128 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



is harmful. When the strength of the col- 

 ony is sufficient to enable it to keep its im- 

 mediate neighborhood dry, it appears not to 

 suffer from moisture, but if it is so deficient 

 in numbers and vigor, one or both, that it is 

 unable to do that, it seems reasonable to sup- 

 pose that it must perish, being either chilled 

 to death in the cluster or else driven to des- 

 peration by the misery of the situation, scat- 

 tering and leaving the hive tenantless. The 

 slight spotting of the combs which often oc- 

 cur i under such circumstances should not, I 

 think, be taken as a sign of the trouble 

 known as dysentery. It is rather the result 

 of the weakness of approaching dissolution 

 than the cause of it. 



Last season after the failure of clover and 

 basswood there wa very little nectar to be 

 gathered in this locality either during the 

 remainder of the summer or during the fall, 

 from which fact it resulted that at the begin- 

 ning of winter a large portion of the colonies 

 were not only weak in bees but especially so 

 in young bees. It was not difficult to foresee 

 the probable consequence of this state of 

 things, so ^ was not surprised at the loss I 

 have incurred. Apparently the old bees died 

 off during the early part of the winter, for 

 more than the usual number left the hives 

 during that time, tLus reducing the cluster 

 to a size too small to enable it to successfully 

 combat the unfriendly influences of moist- 

 ure combined with a cellar temperature. 

 Perhaps in many cases the cellar tempera- 

 ture alone would prove sufficient to create 

 such a feeling of discomfort as to make the 

 '^ees restless and so cause them one by one 

 to leave the cluster and wander out of the 

 hive and be lost, but I have no doubt that in 

 other cases the added influence of moisture 

 was necessary to accomplish total ruin. That 

 the decline of these colonies came about in 

 the way I have indicated seems substantiated 

 by the fact that in almost all these cases very 

 few dead bees were left in the hives and in 

 only now and then one had the bees last to 

 perish preserved the form of a cluster to the 

 last. 



Quite a strong effort was made to deter- 

 mine if possible whether sealed covers were, 

 in cellar wintering, a disadvantage and a 

 large number of hives with such covers as 

 well as of those with loose covers were set 

 apart and carefully examined with the result 

 that where the colonies were of fairly nor- 

 mal strength there was no apparent differ- 

 ence — almost every one of that class winter- 



ing very satisfactorily. About the only ad- 

 vantage of the loose covers was that the 

 combs were preserved dry and clean. It was 

 also observed that the entire removal of the 

 bottom board, leaving the bottom of the 

 hive entirely open, served largely the same 

 purpose as a loose cover, though not to quite 

 the same extent. In some o'f the larger 

 hives, having a bottom board as well as 

 sealed covers, the combs outside the cluster 

 were very wet and mouldy. In the case of 

 the weaker colonies sealed covers were com- 

 paratively detrimental. Of course all this is 

 in a cellar where the temperature was main- 

 tained during the entire winter at 4.')° and 

 over, and it can readily be believed that the 

 class of colonies that would fail to cope with 

 the conditions induced by sealed covers out 

 of doors would be very considerably en- 

 larged ; not, I think, because the moisture 

 would induce the disease known as dysentery 

 but because it would require stronger col- 

 onies to ward off the encroaching chilliness 

 caused by constant excessive evaporation so 

 that the health and vigor of a larger number 

 would be undermined and finally destroyed. 



Of course so far it does not appear that 

 sealed covers have any advantage in any case 

 but inasmuch as they cause wet and mouldy 

 combs it would be well worth the while to 

 loosen all covers when the bees are put into 

 the cellar and certainly so unless the bottom 

 boards are entirely removed. 



The losses I have incurred speak plainly of 

 the importance of giving strict heed to the 

 old rule : Keep all colonies strong. By 

 doubling up about one-third of my colonies 

 in September I should have escaped with 

 practically no loss. 



Lapeeb, Mich. April 23, 1894. 



Mr. S. Corneil's Death. 



ALLEN PBINGLE. 



" Steal thou away— give little warning. 

 Say not ' good night,' 

 Rut in some clime more briglit, 

 Bid me, ' good morning. ' " 



rrjHE bee-keepers of Canada, in the death 

 T of Samuel Cornell, of Lindsay, have 

 lost one of their ablest and best men. Mr. 

 Cornell died suddenly and alone in his bee- 

 yard on the afternoon of April 7th, pre- 

 sumably of heart failure. He had taken his 

 dinner with his family in his usual health 

 and in good spirits, but it proved to be the 



