We mentioned last month that we gave the bees in the forcing house a
brisk fly on the 17th, to accomplish this more effectually we removed
the covers to all the hives, and this was one reason why only _four_
bees remained on the sash. They saw their comrades just beneath them and
of course “hopped down” among them. To avoid giving any erroneous
impression we may remark that we spend the greater part of our Sundays
with our books and papers in the forcing house, and on sunny days even
the rest of the family find it an agreeable sitting room. Of course we
do not mean to work with our bees on the Sabbath and should be very
sorry to have any of our readers get such an opinion of us, yet it must
be admitted that it so came about, that the _bees_ instead of being
allowed to rest on the Sabbath, rested _six_ days, and on the seventh
were expected to turn out and have a fly if nothing else. If they would
not otherwise, we uncovered the hives etc., as above. Very likely friend
Bolin will expect this treatment to kill them whether or no. Never mind;
they would probably submit with resignation if they knew it was solely
in the cause of science. On the 23rd, we warmed the house in the
afternoon and made search in nearly all the hives for eggs, but none
could be found. We were anxious to report brood in Jan., in our Feb.
No., and so kept the room at a favorable temperature all day the 24th,
and next day were delighted to find that the Queens had laid profusely,
even to the lamp nursery which contained less than 100 bees with the
Queen at this time. By the way we can see no difficulty in wintering any
number of Queens with a tea-cupful of bees each, in this way. Our last
form was to be printed on the 27th, and to get larvæ before this time
required careful work, so we kept the room warm until the last item was
set up, but “not a larvæ” could we see, and we dolefully sent you your
papers with hardly a parting note in regard to our experiment. On the
28th we looked again and were cheered with the sight of whole patches of
larvæ, so large it seemed we must have been hasty the day before. And
now for pollen. Few of the colonies had any at all, some of them
positively none, and the worst of it was the bees would take no notice
of the spot where they had worked so industriously on it in Dec. They
seemed to take their flights close under the glass. On the 31st we were
rejoiced to see the sun come out full and clear, and by 10 o’clock the
room was abundantly warm without any aid from the stove, but not a bit
would they notice the meal. We had read in the _Fruit Recorder_ that
plants, especially strawberries, must be placed _close up to the glass_
to thrive. Was it not so with bees? In a twinkling the Simplicity hive
cover containing the heap of meal was suspended from the sash within
about a foot of the glass. Our better half here interposed that it was
long past church time and we bent our steps churchward with about as
much alacrity as did we when in the woods with the wild Touch-me-nots.
We were late, and what is more were rebuked by having the minister pause
in his discourse until we could get seated. Never mind we deserved it
and will try and do better next time. May our path through life never
lead, where the influence of such as he is unknown.
Do you wonder that we were in a mood to rejoice more fully, with the
bees, when we found them happy as in June, dancing about our heap of
meal, and now and then scampering into their hive as fast as their
padded legs could carry them. Yet this was a cold wintry day outside,
and the sun scarcely thawed the snow on the south roofs of the houses.
We should have said before, that our second sash were put in place about
the middle of Jan. It has not yet been closed up warm and secure by any
means, but it does excellent service in keeping the ice from the glass
and preventing the attendant drip.
_Feb. 1st_—To-day we had sunshine again, and brood rearing is going on
beautifully. The only drawback is the drunken bees that blunder about
and finally fall on the floor; these we gather up in the evening and put
in the lamp nursery where they revive and at least a part of them go
through the same programme next day. Not all, however, for the lamp
nursery is getting built up thereby. We forgot to mention that one
colony was found Queenless; search showed her dead in bottom of hive. As
she looked natural and perfect, and as the bees were healthy, we cannot
think it any fault of our own that we now have 67 colonies instead of
68.
[The following is from A. I. Root personally.]
_Feb. 8th_—I hope and trust that I have many warm friends among our
readers, many who have followed my efforts, in years past, and very
likely who feel that they know my weak points almost as well as those
who have held daily converse with me, face to face. If I have gained any
hold upon you, and if you have any confidence in my truth and candor,
please listen, and do not turn away, even if I talk a little to you on
these pages, on something, that does not _directly_ pertain to Bee
Culture.
For a little time back a great light has been breaking above me. This
light might have come sooner had it not been for several things which
stood in its way; prominently among them, a vain pride and ambition in
regard to this very GLEANINGS. I worshipped worldly things first, and my
Maker, (when I worshipped Him at all) afterwards. In fact when this
great light commenced to reveal itself, I debated whether it was best to
mention the matter at all, here; whether it would be—well,
_profitable_. When these thoughts arose, the old darkness threatened to
come back, until I could truly say, “I will do my Creator’s work first
_whatever_ it may be, and bees and all else afterwards.” Dear readers do
you know that this is one of the first tasks shown to me, to use my
influence whatever weight it may have, in all possible directions, to
induce imperfect mankind to say with me _Thy will_ our Heavenly Father,
not ours be done.
