THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



213 



Explanatory.— The figures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has kejit bees. Those after, show 

 the numlier of culoBies the writer had in tlie 

 previous spring and tall, or fall and sprintr, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indioates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 6 north of the centre ; 9 south ; 0+ east ; 

 ♦Owest; and this t^ northeast; XJ northwest; 

 O^ southeast ; and ? southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the American Bee Journal 



The Wintering Problem. 



JAMES UEDDOX. 



While many have wintered their bees 

 successfully part of the lime, and others 

 nearly or quite all of the winters that they 

 have been in tlie bee-business, no one has 

 ever been able to give satisfactory reasons 

 for such success, or, in other words, to 

 lay down a formula by which bee-keepers 

 in other localities, with different food in 

 their hives, could realize the same success. 

 For years, many of us have been studying 

 the problem with the hope of being able 

 to benefit tliose who now are in tlie busi- 

 ness, by laying down certain directions 

 which, it ifollowed, would give certain 

 success. 



The reader will remember that I have 

 stood as one among that number ; he will 

 also remember tiiat I have never at any 

 time felt or claimed that I understood the 

 wintering problem ; and that I have put 

 forth the theory (not claiming to know) 

 that the cause of bee-diarrhea was the 

 consumption of nitrogen taken by way of 

 bee-bread and floating pollen in the honey 

 during confinement. This lias been called 

 " Heddon's Pollen Tlieory," and has been 

 believed in by many, and disbelieved by 

 many other worthy apiarists. 



I am now prepared to say that I think 

 I practically understood the problem, yet 

 I do not claim to be able to give all of 

 the detailed laws connected with It, 

 but I will give the main ones as 1 under- 

 stand them, and 1 will say that tlie most 

 responsible man in America could not 

 under-WTite a policy to insure the future 

 wintering of my colonies at 10 cents each. 

 .To this satisfactory confidence, I am in- 

 debted to Prof. A. J. Cook, and some of 

 the names which I am going to mention, 

 and I may add, to the sharp controversies 

 contained in the Bee JorRNAi,,all thrown 

 in, and my costly experiments made dur- 

 ing the past two winters. 



Before attempting to show the cause of 

 bee-diarrhea and the death resulting there- 

 from, 1 wish to take up a few theories— 

 not my own— with a view of showing 

 what it is not. 



First, the "hibernation theory:" I 

 cannot better express my convictions upon 

 that theory than by quoting three words 

 from Prof. A. J. Cook : " Bees never 

 hibernate." 



Second, the " hnnildity theory :" Some 

 will remember what I have already writ- 

 ten in the Bee .Journal about Mr. 

 Balch's damp, moldy bees. A letter from 

 Mr. Boomhower, the successful gentleman 

 quote<l by Mr. Cornell, on page 56, con- 

 tains the following sentence : " 1 have 

 wintered bees in eight different cellars, 

 some dry and some damp, and always 

 with perfect success, and 1 never have 

 had a ventilator of any kind in them." 



During the past winter I have used two 

 cellars, one containing 40 and the other 01 

 colonies ; botli cellars were allowed to be- 

 come very cold, to test the endurance of 

 bees with sugar syrup ; the temperature 

 in the old cellar was down as low as 10° 

 and 1.5'; in the new, damp cellar, as low as 

 25°. The old cellar coiitaiiie<l bees_ with 

 sugar syrup only, and of its 40 colonies, % 

 are no\v dead \vilh no symptoms of diar- 

 rhea in any hive. The new, damp cellar 

 containing the 91 colonies has 73 colonies 

 without pollen or honey— sugar syrup 

 only- 10 colonies with little pollen, and 

 stores of iiart honey and part sugar syrup, 

 and 8 colonies having all natural stores. 

 This cellar has been so damp that mold 

 has collected on the alighting-boards and 

 between the combs, on the underside of 

 the covers, etc. About one-third of the 

 colonies have upward ventilation byway 

 of nails pushed under the board covers ; 

 the other two-thirds have no upward ven- 

 tilation whatever. In numerous hives, 

 water can be seen running out on the 

 allgliting board. If the covers of tliose 

 hives which are tight down, are lifted and 

 turned up edgewise, water will run from 

 them. The health of these 91 colonies 

 stands thus : Of the Son natural stores, 

 4 died with the diarrhea, 3 others have the 

 disease so badly that recovery is impos- 

 sible, and the otlier 3 are apparently in 

 perfect health. All were treated alike with 

 no upward ventilation. Of the 10 with 

 little bee-bread and mixed stores, S are in 

 good health, while 3 have the diarrhea 

 badly. Of the remaining 73, with nothing 

 in the combs but pure sugar syrup, not 

 one shows any signsof diarrhea whatever; 

 all are alive but one, and the cause of its 

 death is yet unknown and unexamined. 

 I am satisfied in regard to the " humidity 

 theory." A low temperature is to be 

 avoided. Dampness being a conductor of 

 heat, tends to aggravate the effects ot 

 cold. Dry hives and combs, free from 

 mold, are preferable to the other extreme; 

 therefore,wliile dampness is objectionable 

 it is "not" the cause of bee-diarrhea. 



Third, The " breeding-ln-confinement 

 theory :" Years ago 1 observed that colo- 

 nies wliich were the worst affected with 

 bee-diarrhea, as a rule, contained the most 

 brood ; and I am to-day quite positive that 

 there is something about breeding, 

 whether in confinement or when the bees 

 fly regularly, that is very depleting to 

 them. .So universally had I tonnd my 

 diarrhetic bees with brood in their combs, 

 that I did think that the handling of pol- 

 len for breeding purposes, wnuld iiroduce 

 bee-diarrhea ; tlii)U,i,'li ditfcrent from Mr. 

