JANUARY 15, 1915 



73 



On page 7, following this remark, we find 

 flie following: "If brood is reared, the work 

 of the bee is necessarily enormously in- 

 creased, and their vitality is correspondingly 

 decreased. So far as evidence is available 

 in this work, the colony is not fully recom- 

 pensed for this expenditure of energy by an 

 increase in tlie strength of the colony by 

 bees thus reared." To this I would agree 

 --activity results in reduced vitality; and 

 nature, to supjily this lo.<?s, brings on brood- 

 ing to replace the lost vitality. Disturbing 

 the colony results in a rise in temperature 

 of the colony. If the bees have bad stores 

 they will become restless, and the tempera- 

 ture of the cluster will rise; and a continu- 

 ance of this will mean pronounced loss of 

 vitality and brood-rearing. But with the 

 confined and increased consumption there is 

 an accumulation of feces in the bowels of 

 the bees; the colony becomes more active, 

 and this acti\'ity tends to dysentery. Take 

 a colony with normal stores ; confine it, then 

 disturb it or place it under disturbing con- 

 ditions, and it will soon have dysentery. In 

 brooding the increased consumption of 

 stores tends to fill the intestine with fecal 

 matter ; and that activity, for any length of 

 time with flight, is not normal. Again, I 

 know of no young animal which, during the 

 building of its body, does not accumulate 

 intestinal refuse of which it has to get rid 

 soon after its own independent activities 

 begin. I admit I do not know very much 

 about this; but I have noticed the young bee 

 void what I thought (and think now) corre- 

 sponds to this; and my impression is that 

 a young bee should have a cleansing flight 

 soon after emerging from the cell. 



THE LONGER THE CONFINEMENT THE HIGHER 

 THE TEMPERATURE. 



The obsei-vations in the bulletin show a 

 rising temperature as the season of confine- 

 ment is prolonged, and, with that, brood- 

 rearing. This is just what we should expect. 

 Plowever. let me say here that the observa- 

 tions were taken with colonies which, owing 

 to their location at Philadelphia, could have 

 frequent flights throughout the winter. I 

 venture to say. judging from the frequent 

 examination of colonies in very early spring, 

 that, the better the bees are wintering, the 

 less brood will bo reared, and the fewer 

 stores will be used, other things being equal, 

 and the less loss of vital energy in the 

 colony. 



TIIE INFLUENCE OF STORES — HONEY-DEW. 



On page 12 we find : " In the case of 

 colony 3, fed on honey-dew honey stores, 

 tlie factor which caused more heat to be 

 {irodueed evidently increased mncli in(tro 

 rapidly. As stated previously, honey-dew 



honey is a poor food for winter, and is so 

 recognized. It contains the same sugars as 

 honey, but contains in addition a consider- 

 able amount of dextrine, the particular lot 

 fed to, colony 3 containing 4.55 per cent, 

 while good honey contains only a fraction 

 of 1 per cent. From the evidence at hand it 

 appears that dextrine cannot be digested by 

 bees; and whether or not this is the explan- 

 ation, honey-dew honey causes the rapid 

 accumulation of feces, which usually results 

 in the condition known as dysentery, in bad 

 cases of which the feces are voided in the 

 hive." The above, so far as the effect of 

 honey-dew stores is concerned, can be 

 vouched for by a great many northern bee- 

 keepers, and we may see the fruit of some 

 such stores the coming spring. 



Again, page 12, we have the following: 

 "It therefore appears that the accumulation 

 of feces acts as an irritant, causing the bees 

 to become more active, and, consequently, 

 to maintain a higher temperature. We are, 

 therefore, justified in believing that the 

 cause of poor wintering on honey-dew honey 

 is due to excessive activity, resulting in the 

 bees wearing themselves out, and, ultimate- 

 ly, in the death of the colony." This exactly 

 coincides with practical results; and the 

 reason why colonies which have not winter- 

 ed quietly may spring-dwindle a great deal 

 more than well-wintered colonies is because 

 they have less vitality left, and succumb 

 more readily under adverse conditions. 



DYSENTERY. 



On page 13 we find : ''It therefore follows 

 that excessive activity causes the consump- 

 tion of more food, resulting in turn in more 

 feces, so that colonies on poor stores are 

 traveling in a vicious circle, which, if the 

 feces cannot be discharged, results in the 

 death of the colony. In the work here 

 recorded no attention was paid to the theory 

 that dysentery is due to an infection, since 

 there is nothing in the observations made 

 that lends any support to that idea." 



The above confirms my opinion. What 

 might make some believe that this dysentery 

 is infectious is that it is liable to break out 

 in colonies in the vicinity of the one affected ; 

 but as these temperature observations re- 

 cord, and as my previous observations lead 

 me to believe, it is the disturbance which 

 the colony with the dysenteiy communicates 

 to others in the vicinity which causes activ- 

 ity, increased consumption of stores, brood- 

 rearing, the accumulation of feces, and 

 dysentery. 



ACTIVITY IN CONFINEMENT. 



On page 13 we again find: "While the 

 activity of the cluster is gi-eater at some 

 times than at others, there are not, as ha§ 



