290 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



that I am right, for if a flight cures, the lack 

 of it must be the cause. Once more, with 

 the same food ami same surroundings which 

 bring diarrhoea and death here at the north, 

 if down in Texas or Florida give life and 

 health. Is it not plain then, that the prime 

 cause is not in the food, etc., but in the con- 

 finement ? That food, dampness, poorly 

 protected hives, etc., have much to do with 

 our wintering troubles I am free to admit, 

 but if we had no winter we would have no 

 ivintering troubles. Is not this plain to all ? 

 After a careful watching of the matter I find 

 about this in every case. All colonies pass 

 through the November and December con- 

 finement in safety, but by the middle of 

 January some of the colonies having older 

 bees or less vitality from any cause, begin to 

 show uneasiness, and as the days wear on the 

 bees begin to eat more to support their 

 wasting tissues, wliile the abdomen becomes 

 swollen with the accumulating waste matter. 

 From this strain some now begin to die, and 

 instinct teaches the survivors that unless 

 more bees are reared to take the place of 

 those dying they must soon become extinct. 

 Chyme is now prepared with which the 

 queen is fed, so she shall begin egg laying, 

 when the cluster (or quiescent state) is bro- 

 ken, thereljy causing the temperature of the 

 hive to rise from its normal degree of about 

 55° up to that of brood rearing which is 

 about 92°. If a chance to fly occurs at this 

 time or a little before, all the trouble is 

 ended for another six weeks or two months. 

 If not, the mortality gains rapidly, as many 

 times the food is required to keep up this 

 brood rearing temperature, than was re- 

 quired for the other, so that the intestines 

 are soon over-loaded to nearly bursting and 

 the bees have the so called " diarrhoea." A 

 chance to fly now helps a little, but such 

 colony is sure to "spring dwindle" in any 

 event, and if such a state of affairs occurs as 

 early as six weeks before warm weather ar- 

 rives the colony usually dies of exhausted 

 vitality, during the cool spring weather. 

 Should this chance not come the combs and 

 hive are soiled, the bees die by thousands 

 every day till most of the old bees are dead. 

 Young bees now begin to hatch, but such 

 young fuzzy bees h ve not vigor enough to 

 stand the rigors of our northern spring and 

 soon all perish together. As week after week 

 of confinement succeed each other, other 

 colonies more vigorous than the first, com- 

 mence to get uneasy and go. through this 



same process, this continuing till warm days 

 come, so they can fly often, after which 

 nothing more of the kind occurs. From 

 these careful watchings I am convinced that 

 no colony could endure more than six months 

 confinement on their summer stands and 

 not more than eight when placed in the best 

 repository. To overcome the environments 

 of the North which are unfavorable, I now 

 believe that all we can do is to see that the 

 bees have plenty of good stores or sugar 

 syrup, that they are placed in a good cellar 

 or well protected out door, see that those out 

 have an opportunity to fly when a warm day 

 comes and those in the cellar have an even 

 temperature of from forty-three to forty-five 

 degrees, and to follow Bro. Hutchinson's re- 

 capitulation as near as maybe. Doing this 

 you will not have yourself to blame should 

 the bees die. 

 BoBODiNo, N. Y. Sept. 14, 1893, 



Beware of Poor Food and the Cold, Damp 

 Cellar. 



PBOF. A, J. OOOK. 



JRIEND H. : — You have, as usual, cov- 

 ered the ground so fully in your 

 "leader" that it is hardly necessary 

 to say more, but as there is safety in a mul- 

 titude of counsellors, I will add a word, more 

 in confirmation, than in addition. 



Bees are natives of a warm climate, and 

 can in their native home fly forth often. In 

 the long confinement which we often en- 

 force, we do violence to their habits, and 

 unless we provide the best of conditions dis- 

 aster will often meet us, and very likely 

 snatch away our success, 



I believe, with you, that temperature and 

 food, and moisture in the surrounding at- 

 mosphere, are the points to look to in order 

 of importance. 



If we are to have a very severe and pro- 

 tracted winter bees must be protected eitlier 

 by cellar or packing or disaster is sure. Per- 

 haps, with the best food the danger would 

 be delayed, and, possibly, warded off, but I 

 do not believe that bees can endure our most 

 severe winters in our northern latitude of 

 Michigan, New York, and Wisconsin, with- 

 out serious, often universal and total loss. 

 This position is proved by several winters' 

 experience in almost all our Northern States. 

 Could we only know that we should not have 

 such winters, then it were better to leave our 



