. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 334 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL October of its kind. At the time of my visit there was an excellent prospect for an average yield of 200 pounds per colony of sweet clover honey, and I was informed that such a yield is not unusual with them. The Value of Winter Protection for Bees By J. H. Merrill IT is not difficult to circulate and have accepted a rumor such as "A bee will not sting you if you hold your breath," yet a fact which may be applied to practical beekeep- ing must be accompanied by abund- ant proof. Dr. Phillips has given us, clearly, th
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 334 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL October of its kind. At the time of my visit there was an excellent prospect for an average yield of 200 pounds per colony of sweet clover honey, and I was informed that such a yield is not unusual with them. The Value of Winter Protection for Bees By J. H. Merrill IT is not difficult to circulate and have accepted a rumor such as "A bee will not sting you if you hold your breath," yet a fact which may be applied to practical beekeep- ing must be accompanied by abund- ant proof. Dr. Phillips has given us, clearly, the reasons why bees should be given protection during the winter, months. In spite of this, there are always plenty of people who have seen strong colonies in the spring that have wintered in cracker boxes, in hives large enough to thrust your hand in, and with no winter protection whatsoever. In fact, these colonies were so strong that they clearly proved to the satisfaction of the beekeeper that there is no need of taking any precautions for win- tering bees in his locality. Another bugbear, which is frequently heard, is that there is "no need of winter protection in our locality, because we have such open ; Some of the figures which will be given later deal directly with this point and seem to tell a very clear story. Briefly summarized, the reasons given by Dr. Phillips why bees need winter protection are: (1) Bees are like storage batteries, containing a given amount of energy, which once expended is gone. (2) The bee is a cold-blooded animal and can raise the temperature within the hive only by consuming honey, thus transform- ing energy into heat, and by muscu- lar activities. (3) When the temper- ature falls to 57 the bees form a cluster, with those in the center busily engaged in raising the temper- ature by muscular exertion. (4) If wintering conditions are such that bees can pass through the winter with but a minimum expenditure of energy in maintain
Size: 1912px × 1306px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
