THE AMERICAJS BEE JUURNAL. 



759 



and electricity are not modern dis- 

 coveries. As natural plienomena they 

 were known in past ages. Tlie dis- 

 coveries have been in their practical 

 applications. What I claim, and all 

 that 1 claim in regard to the hiberna- 

 tion of bees is the discovery tliat it 

 furnishes tlie key wherewith to solve 

 the winter problem. 



Now then, in proof of the proposi- 

 tion that the instinct of bees leads 

 them to hibernate in a cold climate, 

 I propose to cite only the testimony 

 of bee-keepers. As I do not profess 

 to be an entomologist, I will leave 

 that branch of the subject to Prof. 

 Cook, whose business it is to teach it 

 in tlie Michigan State Agricultural 

 College. 



In Vol. IV of the American Bee 

 Journal, as long since as June, 1869, 

 Mr. J. II. Thomas wrote as follows: 

 " What is the natural condition of 

 bees during winter 'i I answer, it is a 

 semi-dormant state— a sleepy, stupid 

 condition. The reasons why such a 

 state is the natural one, may be given 

 as follows : First, it is a state in 

 which the least amount of food is re- 

 quired ; hence, the bodies are less 

 distended under this condition, and 

 the excrements are more easily re- 

 tained. Secondly, a semi-dormant 

 state is secured at a temperature cal- 

 culated to carry off by evaporation 

 the watery substances from their 

 bodies, tlnis securing a more healthy 

 condition of the colony. Thirdly, the 

 temperature being always above the 

 freezing-point, the bees are able to 

 reach any part of the hive at any 

 time for food. Fourthly, bees win- 

 tered in a semi-dormant state always 

 come out in the spring healthy and 

 vigorous. This fact alone is sufficient 

 to prove it to be a natural condition 

 for winter. How, then, can it be 

 secured V" Aye, there was the rub. 

 ilr. Thomas then believed in the 

 cellar-plan, which he afterwards 

 abandoned for a beehouse, while that 

 was in turn superseded by double- 

 walled hives and wintering on the 

 summer stands. Neither method in- 

 fallibly secured the hibernation of 

 bees ; not the principle, but the prac- 

 tical application of it being at fault. 



In 1872, Herr Schonfeld, in the 

 Bienenzeitunq, said : " The first win- 

 ter that would pass over our temper- 

 ate zone would destroy almost all the 

 insects had not Providence provided 

 for their preservation. There are four 

 methods of preservation : 1. In the 

 egg. 2. In the larvse, to all of which 

 belong those insects requiring two or 

 more years for their development. 3. 

 In the chrysalis. 4. The developed 

 insect. The most of those belonging 

 . to this latter class pass the winter in 

 a state of torpidity. To this latter 

 class belong the bees, and it is well 

 known that these, in order that their 

 depressed vitality may not be wholly 

 extinguished, require for their suc- 

 cessful wintering, besides the neces- 

 sary food and rest, especially a pro- 

 tected dwelling." He goes on to lay 

 it down as a maxim, that " the hive 

 should be so constructed that the 

 bees, during their period of torpidity 

 and when without brood, are able to 

 obtain and sustain a warmth of VP 



R." Dr. Dzierzon, in an elaborate 

 criticism on the article just quoted, 

 while agreeing in the main with the 

 positions taken, contends tliat no 

 very exact regulation of temperature 

 need be prescribed, and that, within 

 certain limits, and not very narrow 

 ones either, bees can and will generate 

 the degree of heat which is uest for 

 them — a most important fact in 'bee- 

 life, of which more anon. 



Dr. E. (iallup, in the American 

 Beb Journal of July, 1870, page 19, 

 wrote : " The fact is, if the bees 

 have the right kind of ventilation, 

 both in the hive and in the cellar," 

 (he was a cellar-man then) " they re- 

 main in a semi-torpid state, as it were 

 throughout the entire winter, even as 

 long a winter as the last one was." 

 Mr. Gallup afterwards abandoned 

 cellar-wintering and took to winter- 

 ing on the summer stands, and gave a 

 remarkable statement concerning a 

 colony which subsided into semi-tor- 

 pidity, consumed but little honey, 

 and came out bright, strong, 

 and prosperous in the spring. In 

 recent numbers of the Bee Journal, 

 Messrs. Pierce, Latham, Allen 

 Pringle, Johnson, Gresh, and others 

 have recognized the fact that bees 

 hibernate. Mr. Latham says that the 

 first impress of this knowledge was 

 imparted to him when a child in his 

 New England home, by a dame whom 

 he asked on a cold winter evening, 

 " Are the bears out to-night, grand- 

 ma '?" " No," was the reply, " the 

 bears are among the seven sleepers." 

