760 



THE AMERICAJS BEE JOURNAL. 



Now what are the essentials to the 

 successful hibernation of bees ? I 

 have pointed them out in connection 

 with their favorite natural home, the 

 trunk of a hollow-tree ; having been 

 led to the discovery, as 1 think, of the 

 missing link in our theories of winter- 

 ing, by remembering thsit I never met 

 with a case of bees being winter-killed 

 in a hollpw tree-trunk. Observe, I 

 merely said 1 had never met with 

 such a case, and I took the ground 

 that bees usually winter well m siich 

 a place. It has been thought by some 

 that an example of bees being winter- 

 killed in a hollow tree-trunk was 

 fatal to my theory. This is a mis- 

 take. In referring to the hollow -tree- 

 trunk home of bees, I merely detailed 

 the process of thought which led me 

 to my present position. Suppose 

 they are sometimes winter-killed in 

 these receptacles, I only ask the ad- 

 mission that they generally do well in 

 them, to serve the purpose of my 

 argument. I reasoned that bees, 

 •when left to their own instincts, 

 choose a home in a hollow tree-trunk, 

 and so far as my observation and ex- 

 perience go, I find it answers their pur- 

 pose excellently. 



In the trunk of a hollqw tree, bees 

 find a hive without a particle of up- 

 ward ventilation, its sides composed 

 of porous, non-conducting material, 

 and having a perpendicular shaft or 

 column of air beneath them. Add to 

 these a sufficiency of stores, and you 

 have all the essential conditions of 

 hibernation— in other words, of suc- 

 cessful wintering. 



Now, leaving the hollow tree for 

 our artificial hives, I venture to as- 

 sert without fear of successful con- 

 tradiction, that if you will give bees a 

 domicile,imperviousat the top, having 

 side-walls constructed so that frost 

 will not strike through and condense 

 vapor inside; supply them with an 

 adequate stock of food ; and provide 

 a perpendicular air-column beneath 

 them, you will be able to cry "Eu- 

 reka " in regard to this winter prob- 

 lem. The great desideratum is, pure 

 air, plenty of it, under the control of 

 the bees, and in a receptacle not too 

 large for them to regulate the temper- 

 ature of it. This implies no upward 

 ventilation, for that makes the bees 

 helpless. To warm up a hive with 

 holes at the top. however minute, is 

 as hopeless a task as that of filling a 

 tub with water that is perforated 

 with holes at the bottom. I believe 

 there never was a more fatal mistake 

 of wintering bees than that of up- 

 ward ventilation. We all know that 

 warm air ascends, and it must escape 

 through any apertures which allow 

 the escape of moisture, which goes 

 off in the shape of vapor. With a 

 perpendicular shaft of pure air, the 

 moisture will descend along with the 

 carbonic-acid gas, and all other foul 

 gases. But the heat will not descend. 

 It will stay at the top. The infatua- 

 tion of bee-keepers about upward 

 ventilation is perfectly amazing. In 

 the last edition of Tfw Apiary by 

 Neighbour, the highest English au- 

 thority in apiculture, I suppose, I find 

 the following in a plea for upward 

 ventilation : " Holes the size of a I 



pin-head will allow the moisture to 

 escape, and these must be re-opened 

 as fast as they are propolized by the 

 bees." I would ask, " Why do the 

 bees propolize even pin-holes V" Be- 

 cause instinct teaches them that they 

 need to retain all the lieat they make. 

 The bees generate their own heat, and 

 if it be wasted, they must consume 

 food in excess, become distended with 

 fceces, and cannot sink into the "per- 

 fect quietude " which is their normal 

 condition for wintering. 



There is no more perfect system of 

 ventilation for human beings than 

 that furnished by an open fire-place 

 with a chimney leading from the room 

 into the outer air. In such a chimney 

 there are two currents of air always 

 in motion, an ascending and a de- 

 scending one, but it is well known 

 that it wastes a large amount of heat. 

 The- open chimney is necessary for 

 the escape of smoke. If there "were 

 no smoke, the air could and would be 

 changed from below. This is what 

 takes place in a bee-hive, partly from 

 the natural descent of the heavier 

 gases, and partly by the ventilating 

 operations of the bees themselves, 

 which can fan cool air into their hives 

 during summer, and fan it out during 

 winter. That bees possess this power 

 has been often demonstrated. 



Now let us consider how bees fare 

 in regard to ventilation on the sys- 

 tems of wintering at present in vogue. 

 On the cellar plan, they are con- 

 demned to a receptacle, the air of 

 which is alwavs more or less foul. 

