THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



789 



For tbe American Bcu Joumai. 



The Hibernation Theory, etc. 



JAMES HEDDOSr. 



I fail to see anything in it yet. I 

 liave, I tliink, had a greater experi- 

 ence and observation in tliis line than 

 Mr. Clarke. For all this I might be 

 mistaken while he mislit be correct. 

 It does seem, however, as tliough I 

 •ought to get clear npon the subject, 

 with so clear a writer to expound and 

 explain. I tind several weak points 

 in his long essay on page 7-58, which I 

 cannot let pass. I think that the in- 

 correctness of these points destroys 

 his whole theory. 



Mr. Ciarke asks for the admission 

 that bees generally do well in trees 

 during winter. This no one can ad- 

 mit and yet tell the truth. So far as 

 my experience and observation go, 

 they usually do worse in trees than in 

 all sorts of hives. Many times they 

 go below the entrance hole instead of 

 above it; and one old bee-hunter has 

 "spun" a theory that all lly-holes 

 should be at the top of hives, for he 

 has found that all tliose colonies in 

 trees having the fly-holes at the top of 

 the brood-nest, are much the best and 

 longest lived. Many are tlie instances 

 cited, and some of which I have seen, 

 where the old cracked, split hives 

 with tops all open, or Langstroth 

 hives where the empty surplus 

 boxes were left on, contained the 

 only healthy colonies in the spring. 

 If Mr. Clarke's ideas in favor of lower 

 and against upward ventilation were 

 correct, there would, at this day, be 

 DO such evenly balanced bee-keeping 

 armies clamoring for both. That 

 ground has been worked over, both by 

 theory and experiment. 



I tind in connection with Mr. C.'s 

 hibernation theory, that the hive is to 

 be of such size and so arranged that 

 the bees can regulate the temperature 

 at all times. Now, just imagine the 

 changes of temperature given us by 

 nature, and a cluster of bees regulat- 

 ing the temperature within their 

 walls against these outer changes and 

 hibernating at the same time. ^Ir. C. 

 quotes my bees which consumed so 

 little, as hibernating. Well, they 

 were very quiet, and so he claims 

 them as within his hibernation theory. 

 Now, I know that I fixed the tempera- 

 ture within their hives, and not they ; 

 and I further know that if they had 

 been put out-of-doors upon just such 

 a stand as Mr. C. describes, just as 

 ■Boon as the temperature sank outside, 

 a buzzing would have been heard 

 within, and that would not have been 

 xecogai^ed, even by Mr. Clarke, as 

 hibernation. Mr. Clarke's ideas of 

 "hees hibernating and controlling the 

 temperature, " fanning " the cold air 

 •out and gases down, etc., at the same 

 time, puts me in mind of Widow 

 J3edott's recipe for a good night's 



rest, by just taking some of her herb 

 tea every fifteen minutes, all night. 



Mr. Clarke wants to know if any 

 one can tell why bees do not need as 

 pure air as a hiiman being. If I be- 

 lieved his theory, I could say, because 

 they hibernate.' There are other rea- 

 son's, no doubt ; what they are I do 

 not know, but I do know that I have 

 seen bees come through the winter in 

 a No. 1 condition, or at least with no 

 signs of diarrhu'a, where they had 

 been subjected to the most abominable 

 impure atmosphere. I have also seen 

 them have the disease radically with 

 the best of ventilation. 



One might as well ascribe the cause 

 of the cholera in Paris to carbonic- 

 acid gas, as the bee-diarrhoea to the 

 same source ; when we analyze the 

 excreta of these diseased intestines, 

 we do not find gases, we find pollen. 

 The tlieory that healthy bees which 

 have been protected in a repository 

 have been made tender, and thus are 

 more likely to dwindle in the spring, 

 is, in my judgment, false. It is based 

 on the principle of good care making 

 the bee tender, and then it cannot 

 stand the cold winds of sprin".- While 

 that is a true theory, in the light of the 

 lifetime of a species, it is not true re- 

 garding the individual bee or colonv. 

 If it is, why does Mr. Clarke put this 

 outer box over his out-door hibernat- 

 ing colony y Will it not make them 

 tender, and cause them to dwindle in 

 the spring V Let it be recorded that I 

 call '• spring dwindling " the result of 

 a physical weakness brought about 

 by the food diseasing the intestines in 

 a limited degree, not enough to show 

 in the hive, as the bees were able to 

 hold the foeces till they could fly and 

 void it where it would not be seen. 

