178 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL,. 



My informant did not fear the attack 

 of mice. He thouRlit a mouse would 

 have a hard time of it if he meddled 

 with a hive. I was assured that the 

 loss of bees, wintered in this way, was 

 trifling, and that the consumption of 

 honey was very small. The party re- 

 ferred to above, thought that o pounds 

 would winter a colony. 



The question of winter ventilation 

 seems to be receiving a large amount 

 of attention from correspondents. 

 The views of Mr. C. J. Robinson, as 

 to clamp wintering and ventilation, 

 have gone the rounds of the bee 

 papers, and I note with some surprise, 

 the ardor with which his theories 

 have been attacked by various writers. 

 I assume that in saying, that in liis 

 clamps there was a partial vacuum, 

 he means partial absence of oxygen, 

 and not of all air or gas ; and looking 

 at what, I think, was the meaning of 

 the writer, rather than at what he 

 says, it appears to me that, possibly, 

 prolitable inquiry may be made in 

 this direction. I do not know what 

 the power of a bank of earth is to ab- 

 sorb carbonic acid, and to furnish 

 oxygen in its place, and I have no 

 authority to which I can refer in the 

 matter, but I sliould not like to be 

 shut up for many minutes in such a 

 clamp as I have described above, after 

 November rains had saturated the sur- 

 face soil and frost had congealed and 

 sealed it tight. I do not think that 

 the air can long remain, such as an 

 animal, requiring a full proportion of 

 oxygen, could breathe with impunity. 



It is iipparent that in the matter of 

 the proportion of oxygen and carbonic 

 acid in the air they use, that the re- 

 quirements of bees are ditferent from 

 tuose of most larger animals. Give a 

 colony of bees a box, with from I to 2 

 cubic feet of space in it, and a round 

 hole an inch in diameter for entrance, 

 and they will seal up every other ap- 

 erture air-tight. Then, with the 

 circulation of air within impeded by 

 the compartments into which the 

 space is divided by the combs, and 

 with these compartments tilled with 

 the living insects, they cannot only 

 exist in a quiescent state, but they 

 work, eat and breathe, and rear their 

 young. The queen, with the tremen- 

 dous strain upon her vital powers, in- 

 volved in the performance of her 

 functions, never seeks the stimulus 

 of the purer outside air, but works 

 contentedly in the midst of her clus 

 tering subjects, as do her progeny for 

 days after they emerge from the 

 combs. The growing young, in their 

 cells, sealed and unsealed, are still 

 farther excluded from the pure air, 

 which we are disposed to think is as 

 necessary to them as to us. The in- 

 ference is plain, that they work with- 

 out detriment, in an atmosphere 

 highly charged with carbonic acid. 

 That they can winter in an atmos- 

 phere similarly impure, needs no 

 Eroof. The questions for inquiry are, 

 ow large a proportion of oxygen is 

 necessary to their safety, and what 

 influence, if any, has a large propor- 

 tion of carbonic acid in reducing tlieir 

 activity, and the consumption of 

 honey and conserving their vital 

 forces. That there is proof that it 



does or can do this, I do not claim, 

 but only that the negative is not es- 

 tablished, and that it is not so im- 

 probable as to be dismissed without 

 consideration. Bees, we have all 

 seen reduced to a quiescent state by 

 cold, and revive again without appar- 

 ent injury. Frogs, and some other 

 cold-blooded animals, in their winter 

 quarters, furnish us examples of a 

 torpid condition, witti very trifling 

 consumption of oxygen for long peri- 

 ods of time. 



This subject, of upward ventilation, 

 is a question of the safe disposal of 

 the watery vapor expired by the bees, 

 not of the carbonic acid. If all were 

 known that can be known about the 

 proper adjustment of a current of air 

 through the hive for this purpose, it 

 would still be a difficult matter to 

 regulate properly in every case, with 

 the varying strength of colonies, and 

 would change outside temperature, 

 and require great care, experience and 

 skill. If a safe way of wmtering can 

 be secured, better approximating the 

 natural method, by dispensing with 

 this upward current, it would be 

 worth searching for. 



St. Lawrence, N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Best Way to Market Comb Honey. 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



Mr. E. B. Southwick expresses my 

 feelings exactly, with reference to 

 the one-pound section. Before this 

 insignificant package was put upon 

 the market, honey changed hands 

 faster than it does now, and ata better 

 price per pound, a Bve-pound package 

 sold as readily. 



