GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



Smith had some sections sent by freight; 



He ordered them when 'twas too leight, 

 Some time in June. 



Sad, sati, alas ! then was his feight: 



Next time he will not want to weight; 

 He'll order soon. 

 Poultry-netting two feet high has served 

 for several years to keep hens out of our flower- 

 beds. This year We fenced in a poultry-yard of 

 half an acre with poultry - netting three feet 

 high. It isn't a big success. Many of the 

 hens get over it, although their wings are clip- 

 ped. 



" Place hives in cellar a foot or two from 

 the bottom " is the general rule. I suppose it's 

 a good one ; and yet for the sake of saving 

 room I have always put the lowest hives close 

 to the cellar bottom, and I never could make 

 out that it made much, if any, difference. Still 

 it may have made more difference than I real- 

 ized. 



IS POLLEN FED TO LARVAL BEES 1 



opinions of authorities on the question. 



A correspondent writes me thus: '"Do larval 

 bees, at any stage of their existence as larvte, 

 eat pollen, or is their food of some other mate- 

 rial? I see it is claimed by some that the young 

 bee in the larval state does not eat pollen, but 

 its food consists of a purely animal secretion. 

 Please tell us through the columns of Glean- 

 ings what yon think regarding this." 



I am very glad the correspondent wanted on- 

 ly " my think," for I am not posted in these 

 matters to an extent sufficient to be considered 

 an authority on this subject. However, I am 

 glad this question was brought up, for it will be 

 one of interest to most of us, and it will be a 

 good time during the fall and winter months to 

 discuss the same through the columns of 

 Gleanings, with the editor's permission. 



From many careful observations regarding 

 the food of larval bees, I have been led to be- 

 lieve that such food was composed of about two 

 parts honey or saccharine matter, four parts 

 pollen or flour, when used in early spring as a 

 substitute, and one part water, the whole being 

 taken into the stomach of the nurse-bee and 

 formed into chyme, after which it was given 

 to the larval bees in the cream-like form we 

 see it in the cells. Right here I wish to di- 

 gress a little and give some other observations 

 as bearing on the eating of pollen by the old or 

 hatched bees. 



The older readers of Gleanings will remem- 

 ber that, some years ago, I gave a description 

 of how I starved some colonies of bees outright, 

 and others partially so, in trying to make them 

 eat pollen in the fall, and at other times when 

 there was no brood in the hive; and that, so 

 far as I could see, not a cell of pollen was 

 touched. At another time some of the colonies 

 had to be fed. when I again tried an experiment 

 which I had formerly tried several times, which 

 was to see if the bees in hives which had 

 scarcely a cell of honey in them, but plenty of 

 brood in all stages, woiild live if provided with 

 pollen. As the weather at the time of this latter 

 experiment was so bad that the bees did not fly 

 for several days, it was with much anxiety 

 that I waited to see what would be the out- 

 come of the matter after the honey was gone. 

 The first thing noted was that, as soon as the 

 fevv cells of honey were gone, the larva was 

 scrimped for food, and the eggs were removed 

 from the cells or eaten by the bees (I incline to 

 the latter opinion), while a little later there 

 was a general eating of the larvas. A day or 



two later the sealed drone brood was taken 

 from the cells and sucked dry, while the harder 

 parts were scattered about the entrance and 

 bottom-board of the hive. At this time I no- 

 ticed the bees putting their tongues together as 

 they do when young bees feed the queen, this 

 thing being continued till nearly all the pollen 

 was used up, which lasted for several days, 

 when it came good weather again, so new sup- 

 plies were gathered. From these observations 

 I formed the opinion that old bees partake of 

 pollen only in the form of chyme, and that this 

 chyme is prepared only when there is, or has 

 been, brood lately in the hive. 



I have thus wandered, to show that pollen 

 can become a factor in our wintering troubles, 

 as I believe, only in connection with brood- 

 rearing, and that, where no brood-rearing is 

 carried on, pollen can have nothing to do with 

 the so-called disease, bee-diarrhea. But, to 

 return. 



That the larval bee subsists wholly on this 

 chyme, or creamy food, I think no one will 

 deny; and if from my observations I am cor- 

 rect, the largest element in this food is pollen. 

 As the larva absorbs this food, the grosser part 

 of the pollen forms itself into the yellow streak 

 seen in the larva when taken out of the comb, 

 but most plainly in the drone larva, which 

 streak is Anally inclosed by the intestines of 

 the newly hatched bee, and evacuated on its 

 first flight. If I had time it might be interest- 

 ing to digress here again, and tell how I have 

 found by experimenting that newly hatched 

 bees which have not had a cleansing flight are 

 practically worthless to ship with queens long 

 distances, and that I always avoid, as far as 

 may be, catching such bees when sending 

 queens to Australia and other distant countries, 

 because they are liable to daub the cage and 

 queen with their excrement, or die from over- 

 distended abdomens; but I will not take the 

 time here. 



To show that I am not alone in the belief 

 that larval bees eat pollen, I wish to give the 

 testimony of others who incline to a like belief. 

 Gundelach says: "The larva? art; immediately 

 fed by the worker-bees, with a pellucid jelly 

 prepared in their ' chyle-stomachs ' by the di- 

 gestion of honey and pollen mixed with wa- 

 ter." Neighbour says: "A portion of this pol- 

 len is taken at once by the nursing bees, which 

 are supposed to subject it to some change be- 

 fore offering it to the larva." Kirby says: 

 " With this pollen, after it has undergone a con- 

 version into a sort of whitish jelly by being 

 received into the bee's stomach, where it is 

 probably mixed with honey and regurgitated, 

 the young brood immediately upon their exclu- 

 sion, and until their change into nymphs, are 

 diligently fed by other bees, which anxiously 

 attend upon them, and, several times a day, 

 afford a fresh supply." Gallup says: "Every 

 bee-keeper ought to know that bees do not feed 

 pollen directly to their young, but it is elabo- 

 rated in the stomach of the bee, into chyme to 

 feed the young on." Quinby says: " How this 

 food is prepared is mere conjecture The sup- 

 position is, that it is chiefly composed of pollen; 

 this is strongly indicated by the quantity which 

 accumulates in colonies that lose their queens 

 and rear no brood." Prof. Cook says: "The 

 food is composed of pollen and honey — certainly 

 of pollen, for, as I have repeatedly proved, 

 without pollen no brood will be reared." A. I. 

 Root says: "It is supposed that this larval food 

 is pollen and honey, partially digested by the 

 'nursing bees.' Bees of this age, or a little 

 older, supply the royal jelly for the queen -eel Is, 

 which is the same. 1 think, as the food given to 

 very small larvte. Just before the larvte of the 

 worker bees and drones are sealed up, they are 