 Doolittle, I did not consider breeding the 

 main cause, but pollen— breeding an aux- 

 iliary cause to the use of pollen. The un- 

 deniable testimony brought forward by 

 Mr. Cornell, <ni page 56, as well as what I 

 am about to quote, shows that I was mis- 

 taken in this side-issue branch of my 

 theory, and as far as I can see, they en- 

 tirely up-root Mr. Doolittle's theory. Mr. 

 H. v. Train, who now always winters his 

 bees successfully, and quoted by Mr. 

 Cnrneil on page .50, under date of March 9, 

 1SS.5, writes the following to me: "If 1 

 can find how to prevent ray bees from 

 breeding too mueli and too early in the 

 cellar, my plan of wintering just suits me. 

 I do not expect that my bees will spot 

 their surroundings when they are put out 

 in the middle of April any more than they 

 would after a long storm in the midst of 

 summer." I could go on with undeniable 

 evidence that bees, as Mr. Train writes 

 me. can breed hivefuls of bees while in 

 confinement, without becoming loaded 

 wHli fecal matter. Some may wonder 

 how this agrees with " the pollen theory." 

 Let me quote from Prof. Cook, dated 

 March 3, 1885 : " The fecal mass is mostly 

 in the intestines ; sometimes it is so 

 abundant as also to crowt the true stom- 

 ach. It is not likely that the alimentary 



canal back of the honey-stomach, and true 

 stomach, are ever used to form the larval 

 food ; I think not, back of the sucking or 

 honey stomach. If the pollen is used up 

 for larval bee-food, it could not appear in 

 feces." Let us all thank the Professor for 

 setting us aright in this respect. I again 

 quote from him relative to sfiraething 

 closely connected to the above : " There 

 is no foundation in the dry-feces tlieory, I 

 am sure." Again : " Bees do not nor- 

 mally void feces in the hive, and never dry 

 feces." 



" The pollen theory." What is it ? 1 

 fear that many do not yet understand 

 what 1 mean. As I have before stated, 

 my experience with hundreds of dead col- 

 onies caused me to suspect that the cause 

 ot the disea.se rested in the food, but 

 " how," was the question. I had unmis- 

 takable evidence that the trouble was not 

 with fall honey, thin honey, sour honey, 

 uncapped honey, or honey from any spe- 

 cial source. I called to mind the fact that 

 honey was a highly oxygenized food ; 

 that pollen was as highly nitrogenized ; 

 that these two greatly varying substances 

 so radical in their elementary principles, 

 were the only food for our bees, and how 

 well the one fitted the confined state of 

 the bees while the other equally served 

 their demands while growing or repairing 

 the waste of tissue caused by exertion. I 

 also remembered haw utterly unfit was 

 either one to serve the purpo.se of the 

 other. I then grasped the idea that pos- 

 sibly the consumption of nitrogen in eon- 

 fineiiient was the cause of all the trouble, 

 and that this element was taken when the 

 bees consumed honey (by way of its float- 

 ing pollen), or in much greater proportion 

 when they consumed bee-bread. I put 

 this forth as a theory only, hoping that a 

 discussion upon it would lead many others 

 into the investigation. As time passed, 

 and opportunity ottered a partial test,more 

 and more favorable the theory appeared. 

 Last winter lias given us a chance for 

 fully testing this, as well as other theories, 

 and what follows, I think should settle 

 the question, lean see very little room 

 for error. 1 am quite willing that that 

 "little "should be used for further argu- 

 ment. 



As bearing favorable to the "pollen 

 theory," I have given the condition of 

 affairs in my two cellars. 1 will now state 

 how matters stand with the out-door colo- 

 nies of this same home apiary. 1 had 49 

 colonies, each on 6 American frames with 

 combs, in tenement hives, that in sum- 

 mer contain 19 combs, all resting horizon- 

 tally. On either side of the 6 combs and 

 bees was a 3-inch chaff, cloth-sided 

 division-cushion ; over all, in the upper 

 storv, was a large chaff cushion about 6 

 Indies thick. These hives were painted 

 white, and rested high, so that they were 

 above the most of the snow. Twenty-five 

 of them contained no honey, and only a 

 cell of pollen here and there, and well 

 supplied with sugar syrup ; 34 contained a 

 little honev and bee-bread, and all the 

 rest of the "food was sugar syrup. I had 

 no idea of losing any of these colonies, 

 but in this I was in error, for every one is 

 dead. Among the 35 there is scarcely a 

 sign of disease ; the combs are clean and 

 nice. Among the other 24, there is occa- 

 sionally sympttmis of diarrhea, here and 

 there, but nothing to amount to anything. 

 I have had colonies show many times 

 more symptoms of diarrhea and survive, 

 and come up strong for the June honey 

 harvest. None of these colohies died of 

 diarihea. Of what did they die ? Cold, 

 too long continued ; and those in the old, 

 cold cellar did the same. But how in a 

 cellar ? Cold is a giant iu a cellar. Why ? 

 Because it continues; there is no ray of 

 sunlight, no immediate raising of tem- 

 perature, or chance for the bees to change 

 position. What degree can tiees stand ? 

 That depends upon the duration. Here 