I do not know what suits Eastern 

 people, for I never interviewed them 

 on tiie subject, but Western people, 

 with their expansive views and capa- 

 cious stomachs, desire a good square 

 meal. A one-pound section is be- 

 neath their notice; cannot see it; 

 their optics are too large to take it in. 

 When they used to order their sup- 

 plies, a box of honey included, it 

 amounted to something ; it could be 

 cut out as needed, but they would be 

 afraid that those little mites of honey 

 would get lost— the children would 

 carry them off to their play house. 



I interviewed the dealers when they 

 were selling the prize box, in this 

 shape, a number of them were fast- 

 ened together with little wooden 

 strips, forming a long box, and the 

 ends glassed. The reply was, " We do 

 not want it in any better shape than 

 that ; it is good enough ; a customer 

 can take a whole box, or part, just as 

 he likes." 



We have always sold our honey in 

 this shape, mostly to families, with 

 this exception, our boxes are larger, 

 seven of them weighing about 15 

 |)ounds. Consumers can take out the 

 glass and cut out the honey as needed, 

 and the remainder is safe from dust 

 and insects. 



1 saw a shallow box of one-pounds, 

 in a grocery, this week ; it was uncov- 

 ered, and someone had run against it, 

 knocking the tiiiy things over, break- 



ing them badly. If producers persist in 

 putting i)ounils upon the market, they 

 had better nail two of them together, 

 then a consumer would be ashamed to 

 ask a dealer to take off one. 

 Peoria, 111. 



Northeastern, N. Y., Convention. 



The thirteenth annual convention 

 of the Northeastern Bee- Keepers' As- 

 sociation was held in Syracuse, N. Y., 

 Jan. 9-11, isas. 



After the regular routine of busi- 

 ness, the topic, " Different races of 

 bees," was introduced and discussed 

 by Mr. Jones, his choice being the 

 Holy Land bees. They are not so 

 cross as the Cyprians, and they are 

 better breeders than the Italian. He 

 has had too few pure Cyprians to 

 breed from to make a fair test of 

 them. The Holy Land bees winter 

 better, and are in every way superior 

 to Blacks or Italians. They also 

 gather honey earlier. The pure Holy 

 Land bees, or cross between them and 

 the Italian, using a Holy Land queen, 

 produce one-third to one-half more 

 honey than the pure Italian. Some 

 may think the Holy Lands are too 

 cross to handle, but they show the 

 same determination to gather honey 

 that they do to protect their stores. 

 They are scarcely as large as the Ital- 

 ian bee, are quicker in their move- 

 ments, and their hair is greyer ; their 

 color is lighter also than the Cyprian, 

 and their rings are more of a lemon 

 hue. All pure Holy Land bees were 

 brought from Mount Lebanon and 

 the Valley of Sharon. The Cyprians 

 were nothing more than Holy Lands, 

 brought about by being isolated. 

 Italians came from Holy Lands 

 originally. 



Mr. Hoffman described a variety he 

 imported from Germany, called the 

 Caucasian. The docility of these 

 bees is remarkable. Their comb and 

 honey are far whiter than ordinary, 

 and winter as well as any. They are 

 rather dark, have silver-grey hair and 

 narrow yellow stripes, and are not as 

 thin and pointed as the Cyprian bee. 



Mr. Jones, in answpr to a question, 

 stated that Holy Lauds will not run 

 off the combs like black bees. They 

 will (ill their cells full of honey, and 

 are swifter and make longer journeys 

 than any others. They will ily in 13 

 minutes the same distance that it 

 takes the Italians to traverse in 17 and 

 Cyprians U minutes. 



Mr. Doolittle said he wanted to live 

 in peace with his friends and bees, 

 but found it impossible to keep on 

 good terms with the Cyprians. He 

 thought the Holy Lands as easy to 

 handle when they had a queen as the 

 Italians, but did not want any more 

 Cyprians ; his Holy Land bees made 

 whiter honey than his Italians. 

 Thought them detrimental, in breed- 

 ing out of season. 



Air. Vandervort said the foreign 

 races were too cross, and he got rid 

 of what he had. 



Mr. Houck said, the most he knew 

 about the foreign bees was from re- ^ 

 ports received, had but very few re- 

 ports favorable to Cyprians, and some 



J 



