26S 



GLEANINGS IN iJEE CULTUliE. 



Apr. 



countries what they are. If we raise plants 

 in the greenhouse, they have got to be hard- 

 ened off, as gardeners term it, before they 

 are fit to go outdoors, and I fear you will 

 find, after you have stayed in Florida a few 

 years, you will begin to suffer for the lack of 

 llie ''hardening-olT'' process. 



POLLEN, AND ITS RELATION TO 

 BROOD-REARING. 



PKOF. COOK GIVES US SOMETHING VALUABLE, 



THAT HAS A DIRECT BEARING ON THIS 



.M.\TTER Of WINTERING BEES. 



"Tl DITOK GLEANINGS:— You and the readers of 

 ■^j Gleanings will remember that, in a paper 

 1^1 sent by me to last Gle.vnings, I said that 

 '*^ bees sent me by Mr. Doolittle, dead, as he 

 said, of diarrhoea, showed no pollen in their 

 intestines, but were characterized by the usual odor 

 of diarihcea, and the feces showed the bacteria 

 which 1 find in all fecal matter from bees which are 

 suffering- or have died of this disease. This is the 

 only case where I have found bees dead or suffer- 

 inj? from diarrhoea, that had no pollen in their in- 

 testines. I said in that paper that there must have 

 been nitrogen in their food, else we would not have 

 found the bacteria and the putrescent odor. Since 

 writing said article, Mr. Doolittle has written me 

 that the bees were given clean combs in September 

 last, fed wholly on sugar syrup, and reared brood 

 in the winter. He also states that he fed the syrup 

 in small quantities, taking some time to do it, in- 

 stead of feeding all at once, and that his other bees 

 gathered pollen in autumn- October, I think— but 

 these, he thought, did not gather any. 



Since T wrote the other article, Mr. Doolittle has 

 sent me a small piece of the comb from the hive, 

 and I find under honey— I suppose syrup— quite an 

 amount of pollen, so that its presence was easily 

 demonstrated by use of the microscope. Now, the 

 fact of breeding makes the case clear. Bcescfoi 

 not reir brood, which always contains nitrogen in 

 the tissues, without nitrogen in the food; but pure 

 sugar syrup contains not a particle of nitrogen. 

 This, then, is further proof that nitrogen was pres- 

 ent, and the bees could and did eat it. 



Again, to make assurance doubly sure, I took all 

 the fecal matter I could collect from the bees not 

 showing pollen, and carried it to Dr. R. C. Kedzie 

 lour chemist, and a very able one), asking him 

 if it contained nitrogen; and if so, whether the 

 amount was considerable. Here is his reply: 



Prof. A. J. Coofc.— The material you placed in the 

 hands of the Chemical Department, labeled " Bee- 

 Feccs." has been submitted to (lualitativc chemical 

 analysis, and was found to cDiitiiiM ((mibincd nitro- 

 gen in abundance. When tlit- niatciiiil was rubbed 

 up with soda-lime, and lii'atc<i in a test-tube, am- 

 monia was given ntr abundantlN, ;is was shown by 

 the odor, and by the blue color instantly imitiirte'd 

 to the blue litmus -papi r when held in the nioutli of 

 the test-tube. I inclose; samples of blued i)aper. 

 There was not enoug^h of the material for quantita- 

 tive determination. U. C. Keijzie. 



Agricultural College, March 2ft, 188."). 



We see, then, that the bees did liavo access, and 

 did eat pollen or some similar substance. 



Is it not possible— aye, probable— that the bees 

 gathered pollen, or possibly meal, in the fall? Sure- 

 ly the method of feeding, as it would stimulate the 

 breeding impulse, would incite the boes to gather 

 such food. It would have been far better to have 



fed all syrup at once, und then not to have ipft the 



matter of gathering pollen to a guess. This vitiates 

 and renders doubtful the force of the experiment. 



It is hard to say just why the bees had no pollen- 

 husks in the intestines, though it will be remem- 

 bered that some did. Is it not possible— nay, proba- 

 ble—that such bees ate the jelly, or chyme, prepared 

 for the young bees? Quite possibly they ate up the 

 brood. In either case they would get the nitrogen, 

 and not show any pollen husks or grains in their in- 

 testines. Eating meal, too, might account for the 

 nitrogen, and the absence of pollen grains or husks. 



The present terribly severe winter must enforce 

 the following points: 



Good cellars, and not chaff hives or packing, are 

 the sure conservatories for our bees in winter. 

 They are always economical, and, with proper pains 

 as to food, safe. 



Good sugar syrup, or non-nitrogenous food, is 

 much the safest for bees in winter. 



Bees, even though fed on pure carbo-hydrates, are 

 not proof against severe cold— they may freeze— 

 with no show of diarrhoea. 



Azoturia, which Williams, one of the best authori- 

 ties, calls a hyper-nitrogenous condition of the sys- 

 tem, is a very serious disease which often attacks 

 and destroys horses and other higher animals, con- 

 sequent upon a diet too rich in nitrogen. Is it not 

 likely that our bees die of azoturiaV Cold stimu- 

 lates them to eat the hearty nitrogenous food which 

 otherwise they might not eat at all. In this case, 

 retention of the feces makes the danger greater. 

 A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., Mar. 2>, 1885. 



Many thanks, friend ('., for the valuable 

 facts you furnish us. You will remember, 

 that in my reply to Doolittle, on page 32, 

 last issue, I suggested that perhaps a little 

 pollen might be found in those five empty 

 combs. As I was well aware, that bees oft- 

 en fill a cell partly with pollen, and fill it 

 out with honey, I supposed friend D. had been 

 careful to look out for them. If the combs 

 are new, such cells may be readily detected 

 by looking toward the light through the 

 comb.— Now, friend C. in regard to cellar 

 wintering in place of chaff hives, do you not 

 need to qualify this advice so as to meet dif- 

 ferent localities? Perhaps it would take 

 more of the sugar to do it; but with our 

 changeable climate, 1 am hardly ready yet to 

 advise cellar wintering. 



REVERSING FRAMES BY AN ARM PIV- 

 OTED TO THE END-BAR. 



THE ORIGINAL INVENTOR OF THE HOWES AND 

 HEDDON .VRRANGEMENT. 



J' SF,E in Gleanings that friend Howes thinks 

 » that Mr. Heddon, and no doubt all others that 

 I use the pivoting arrangement for reversible 

 • frames, are infringing on his invention. Will 

 you please tell Bro. Howes, that, while he may 

 be an original inventor, I used this same pivoting 

 arrangement more than ten years ago, for the sanie 

 purpose? 



You remember, that about the year 1870 Mr. J. M, 

 Price, of Buffalo Grove, Iowa, had a great deal to 

 say about his revolvable-reversible double-acting 

 beo-hive, with which he could produce such extra 

 hardy and prolific queeng, wjiicb to me wag t)9th 