 Would any of us like to pass the win- 

 ter in a cellar such as those into which 

 bees are put ? Can any onfe tell me 

 why bees do not need just as pure air 

 as human beings? Their sense of 

 smell is most acute, and they caunot 

 but be at once affected by air which 

 has any taint of impurity in it. A 

 cellar built in a sandy or gravelly soil, 

 and supplied with air from a shaft in 

 the wall, may approximate to purity, 

 but even such a cellar is not so pure 

 as the atmosphere without. Another 

 objection to cellars is this : Each hive 

 ought to have an independent self- 

 regulating power, which is impossible 

 when a large number of hives is stored 

 in one common receptacle. Each col- 

 ony must have the same conditions as 

 all of the others. 



Substantially the same objections 

 lie against clamps and bee-houses, 

 and need not be repeated. Another 

 difficulty with all these is that a uni- 

 form temperature is and must be 

 maintained in them. According to 

 hibernation, or " per- 

 ' a la Heddon, bees 

 variations of temper- 

 New England dame 

 observed, 

 when we 



the theory of 



feet quietude, 



need occasional 



ature. As the 



already quoted, wisely 



" they wake up sometimes 



have a thaw." These are their oppor 

 tunities for unlocking their winter 

 clusters, stretching their legs a bit by 

 walking around upon the combs, and 

 taking something to eat preparatorv to 

 another period of repose. How often 

 they need to partake of food we do 

 not know, but they will be able to do 

 it often enough if the outer air, with 

 its alterations of temperature, has 

 free access to them. 



Now as to out-door wintering: 

 Double -walled chaff hives are excel- 

 lent save in two particulars : the chaff 

 cushion on top, which gets saturated 

 with moisture, and becomes worse 

 than a wet blanket over their heads ; 

 and the provision tor ventilation 

 which is defective, first, it being hori- 

 zontal instead of perpendicular, and 

 secondly, in its liability to be clogged 

 up by dead bees, ice, and snow. If 

 these hives were lifted a couple of 

 feet from the ground, and an air-shaft 

 put in below them, they would meet 

 all the conditions of hibernation, pro- 

 vided the cushions were thrown away, 

 and an impervious air-tight top given 

 them. But the horizontal air-shaft 

 imposes extra trouble on the bees, 

 which must drive out cold foul air by 

 wing-fanning that would with a per- 

 pendicular outlet, sink down by its 

 own dead weight. Bees winter well 

 in chaff -packed hives if the entrances 

 are kept open. " Cyula Linswik " 

 and her sister have had very few 

 losses for many years in wintering 

 bees out-of-doors, but one or the other 

 of them daily visits the hives, and sees 

 that the entrances are unclogged. 

 With a perpendicular air-shaft, there 

 is no trouble of this kind. It is al- 

 ways open, and besides providing a 

 constant supply of pure air, with a 

 hopper beneath the hive connecting 

 with the tube containing the air-shaft, 

 the dead bees and excreta infallibly 

 drop out of the hive. 



Either want of air or an excess of 

 it will cause bee-diarrhoea. If bees 

 are either too warm or too cold, they 

 will eat too much, their bodies will 

 become distended, and they must 

 have relief. When too warm, they 

 are restless, cannot subside into "-per- 

 fect quietude," eat more than they 

 can get rid of in dry, powdery excre- 

 tions, become diseased and die. When 

 too cold, they eat large quantities of 

 honey to generate heat, and the same 

 fatal result happens. When too warm, 

 they are apt to commence brood-rear- 

 ing, and to do this consume pollen as 

 well as honey, and this is the only 

 vestige of truth I see in the pollen 

 theory. But whether honey or pollen, 

 if they eat more than they can ex- 

 crete without fouling the hive, diar- 

 rhoea is the sure and fatal result. 



If these views are correct, and I 

 think they will stand the severest 

 criticism, then our bees want, in ad- 

 dition to what we already give them, 

 air, PURE AiK. " Only that and noth- 

 ing more." To parody the well known 

 humorous address " to the sextant of 

 the meetin' house," our bees may well 

 say : " You give us nice double- 

 walled hives, let us keep lots of honey 

 or feed us plenty of sugar syrup :" 



" But o bee-keeper ! there are 1 com- 

 modity wich's more than gold, wich 

 doant cost iiothin', worth more than 

 anything except the sole of man ! i 

 me<an pewer are, bee-keeper, i mean 

 pewer are ! O it is plentiy out-of- 

 doors, so plenty it doant no what on 

 airth to dew with itself, but flies 

 about scattering leaves and blowin" 

 off men's hatts I In short, it's jest 

 as "free as are" out dores. But o 

 bee-keeper, in our hive its skurce as 

 dimons, skurce as bank-bills when 