 " What are the seven sleepers, grand- 

 ma ?" Answer: "The bears, the 

 raccoons', the woodchucks, the bees, the 

 ants, the frogs, and the snakes." "Do 

 they sleep all winter, grandma'?" 

 Answer : " No, they wake up some- 

 times when we have a thaw." I do 

 not want a better statement of the 

 hibernation of bees than that given 

 by the old lady whom Mr. Latham 

 quotes. Bees do not, like bears, sleep 

 all winter in one unbroken slumber, 

 but "wake up sometimes when we 

 have a thaw." 



I have given sufiicient proof that 

 the disposition of these insects to 

 hibernate has not escaped the obser- 

 vation of practical bee-keepers ; and 

 some of my (juotations have also 

 shown that when bees hibernate they 

 winter well. But on] this second 

 proposition, I wish to cite two or 

 three testimonies. The first is that 

 of Mr. Gallup given in Vol. VII of 

 the Bee Journal, page 258, dated 

 May, 1872. Referring to a colony 

 which bred late in the fall, he says : 

 " They went into winter quarters with 

 all young bees, and the result was 

 (they were housed about the middle 

 of November, and taken out on April 

 4), that they remained comparatively 

 dormant all winter, and the consump- 

 tion of honey was almost nothing, 

 and on their first flight there was no 

 discharge, not even to speck the snow 

 one particle, and a table-spoon would 

 have held every dead bee in both 

 hives." I pronounce that a case of 

 perfect wintering. What bee-keeper 

 wants anything better than that ? 



Mr. L. C. Root, in his new edition 

 of Quinby, page 255, says of a case of 



wintering, " 1 set my bees from the 

 cellar on May 3 and 4, after they had 

 been housed since Nov. 17, in a dry 

 and well- ventilated room, and kept 

 exceedingly quiet during the entire 

 period. When put upon the summer 

 stands, the bees were in so nearly a 

 dormant condition that they were 

 slowly aroused ; the weather being 

 quite warm, the usual voiding of foeces 

 in a liquid state did not take place, 

 and clean, new roofs were not soiled 

 in the least." Another instance of 

 perfect wintering. 



My third witness on this point is 

 Mr. James Heddon, author of the 

 pollen theory, who, in his able and 

 admirable review of my hibernation 

 hypothesis, makes the following in- 

 teresting statement : 



" One fall, just before placing some 

 40 colonies in a double-walled, above- 

 ground repository, I weighed a part 

 of them with great care. For some 

 reason, then (if not now), unknown, 

 nearly every colony in that house 

 readily took on that perfectly quies- 

 cent state, and the apiary wintered 

 successfully ; and when taken out in 

 the spring and again weighed, the 

 most successful colony weighed hut a 

 single pound less than when put in, in 

 the autumn. I might have thought 

 these figures due, or partially due to 

 some error in weighing, had it not 

 been that the others graduated all the 

 way from 2% to 5 or 6 pounds less." 

 A third example of perfect wintering. 

 I do not need to multiply testimony. 

 " In the mouth of two or three wit- 

 nesses shall every word be estab- 

 lished." 



A quotation from a private letter, 

 written me by Mr. Heddon, will bring 

 us to the very pith and heart of the 

 question under discussion: ''Of 

 course you know, that I know, that 

 you do not know the cause of bee- 

 diarrhwa, unless you know that it is 

 pollen, you know. Friend Clarke, I 

 want you to remember that bee-diar- 

 rhoea "is the cause of winter trouble. 

 That is well known. The point to 

 get at is the cause of bee- diarrhoea. 

 You must know that the inmates of 

 old box-hives have it as badly as 

 those of any other hives ; also, that 

 several winters here have killed all 

 the bees in the trees." 



Again, at the meeting of the North- 

 western Bee-Keepers' Society held in 

 Chicago two weeks ago, Mr. Heddon 

 said : " This question of wintering 

 is not one of cellars, ventilation, 

 pieces of laths, sticks, quilts and 

 cushions over the combs— what kOls 

 our bees is diarrhoea ; and the ques- 

 tion is, W'liat causes bee-diarrhoea?" 



I take up the gauntlet thus thrown 

 down, and to the question, " What 

 causes bee-diarrhoea 'i*'' unhesitatingly 

 reply : Inability to hibernate. 



Let us not mistake the issue here 

 joined. By hibernation, I mean what 

 Mr. Heddon calls that " perfect 

 quietude" in winter quarters, which 

 he and other bee-keepers have noticed, 

 and 1 say, if they can get into this 

 condition and maintain it while cold 

 weather lasts, they will not have bee- 

 diarrho-a. If they cannot go into 

 this state, they will infallibly contract 

 the disease. 



