THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



315 



be digested and assimilated without the 

 addition of nitrogenous food. The highest 

 authorities on dietetics are in accord in re- 

 gard to this matter. On one occasion Mr. 

 Heddon's bees died, as he tells us, of cold. 

 A post mortem examination by Prof. Cook 

 revealed the fact that their stomachs were 

 full of sugar syrup, without a trace of pol- 

 len. The material for heat production was 

 present, but there was lacking the nitro- 

 genous element necessary to start in motion 

 the changes which result in the evolution of 

 heat. 



I think the foregoing abundantly proves 

 that, not only is there nothing gained by the 

 exclusion of pollen from winter stores, but 

 its presence is essential for the health of the 

 bees. The editor of the Review is as much 

 opposed to teaching errors through the col- 

 umns of his paper, as any man can be. 

 May we not njw hope to see him boldly re- 

 cant his opinions, as to the consumption of 

 pollen being the cause of bee dysentery ? 



The editor recommends a temperature of 

 4.'>'' for the air of the bee cellar, with the wet 

 bulb thermometer '6° lower. This would in- 

 dicate a relative humidity of 78, or, in other 

 words, 78 per cent, of saturation. If these 

 conditions are kept up continuously the 

 hives being sufficiently ventilated, either up- 

 ward or downward, and provisioned with 

 buckwheat honey, or other honey equally 

 good, and the stocks moderately strong, 

 there will be no dysentery. Let us consider 

 some of the difficulties to be overcome in 

 maintaining these conditions all winter. 



Saturated air at 45° contains 3.01 grs. of 

 the vapor of water per cubic foot, and 78 per 

 cent, of this is 2.81 grs. ; therefore the addi- 

 tion of .8 of a grain to each cubic foot of the 

 air approved by the editor will produce com- 

 plete saturation. 



An ounce of honey, on being consumed, 

 pr > 1 I ;j-i 328.125 grs of aqueous vapor. 100 

 colonies, consuming an ounce per day, will 

 give off 32,812.5 grs. which, being added to 

 the air approved by the editor, will satu- 

 rate 41.015 cubic feet per day, assuming 

 that no ventilation of the repository takes 

 place. This is more than the quantity of air 

 in most repositories, after the hives are put 

 in. In my cellar I have often found that the 

 readings of the wet and dry bulb thermom- 

 eters were almost identical, indicating sat 

 nration, or nearly so. My cellar is too small 

 to enable me to maintain a constant differ- 

 ence of 3° . 



In the case of the higher animals, when 

 air is saturated, or nearly so, and is of the 

 same temperature as the body, "it refuses 

 to receive the perspiration which is offered 

 to it from the skin and lungs; the sewerage 

 of the system is dammed up." Such are the 

 atmospheric conditions when cases of sun- 

 stroke are most numerous. Supposing the 

 air in the cellar at 45° were fully laden with 

 moisture, the case of the bees is even then not 

 so bad. Saturated air at 45°, when warmed 

 to 65°, will have about 63 per cent, of sat- 

 uration. Evaporation of the bees will take 

 place under these conditions, but not so 

 effectually as if the air of the cellar were as 

 dry as recommended by the editor. 



Air breathed by the bees, when expired, is 

 saturated, and of the same temperature as 

 the cluster. As the vapor laden air escapes 

 from the cluster at 65°, into saturated air at 

 55°. it deposits 3.2 grs, of water per cubic 

 foot, on the sealed honey, the hive walls 

 and surrounding objects : whereas, if the 

 air of the cellar were dry, and of sufficient 

 quantity, this vapor would be taken up by 

 the air, just as the clouds of condensed 

 steam from a locomotive are absorbed by the 

 atmosphere, and disappear. 



Saturated air carries off the heat of the 

 cluster nearly three times as fast as dry air, 

 consequently to keep up the temperature of 

 the cluster, the bees must eat more honey, 

 now thinned by absorbed moisture deposited 

 on the combs. This loads their blood with 

 an increasing quantity of water, which i? not 

 completely evaporated. Josh Billings says 

 that when a man begins to go down hill 

 financially, all nature seems to be greased 

 for the occasion. So with the bees, each un 

 favorable condition brings about others, un- 

 til their bodies become distended, and as Mr. 

 C. W. Dayton says they must be " evapora- 

 ted down " or they will die of dysentery. 



The only practical way of maintaining the 

 conditions approved by the editor, is to keep 

 the air in the repository constantly chang- 

 ing, and by warming th* incoming air by 

 bringing it through a sub-earth pipe, or by 

 artificial heat. I have had bees suffer from 

 dysentery because they were exposed to a 

 current of incoming air. Mr. Boardman 

 records a similar experience. It is not to be 

 wondered at that bees suffer, when ex- 

 posed to a constant draft for five months. 

 From the experience I have had I consider 

 it essential that the hives should not be 

 exposed to a draft. 