Do you say you have no duties that you are aware of, left unperformed?
just as I did a very few days ago? Go read your Bible, read the
commandments and see. When you have tried to live up to these, when you
have tried to love your neighbor _as yourself_, and find you _cannot_ do
it alone, admit your helplessness and call on your Heavenly Father for
aid, but first be sure you can freely give up all or _everything_ in
this world for His sake, and forgive all your fellow beings, as you hope
to be forgiven. With a sincere prayer that God will enable these few
words to reach you just as they were intended, I still remain _more than
ever_ your old friend A. I. Root.
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_Feb. 12th_—Reports come in from all sides in regard to the extreme
severity of the weather, and brood rearing in the forcing house is again
suspended on account of the thick coat of ice that covers the sash and
prevents even the noonday sun from penetrating and warming it up.
Instead of feeling like being dissatisfied with such weather ought we
not rather to take it as a lesson that our climate is uncertain, and
that we should in building our wintering houses, cellars etc., make
proper calculation for such extremes.
_Feb. 15th_—Still zero weather. The forcing house is so completely
covered with ice that even the noonday sun scarcely has an effect on it.
In Jan. _Am. Agriculturist_, Mr. Quinby describes the behavior of bees
in cold weather, and also reiterates the statement made last season that
the solid portion of the honey they eat during winter is evacuated in a
dry state, and may be found on the bottom board of the hive, when the
bees are in health. As soon as the paper was received we commenced some
experiments to determine (as we supposed) the truth of the matter. We
soon decided that Quinby was utterly wrong in both, and prepared to
write a severe criticism. We are sincerely glad we did not for the
spirit that was then prompting, was more a disposition to show that Mr.
Q. was in error, than to get at the truth _whereever_ it might lie. What
we did was to raise a hive up from the bottom board, remove cover and
quilt and subject them to severe cold weather. Although the colony
(nucleus rather) contained not more than a quart of bees, they seemed to
bear this without detriment. A sheet of white paper was placed under the
cluster, and after a few hours the brown particles that had accumulated
were examined. We thought then there was nothing there but bits of comb,
propolis etc., but a more candid examination since has convinced us
that, in some hives at least, the bees do void their excrement in a dry
state, and perhaps they always do in perfect health. The second point
was to see how the bees behaved when it was cold; strange to tell they
did not behave at all. They were simply, perfectly still, “dead as door
nails,” as Gallup used to say. We approached on tip-toe, and examined
them by day light, and by lamp light, but it was all the same. We fixed
our eye on a single bee, and watched it until our teeth chattered, but
it seemed perfectly comfortable on the outside of the cluster. When the
temperature became lower, quite a hum came apparently from the center of
the cluster, but we could see no movement that should produce this; the
bees that were visible, did not move their wings, and did not change
places. Now then, when do these bees get food, and if they change about,
why could we have not seen _just one_ in the act of so doing? We confess
we do not know, will some one else help? During the experiment once or
twice, a bee would crawl out of the cluster and fly off in the cold and
fall down and die. We then took a distant position, and saw the same
phenomena, and from the number of bees found scattered about, we think
it occurs about the same whether they be disturbed or not. A bee that is
sick crawls out of the cluster, and out of the hive if he can, and dies.
As they die thus, most in the forcing house, we may infer that brood
rearing aggravates the trouble, or what is more probable _to us_ is,
that sudden and wide changes of temperature, such as we always have in
the spring are severe on bees as well as on vegetation. The forcing
house varies from 40 to 70°, now, almost daily. If this be true, our
bees had better be kept in doors until April, or even later, if we can
manage to do so; and those using the cold frames, should keep them
covered and dark, except at intervals, until the days get pretty warm.
All colonies have a pretty fair patch of brood, in the forcing house, it
is true, but the old ones are dying off so fast, we fear we are gaining
little.
_Feb. 16th_—Found Queen in lamp nursery dead on bottom. The bees looked
bright and all right, and she looked natural, except that her body was
somewhat distended. Our utter helplessness, in the matter is illustrated
in the following:
During the last three winters, I have suffered heavy losses, and the
matter has been a great puzzle to me. My reports of the last three
seasons would have been much better, had my bees wintered well. I
have for the last six winters kept my bees in an exceeding dry
cellar, with an average temperature for the whole time of about 37°.
For three winters they did well, then came disaster. To my mind,
none of the causes and methods or theories advocated cover the whole
ground or seem absolute remedies for this fatality in wintering. I
firmly believe that it was an epidemic (or perhaps more properly an
“apidemic”) sent by Providence for purposes His own. The most
curious part in my experience is that stocks so nearly alike that I
could detect no _slight_ difference in quality, were affected so
differently—one dying or becoming very weak while the other wintered
in fine condition.
J. H. NELLIS, Canajoharie, N. Y. Feb. 10th, ’75.
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