168 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



fire was built in tlie stove in each 

 cellar, daily, for about a month, and 

 notwithstanding this, the thermome- 

 ter stood, each morning, not above 

 36-', and sometimes at 28'^. Quite a 

 number of colonies show signs of 

 diarrhea. 



As to the cause of diarrhea, I am 

 all at sea, bnt I am hopeful that in the 

 vast amount of discussion, some light 

 may be thrown on the subject. It 

 seems rather strange that if any one 

 of the theories is correct, that have 

 been held up for some time, there 

 have not been a number of cases in 

 which the theory has been fairly tried 

 and proved entirely successful in 

 holding the dreaded disease at bay. 

 With regard to the pollen theory, this 

 mucli I know, that bees may winter 

 well with an abundance of pollen in 

 their liives, and that they may starve 

 to death on combs of pollen, with no 

 sign of diarrhea. Whether they can 

 have diarrhea without any pollen in 

 the hive, I am not prepared to say, 

 and this last is, after all, the crucial 

 test. 



Marengo, ^D Ills. 



For the Amencaa Bee Journal. 



It Pays to TJse Foundation. 



F. M. TAINTOR. 



In the American Apiculturist for 

 .January, IHSl, Mr. G. M. Doolittle 

 says : " I think we have gone crazy 

 over the use of comb foundation for 

 the brood-frames." Well, if bee- 

 keepers have, there are a great many 

 crazy apiarists in the world. Before 

 1 began using comb foundation I sel- 

 dom had a young colony fill the brood- 

 frames full of comb during the first 

 season without feeding to do it. I 

 never tliought of giving sections to 

 young colonies, and I seldom had one 

 in the tall but what had to be fed for 

 winter, and the next season the 

 empty frames would be filled with 

 more or less drone-comb, if there was 

 not a lot built during the first season. 

 I had not used 10 pounds of founda- 

 tion before I saw that it was a great 

 help, and worth at least $1 per pound 

 to me to use in the brood-frames. 



Xow, all I have to do when the bees 

 swarm (I prefer natural swarming to 

 increasing by division, altliough I 

 practice both), is to hive them on 10 

 frames of foundation, and in 4 or 5 

 days they have it all drawn out, and 

 are ready for the sections. The combs 

 are all as straight as a lioard, and 

 they are worker combs. Then I place 

 tlie sections on, and if there is any 

 honey coming in, the bees are ready 

 for it. 



I never had a young colony that 

 stoied a pound of surplus until I be- 

 gan using comb foundation, and now 

 I have some that store from i'j to 75 

 pounds each, besides enough to win- 

 ter on. As a general tiling I found 

 that it not only paid to use comb 

 foundation, but that it paid to pro- 

 cure foundation machines and make 

 my own. Foundation would be val- 

 ualjle if only used asguides in frames, 

 as it would be a means of securing 

 straight combs ; but its real worth 



is the best appreciated when com- 

 plete frames of it are put into the 

 brood-nest. The value of full frames 

 of perfect worker -comb cannot be 

 over-estimated. 

 Elm Grove, ~o Mass. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



The Age When Bees Begin to Work. 



M. L. TRESTER, (83—202). 



The following shows a test which I 

 made to determine the age at which 

 bees begin to work in the various 

 branches of their industry. In mak- 

 ing the experiment, I think that there 

 were as many or more larva- that died 

 than the nuuiiber of bees that hatched. 

 From the date of hatching, it is evi- 

 dent that eggs were overlooked. It is 

 also plain to be seen that neither eggs 

 nor larviB will live but a very short 

 time without the attention of the 

 bees : 



On Aug. 20, I put 22 combs of 

 hatching brood into a hive with no 

 bees. 



On Aug. 21, at 7 a. m., it was very 

 liot in the hive, and the larvoe were 

 dead, turning black and twisting out 

 of the cells. 



On Aug. 22, the hive weighed 38i.| 

 pounds, and it was still hot in it, tlie 

 bees could not fly, but they could sting 

 a little. I shook about 3 quarts of 

 bees and put a queen with them on 8 

 frames prepared as follows : Frame 

 No. 1 contained foundation drawn out; 

 Xo. 2, fresh comb with brood in all 

 stages ; No. 3, new foundation ; No. 

 4, honey ; No. .5, fresh comb, honey 

 and eggs ; No. 6, old eggs, and 3 or 4 

 live larvae, the rest being dead and 

 some black ; No. 7, the same as No. 6; 

 No. 8, fresh comb, honey and eggs. 

 On this day the bees began to put 

 dead larv;e"out of the entrance. 



