1882 



glea^Ij^gs in bee culture. 



65 



tained that he was willing any one should have the 

 bees if he could have the honey. Accordingly the 

 nci't day T wont and drove out the bees and put both 

 swarms together, as the two would not make "more 

 than one good swarm. I gave th''* ■ bees six frames 

 of new clean comb, without poLou, and fed them 

 ?:>.00 worth of coffee sugar made into a very thick 

 syrup. As the weather was cool they sealed but lit- 

 tle of it, and I hud some misgivings about their win- 

 tering, as it was claimed by some that bees would 

 get the dysentery if there were unsealed stores in 

 the hive. In about two weeks they were placed in 

 the cellar with the rest of the bees, having flown but 

 once or twice after I brought them home; and as 

 several severe frosts had occurred before this, no 

 pollen was obtained, of course, as we never have 

 pollen gathered here after the 20th of October. As 

 this wa? an experimental colony, I began stimulnt- 

 iug them in the fore part of March by occasionally 

 rousing them up, causing them to fill themselves, 

 and thus feed the queen. About the middle of 

 March we had a fine day fjr bees to fly, and, being 

 anxious to know how they were getting al mg, I set 

 them out. They flew nicely, not even spotting the 

 snow, as far as I could see; and after they had be- 

 come somewhat quiet I opened the hive and found 

 brood in two combs, each having a space as large as 

 my hand tilled with eggs, lar-\ii?, and scaled brood. 

 They were set back again in the cellar at night. 

 About April 15th they were set out for good, and I 

 shall always remember how pleased I was to see 

 the white fuzzy fellows playing- at the entrance, 

 and circling away in the warm sunshine, for they 

 gave promise of "gain" at no distant day. That 

 season they gave me two nice swarms, and I sold 

 $30.80 worth of honey from them. I told the neigh- 

 bor of my fortune, and explained to him how I had 

 worked with them; but as he had kept bees in box 

 hives for many year?, and was getting old, I could 

 not persuade him to use the movable-frame hive. 

 From other experiments, I have reason to believe 

 boes can rear brood without pollen, but prefer to 

 give some from other parties, as " in the mouth of 

 two or three witnesses every word may be estab- 

 lished." 



In the Bee-Kct]-)crs' Journal for October, 1870, E. 

 Gallup, whose opinions I value very highly, gives a 

 c. se where a swarm of bees were wintered " without 

 a particle of pollen." He then goes on to tell how 

 he began to stimulate his little swarm with their 

 tbree small pieces of comb the first of February, 

 and says: "The queen commenced breeding, and 

 by the time the bees first Hew out in the spring, they 

 had doubled their numbers." Thus here is proof 

 "second" of many bees being reai-ed "without a 

 particle of pollen." Next we find on page 2G5, of 

 Bce-Kecpers' Magazine for ISS), these words from 

 Prof. Hasbrouck : "They are certainly wrong who 

 say that pollen is indispensable to the raising of 

 young bees, .... because I have had, as an ex- 

 periment, abundant brood raised by bees shut up on 

 new combs, and fed on i-eflned-sugar syrup when 

 they could not possibly get a grain of pollen from 

 any source." As this comes from an apiarist of 

 close observation, it can be relied on, and I will .lot 

 it down as proof " third." Next we And C. J. llobin- 

 son 8;iying, on page 201 of A. B. J. for 1881, " Pollen, 

 if they have it, forms a useful condiment for both 

 mature bees and larva3, but both can do without it." 

 He then goes on to tell how pleuty of brood has been 

 reared when the bees had nothing but sugar syi'up. 



As Mr. Robinson is perhaps the oldest bee-keeper in 

 the United States, his words are entitled to some 

 consideration more than would be given to those of 

 little experience. Thus we have four persons testi- 

 fying to the possibility of brood-rearing, to q.iite an 

 extent at least, when the bees have no access to 

 pollen. 



From many observations made during past years, 

 I am of the opinion that the state of the surround- 

 ings, such as warm and cool weather, plenty of 

 honej" being secreted in the flowers, or no honey at 

 all; a desire to keep up a rapidly diminishing colony, 

 or a perfectly healthy one, has more to do with 

 brood-rearing than plenty of pollen. That the 

 " scramble " for pollen in early spring e.xciies brood- 

 rearing, no one will deny, while pollen may come in 

 quite as freely the fore part of October, and no 

 brood-rearing at all be the result. Much depends 

 upon whether the bees desire bi'ood or not. If they 

 do, they will rear it without pollen, so our experience 

 proves. If they don't desire brood, a hive full of 

 pollen has no effect upon them. Any thing exciting 

 to activity has a tendency toward brood-rearing; 

 while that tending to quietude gives a reverse re- 

 sult. G. M. DOOIilTTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y., Jan. IV, 1882. 



Very likely we have carried the matter a 

 little too far, I'liend D., and perhaps bees 

 can get along after a fashion, for a spell at 

 least, without pollen, just as you or I might 

 live quite a while on pure sugar if we could 

 not get any thing else. It is also possible, I 

 suppose, or at least we will try to think so, 

 that we are entirely wrong, and bees can 

 raise brood just as well without pollen as 

 Avith. You made your experiment almost 

 ten years ago ; and is it not possible there 

 was a little pollen in those combs, which 

 you did not notice V Our bees gather pollen, 

 to a limited extent, after frosts, and some 

 seasons even into November. The cases 

 cited by Gallup and Robinson do not seem 

 to me to be by any means as direct as the 

 one cited by Prof. Hasbrouck ; and even 

 that does not compare with my experiments 

 in the matter, with which friend l).,if not 

 the most of the rest of you, are perfectly fa- 

 miliar. I kept several colonies in a green- 

 house for four or five months, and during 

 this time produced brood, and then prevent- 

 ed its production, many different times, by 

 tlour feeding, and then withdrawing the flour 

 feed. Brood would be raised a little time 

 after the pollen was exhausted from the 

 hives ; but after it ceased, no amount of su- 

 gar feediu": would start it up again until 

 meal was also given. After this I tried in 

 early spring to get brood reared in stocks 

 that had exhausted their pollen, and failed. 

 After giving the same, stock a comb well 

 tilled with pollen, whole sheets of brood 

 sprung into existence at once, while the pol- 

 len disappeared so quickly as to be astonish- 

 ing. It should be borne in mind, that we 

 have a locality where pollen is never ob- 

 tained in such excess as to be a hindrance, as 

 in some places in York State. The idea, 

 that pollen might be the cause of dysentery, 

 I suggested in Gleanings several years 

 ago. It is much easier to write articles on 

 the subject than to go to the expense of ex- 

 perimenting in a greenhouse ; but for all 

 that, I think accounts of recent experiments 