 Where bees do not speck the snow 

 upon their first flight, or if so, only 

 slightly and light-colored, there no 

 spring dwindling will occur. 



Spring dwindling is bee-diarrhoea in 

 disguise. When we learn the cause 

 and prevention of this disease, we 

 shall also learn that a good cellar is 

 the cheapest and best place in which 

 to winter bees. Mr. Clarke's theory 

 of the falling of carbonic gas, which 

 is, I presume, the author of the theorv 

 of the lower air-shaft, is correctly 

 shown as an error, by Mr. Cornell on 

 page 75H. Now, of what value is the 

 shaft if Mr. Cornell's theory is correct, 

 which I had previously learned it to 

 be V Will the air-shaft stand when 

 its uses fail V Does not Mr. Clarke 

 suspect that his hive-stand is awk- 

 ward and impractical for the use of 

 the specialist V Does he not see that 

 its expense is greater than the endur- 

 ing and otherwise useful cellar V I 

 cannot see wherein Mr. C. differs 

 from the rest of us, only that he now 

 calls hibernating what, last March, I 

 called a sort of semi-hibernating con- 

 dition (we hardly disagree upon the 

 word to describe what we both agree 

 to), and that I place this quietude as 

 an eflect of bee-diarrhoea preventives, 

 and he, as the prevention itself. 



It is certainly interesting to witness 

 the masterly skill which our fellow 

 bee-keeper displays in making the 

 truthful statements of some and the 

 erroneous assertions of others, seem 



to prove the most absurd claims 

 which have yet been offered as the 

 cause of our winter losses. 



CONTINUOUS PASSAGE-WAYS. 



On page 7fil, Dr. Tinker gives us a 

 lot of assertions which I doubt if 

 there is one-tenth part of the readers 

 wlio can see any reason in. We want 

 the reason why bees will not glue the 

 sections together if no bee-spaces are 

 allowed. Also, how it is managed to 

 dispatch work while placing cases on 

 top of each other, and not crush any 

 bees. Yes, I did at one time think 

 that these continuous passage-ways 

 might have some advantages, but my 

 experiments relieved my mind from 

 the least doubt. When I asked the 

 Chicago Convention how many be- 

 lieved in the continuons-passage-way 

 system, I could not "et one affirma- 

 tion. I did not thiiik that I was so 

 far "off," but I wanted to be sure. I 

 feel sure that continuous passage- 

 ways do not tend to the building of 

 straight combs ; and further, I am 

 quite sure that no race of yellow bees 

 are the fine, straight comb builders 

 that are the brown Germans. 



During the past year I made care- 

 ful experiments upon this very point, 

 and I wish that the Doctor coulel hear 

 my students talk about it. If I am 

 enthusiastic on this point, the stu- 

 dents are " cranky." Come, Doctor, 

 give us the reason why bees violate 

 the old rule laid down by Father 

 Langstroth, that " Bees glue up all 

 spaces too small tor them to pass 

 through." 



Dowagiac, ? Mich. 



Read before the Maine Convention. 



Progress in Bee-Culture. 



E. P. CHURCHILL. 



I am always interested in anything 

 pertaining to bee-keeping, and ever 

 ready to contribute my mite in the 

 way of promoting our noble cause. 

 As we discuss the different modes of 

 procedure in caring for our bees, let 

 us do so with kind and unselfish 

 motives. I am aware that I shall call 

 out some criticism, but if we all 

 thought alike where would be our 

 thousand improvements of to-day ? 

 Who would have believed before 

 comb foundation was tried that such 

 a wonderful result would have fol- 

 lowed ? But we may go still farther 

 bacTc to the movable frame. If then, 

 any one had told us that he could take 

 a liive all apart and move the bees all 

 about on frames, could discover any 

 defect, and could change frames of 

 comb from hive to hive, I ask, what 

 would he have met ? It would have 

 been looked upon with as much doubt 

 as the invention of the mowing ma- 

 chine encountered ; but all these ideas 

 have proved to be actual facts. And 

 the question arises, have we reached 

 the upper step of improvement and 

 invention V I feel safe in saying that 

 we have not. 



There was at one time a great 

 hindrance to our progress, and that 

 was the different patents. Although 

 we owe our Father Langstroth a score 