On Aug. 23, the hive weighed 3734; 

 pounds ; the bees were cleaning out 

 the hive and fighting robber bees ; the 

 queen commenced to lay. In frame 

 No. 6. the eggs were gone, and there 

 were 2 live larva'; No. 7, eggs were 

 gone ; and in No. 8, the eggs were 

 hatching. 



On Aug. 24, the weight was 38 

 pounds, but the hive was wet when 

 weighed. The weather was change- 

 able, the queen stopped laying, and 

 the bees flew a little. In frame No. 

 2, both the eggs and the larva? were 

 gone, excepting a few ; in No. '> the 

 eggs were hatching ; Nos. (i and 7, all 

 clean ; No. 8, disappearing. 



On Aug. 25, the weight was 37?:{ 

 pounds. This was a good honey day, 

 and the bees were working and carry- 

 ing in pollen. In frame No. 2, the 

 larvje were dead in the cells ; No. 5, 

 dead ; Nos. 6, 7 and 8, fresh eggs. 



On Aug. 26, the weight was 39 

 pounds. The day was gloomy. In 

 frame No. 5, the eggs were hatching 

 in places ; Nos. 6 and 7, plenty of 

 eggs ; No. 8, hatching. 



On Aug. 27, the weight was 39 

 pounds. The weather was rainy. 

 Frame No, 2 contained eggs ; No. 3, 

 foundation was drawn out ; No. 5, 

 larva; growing and comb building ; 



No. 6, 3 or 4 larvie ; No. 7, eggs hatch- 

 ing ; No. 8, growing. 



On Aug. 28, the weight was 39 lbs. 

 The weather was hot and calm ; on 

 Aug. 29, weight 39>4 lbs., and the 

 weather was warm and windy ; Aug. 

 30, weight 3S?| lbs.; Aug. 31, 38^ 

 lbs. ; Sept. l,39i^ lbs.; Sent. 2, 40}.< 

 lbs. ; Sept. 3, 42 lbs. ; Sept.'4, 44 lbs.', 

 Sept. 5, 46 lbs. ; Sept. 6, 47 lbs. ; Sept. 

 7, 48 lbs.; Sept. 8, 48 lbs. 



Lincoln, o, Nebr. 



For tue American I'.ee .Journal. 



Southern Wisconsin Convention. 



The Southern Wisconsin Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association held its second an- 

 nual meeting in the Court House at 

 Janesville, Wis., on March 3, 1885. 

 The meeting was called to order by 

 the President, and the minutes of the 

 previous session were read and ap- 

 proved. Fonr new members were re- 

 ceived, and all who were present paid 

 their dues for the ensuing year. An 

 able essay on bee-culture was read 

 by the President. 



The election of officers for the com- 

 ing year resulted as follows : Presi- 

 dent, C. O. Shannon, Edgerton, Wis. ; 

 Vice-President, Levi Fatzinger, 

 Janesville, AVis. ; Secretary, John C. 

 Lynch, Janesville ; and Treasurer, H. 

 L. Humphrey, Janesville. 



Mr, Fatzinger reported that his 

 bees were in good condition with the 

 exception of a few colonies affected 

 with diarrhea, which were wintered 

 in the cellar on honey with consider- 

 able of the so-called honey-dew. jNIr. 

 Sherman put 59 colonies into winter 

 quarters, of which 3 are dead, 2 from 

 starvation, and the balance of his 

 colonies are in average condition. Mr. 

 Pomeroy reported a loss of 8 out of 9 

 colonies wintered out-of-doors and 

 packed in chaff, being the first severe 

 loss for a number of years, when win- 

 tered in the same manner. Mr. Mark- 

 ham had 5 colonies out of-doors and 

 the balance in the cellar, all being in 

 fair condition. Mr. Mack had 10 col- 

 onies out-of-doors (5 of which died), 

 and 80 in the cellar. Sixteen of his 

 colonies have the diarrhea badly. All 

 of his bees had more or less honey- 

 dew in the fall. ISIr. Inman reported 

 70 colonies in the cellar, all in good 

 condition. He has not lost any bees, 

 for a number of years, while winter- 

 ing them in the cellar. Mr. Shannon 

 wintered 9 colonies out-of-doors, and 

 5 of them died ; the balance of his 

 bees were in the cellar, and some are 

 quite restless with many dead bees on 

 the cellar bottom. Hethinks that the 

 unusual amount of dead bees may be 

 attributed to the fact that they were 

 mostly old bees. In the fall there 

 was no late breeding. 



The question, " IIow late may bees 

 remain in the cellar with profit V" was 

 discussed, and it was generally con- 

 ceded that under favorable conditions 

 they might be left in until maple 

 blooms. 



The usual variety of questions were 

 asked and discussed. One year ago 

 this Association was organized with 

 13 members, and it now numbers 26, 

 nearly all being practical and sue- 



