1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



259 



DYSENTERY OR CON FINE ME NT THE 



CAUSE OF OUR WINTERING 



TROlRi.ES,— WHICH ? 



R. EDITOR: — As my article on page 541 Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal for 1879 seems to be causing 

 our friends some trouble, perhaps It would 

 be well for me to rise and explain a little. Our 

 friends seem to be so shocked by the first part of the 

 article referred to, that they overlook the latter 

 part. What I desired to have understood was this: 

 that confinement of the bees to the hive was the 

 cause of all our wintering troubles, and not a so 

 called disease, dysentery, as I believe no such dis- 

 ease exists. I may have been a little fast in using 

 mankind, or the animal kingdom as an illustration, 

 comparing that kingdom to the insect kingdom. 

 However, the fact will stare us in the face, if we 

 will rationally look at it, that confinement to the 

 hive is the main cause of the mortality of bees dur- 

 ing winter, and, as a consequence, of spring dwin- 

 dling. Friend Roop does not stop even to smooth 

 off the corners of his words, in his criticism of my 

 article. I wish to notice one point in what he says 

 on page 121 of Gleanings for 1880. He says, "I sup- 

 posed that nature designed the honey bee, as well 

 as nearly all the insect creation, to go into a partial- 

 ly dormant state, on the approach of cold weather, 

 and remain so for several months without any in- 

 jury to themselves whatever," etc. I had supposed 

 that bees were a native of a warm climate, where 

 they had a chance to fly often, and by man they had 

 been introduced into a cold climate, where stern 

 winter held them bound to their hives for months. 

 Mr. Editor, which is right? One thing we know: 

 bees do not go into that dormant state, as do fliesi 

 wasps, ants, etc., so that they are apparently per- 

 fectly lifeless duriDg extreme cold. On the contra- 

 ry, if we go to a hive on a zero morning, and quickly 

 lift out a frame from the centre of the cluster, 

 those under the crust bees are as lively as in July, 

 and often in the middle of January, if the swarm is 

 strong, have brood rearing going on to a small ex- 

 tent, the same as in July. As a consequence of this 

 activity, food is being all the while consumed, while 

 flies, wasps, and ants eat nothing. As a conse- 

 quence of the consumption of food, bees must emp- 

 ty themselves sooner or later, or perish. Hence, 

 from being deprived of this privilege comes the so 

 called disease dysentery, which, in our opinion, is no 

 disease at all, but simply the effect of confinement 

 on account of cold weather. Dampness from what- 

 ever cause, poor honey, extreme cold, or anything 

 which causes the bees to consume an undue quanti- 

 ty of honey, calls for them to fly often in order to 

 survive; while dryness, good stores, an equal tem- 

 perature above the freezing point, and perfect quiet 

 enables them to remain healthy for months and not 

 fly at all. However, if all these favorable conditions 

 were to exist, probably no colony could live a year 

 without flying. The so called dysentery could not 

 be produced, if the bees had a chance to fly every 

 day, no matter how poor their honey, or how cold 

 the nights were. Hoping I have made myself un- 

 derstood, and have not used language to give offense 

 to any one, I am— 



Yours for the progress of apiculture, 

 Borodino, N. Y., May, '80. G. M. Doolittle. 



I think I get your meaning, as I did at 

 first friend i). ; but still I think you state it 

 a little strongly. It is true bees do not go 



into a dormant condition, just as flies, ants, 

 etc. do, but I think, under the most favora- 

 ble circumstances, they become at least par- 

 tially dormant. In opening a hive of Ital- 

 ians suddenly, during cool weather, I have 

 found them knotted together, in a way that 

 seemed, at first, to indicate that they were 

 all dead. There might have been some 

 movement in the centre of this knot, but it 

 certainly did not look so. This matter has 

 been often spoken of. Still farther; bees in 

 this state live almost without food, if the 

 temperature keeps pretty even. Some have 

 taken the ground that they absolutely did 

 not take food. I am sure they can, at least, 

 live a good while with very little indeed. 

 Well, bees have repeatedly been kept in the 

 hive four months, and without any injury 

 at all. I am not prepared to say whether 

 they voided any excrement all this time, or 

 not. I am at least pretty sure it was not of 

 the kind we see bees void that have the dys- 

 entery. Healthy bees may be made to have 

 a kind of dysentery at almost any time, by 

 chilling them while removed from the clus- 

 ter. Keeping them too warm will produce 

 the same results in confinement, as I showed 

 by my greenhouse experiments years ago. 

 The greatest reason why our friends claim 

 it is a disease, friend £)., is because bees 

 winter all right at times, even in confine- 

 ment in cellars, and at other times they die 

 off fearfully under precisely the same cir- 

 cumstances, so far as we can see. 



BEE BOTANY AND ENTOMOLOGY. 



sjnjPj^ROF. W. J. BEAL:— I send you by this mail a 

 Jjr^ few flowers of which I wish you would give 

 me the names (common names, when you 

 can) in Gleanings. Nos. 1, 2, and 8 are extra good 

 honey plants; 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10 produce honey. No. 

 8 must be an estray as I can find but one plant in 

 the country, and on that some 2 doz. bees are at 

 work from morning till night nearly all summer. 



I am a native of Michigan, and, if you wish, will 

 make a collection of plants next summer, as far as 

 I can, for you or the college. I will gather both 

 from the country around Canon, and in the moun- 

 tains. The plants I send now are from the moun- 

 tains. Chas. E. McRay. 



Canon City, Colorado, Mar. 29, 1880. 



COLORADO BEE PLANTS. 



Ten plants said to be especially attractive to bees 

 were sent me by Mr. C. E. McRay, of Canon City, 

 Col., for analysis. They prove to be the following: 



No. l.—Artemeeia. The specimens of this, as also 

 of No. 2, were so imperfect that the species could 

 not be decided upon. This is closely related to the 

 wormwood of our gardens. 



No. Z.—EpUdbium, often known as "willow herb." 



No. 3.— Thlaxpi alpcxtre. L., a small plant closely 

 resembling sweet alyssum, often called "penny 

 cress." 



No. i.—Chrysopsii rillnxa, Nutt., or "golden aster." 

 It is a near relative of the golden rods and asters. 



No. f>.—Erigeron gldbelium, Nutt., nearly related to 

 the last. It is one of the "fleabanes." 



No. 6.—MaarorrJiynehus glaucittt, Eaton, or "trox- 

 imon," much resembling the dandelion. 



No. 7.— Crcpis runvinata, T. and G., or "hawk's- 



