. They have taken 851 

 pounds of honey this season. Mr. T. 

 W. Lee has 60 of the above colonies, 

 and has taken 240 pounds of honev. 

 In the spring their bees did very well, 

 and their prospects were rather flat- 

 tering, but the caterpillars and worms 

 damaged vegetation and deprived the 

 bees of good pasture, lience their 

 report would not be as favorable as 

 last year. There was no foul brood in 

 the county, and the bees are now in a 

 good condition. Bees gathered honey 

 fast, although many colonies had to be 

 fed in the spring and summer. Honey 

 was selling for 20 cents per pound and 

 in good demand. 



John Morgan, of Mill Creek, took 

 care of two colonies of bees, and in- 

 creased them to six, besides taking 

 considerable honey. He was begin- 

 ning to enlarge his stock of bees, l)ut 

 his ill-healtli had kept him from pay- 

 ing attention to his apiary. Although 

 the smelters, he thought, were a det- 

 riment to bee-culture, yet he thought 

 it was not that alone which had 

 caused so much loss, as the two colo- 

 nies being increased to six was a proof 

 to the contrary. He further said, 

 that we must keep up the bee and 

 honey interest, for the Territory 

 could not afford to go back on so prof- 

 itable an industry. 



Alvin Stewart, of Mesa, Maricopa 

 county, Arizona, reported that their 

 new settlement had sent to California 

 and imported 2-5 colonies of bees. 

 Daniel Bagley took 7 colonies aud 

 increased them to 27. He also told of 

 a neighbor who took 2 colonies and 

 now has six. Bloom was very abun- 

 dant and the season long, so much so 

 that he cut his lucern five times. 



George Baily of Mill Creek, had 

 taken about 2,o00 pounds of honey, 



