THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



325 



living bees. After proving to his own satis- 

 faction that it was air-tight, by blowing into 

 it, as a cooper does into a barrel, he covered 

 the entrance with waxed paper and set it 

 away for a couple of days. He then ex- 

 amined it and found that the bees did not 

 seem in the least inconvenienced by their 

 confinement. 



Prof. Cook, of the Michigan Agricultural 

 College, reports that one of his most pros- 

 perous colonies, in the spring, was one that 

 had the entrance to the hive completely filled 

 with ice for nearly the entire winter. But 

 more important than either of these experi- 

 ments is the well known fact that bees have 

 been buried for months under ground, with 

 no provision for ventilation, and with the 

 surface of the ground frozen solid during 

 the whole time. Are any more facts needed 

 to prove that ventilation is unnecessary ? We 

 might subscribe to this, did we not know 

 that bees require food at all times, and that 

 1 to 3 lbs. of honey per month is consumed 

 by each colony, while iu winter quarters. 

 Chemistry tells us that the consumption of 

 this amount of food requires the introduc- 

 tion of a larger amount of atmospheric air. 

 It also tells us that the combustion of three 

 pounds of honey, within the body of the bee, 

 produces 2^4 pounds of watery vapor, and 

 nearly 24 cubic feet of carbonic acid gas. 

 The free atmosphere contains but three or 

 four parts of carbonic acid in ten thousand, 

 and the best European authorities are united 

 in asserting that for the respiration of man, 

 it should never contain more than ten parts 

 in ten thousand. Marker and Schultze, of 

 Germany, in their researches on the natural 

 ventilation of stables, have found that for 

 domestic animals the proportion may safely 

 run three times as high, or 30 parts in lO.OOC. 



On the supposition that bees need an at- 

 mosphere no more pure than this, we find 

 the consumption of three pounds of honey 

 requires the passage through the hive of not 

 less than 8,000 cubic feet of air. As the 

 brood department of our hives usually con- 

 tains less than a cubic foot of free air ; this 

 necessitates the complete removal of this 

 air. at least 8,000 times. 



These figures, undoubtedly, seem large, 

 but if I should say that 200 colonies of bees 

 require as much air as their owner, you 

 would not be surprised, hut think the esti- 

 mate quite small. JSow, Gen. Morin, of 

 Paris, (see Smithsonian reports,) has fur- 

 nished us the best of proof, (experimental 

 not theoretical), that in close apartments, 

 in order to keep the atmosphere around him 

 sufficiently pure, man requires over 2.100 

 cubic feet of air per hour, a result subscribed 

 to by the best authorities in Europe. This 

 is largely in excess of the amount required 

 by 200 colonies of bees, supposing each to 

 consume \^i pounds of honey per month. 



But where did the bees in close confine- 

 ment get their supply of air ? There is no 

 proof given that the receptacles were air- 

 tight. Adair's test only proves that the out- 

 let was immeasureably smaller than the in- 

 let : and it is not claimed that Prof. Cook's 

 hive had no crevices through which a limited 

 supply of air might not enter. I have had 



the entrances of several hives closed for 

 weeks at a time, without serious inconven- 

 ience to the inmates, but I know the con- 

 nections were not air tight. Even if they 

 had been, the bees would have received a 

 considerable quantity of air through the 

 walls of the hive. 



It is a well established fact that atmospher- 

 ic air freely penetrates the tissues of all 

 plants. Corewinder found that a single colza 

 plant, in twelve hours, decomposed two 

 quarts of carbonic acid gas. Bousingault 

 found that twelve square feet of oleander 

 leaves decomposed about the same quantity. 

 These results prove that a very large quanti- 

 ty of air must have coursed through the plant. 

 Some idea of the size of the ' breathing 

 pores,' or stotnata may be formed, when it 

 is known that 100,000 of these openings may 

 be counted upon an average sized apple leaf. 

 Although the leaves are much more pervious 

 than the stems, air in various degrees of 

 purity may be found in all parts of the plant. 

 If green wood allows the free passage of air, 

 certainly dry wood will be more pervious. 

 We all know how freely wood imbibes water, 

 ana it is safe to say that air will go wher- 

 ever water can, for it is 770 times lighter. 

 On the supposition that one-half as much air 

 passes through an unpainted inch board as 

 though a lime-stone wall, well laid in mor- 

 tar, (not an extravagant supposition, I think 

 you will say), I find by computation, that 

 with the size of hive we use, so long as the 

 hive walls remain dry, quite a large per 

 centage of the air required by the bees in 

 winter will enter this way. In proportion 

 as the wood hive becomes saturated with 

 water is the passage of air impeded, a fact of 

 much importance in wintering. 



How about the bees buried ? Facts are on 

 record, showing that men have been buried 

 for days at a time and were not suffocated. 

 Certainly, when men can live, bees ought to, 

 as they require so much less air. But the 

 men were not buried under the frozen ground 

 you say. Von Rettenkoffer, than whom 

 there is no better authority living, says that 

 he believes frozen soil is to be not much 

 less pervious to air than the same soil un- 

 frozen. I have not space to give his reasons, 

 and will only say that he seems to have the 

 best of the argument. He says, in regard to 

 the free passage of air through the ground, 

 ' I know cases where persons were poisoned 

 and killed by gas, which had to travel twenty 

 feet under the street, and then throueh the 

 foundations, cellar, vaults and flooring of 

 the ground floor rooms.' 



In wintering bees underground, we need 

 not have so much fear that the quantity of 

 air will fall short, as that it will be deficient 

 in quality. A year ago, in reading Prof. 

 •Johnson's admirable treatise on ' How Crops 

 Feed,' I learned of the impurity of soil air. 

 It usually contains all the moisture it will 

 hold, and from 10 to 390 times as much car- 

 bonic acid gas as the free atmosphere. In 

 sandy soil the air is the purest. 



To keep the soil air out of our bee cellars, 

 last fall, we carefully coated the sides and 

 bottom with hydralic cement, and I find that 

 it makes them much dryer and better. 



