280 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Knowing what the result would be if the 

 weather remained cold enough for bees to 

 cluster a week at a time, if 1 left them in 

 that condition, I moved two of the outside 

 combs that were full of honey, next to 

 those that contained brood, one on either 

 side, so that the bees must then also cover 

 a part of the fame of sealed honey ; doubt- 

 less this saved the life of the bees, as the 

 frames on which the bees were clustered 

 contained brood and also pollen, and in 

 fact were in every respect the same as 

 those 1 had seen that had died of diarrhea 

 and starvation. 



Some may claim that the moving of the 

 frames did not save the bees from death 

 by diarrhea, but that the cleansing flight 

 they had on the warm day on which I 

 changed the combs saved their life. 

 On the same day a neiglibor having lost 

 several colonies, had but two left, and 

 these also had a flight, and were then in a 

 normal condition. After this warm day 

 we had about a week of cold weather, 

 cold enough for bees to cluster, and then 

 another warm day, when both of them 

 were dead. The cleansing flight they had 

 on the first warm day, did not save them, 

 and they died of starvation and diarrhea. 

 On examining them 1 found tlie combs in 

 every respect similar to mine on the first 

 warm day, as both had consumed all the 

 honey on the frames, on which tliey were 

 clustered ; both had pollen and brood on 

 those frames, and i doubt not, had he 

 placed two of the outside combs next to 

 the brood, they would not have died, nor 

 would they have liad the diarrhea. 



I believe that this ditficulty can usually 

 be prevented by removing ail the pollen', 

 lor, as my experiment .sliowed, they will 

 not breed without pollen, and the result 

 is, that they consumed not more than two- 

 thirds as much honey. Again : Suppose 

 a colony when breeding, liad a certain 

 number of frames on which the bees were 

 clustered, and that these frames contained 

 honey enough to last them three months, 

 this same colony, when not breeding, 

 would consume but from one-half to two- 

 thirds of this same amount during the 

 same length of time, and, of course, in- 

 stead of lasting only three months, it 

 would last from i}4 to G months, thus 

 bringing them safely through the winter, 

 when, if breeding, they would have 

 starved long before. 



I should not recommend the wintering 

 of bees without pollen for the following 

 reasons: 1. Unless in new combs, you can- 

 not see or take out all of the pollen, for the 

 bees cover it with honey and then seal it 

 over ; and if they have only a little they 

 will breed just as much; and (he same 

 would be the result as if all the pollen 

 were left in. 



2. When the pollen is left in, the bees 

 will be much stronger in the spring than 

 they will when not allowed to breed, and 

 I think it pays. 



1 usually prepare my bees for winter 

 during the first week in October, leaving 

 only as many frames as the bees can well 

 cover, taking out those nearly empty, 

 which are generally near the centre of tlie 

 hive, and leaving such of the centre 

 frames as contain brood, which I generally 

 find to be from one to three, according to 

 strength of the colony. If some of the 

 sirjnger colonies have more brood than I 

 then care for them to have, I place them 

 in such hives as have the least brood, 

 leaving only from two to three frames. 

 I never leave more than three partially 

 empty frames in the strongest colonies, 

 and only two in such as will cover less 

 than 7 iLangstroth frames. I prefer these 

 centre frames to be two-thirds full of 

 honey, and the balance full of sealed 

 honey. I then place the full frames next 

 to the partially empty ones, putting half 

 of them on either side, my object in so 

 doing being that when the bees cluster, a 

 part of the cluster must cover these full 



ft'ames ; and it these frames are not full 

 of honey, 1 feed enough sugar syrup to 

 fill them. Before feeding, I arrange the 

 frames as I want them in winter, and if the 

 colony is small, I leave only frames 

 enough for them to entirely cover, and put 

 in a division-board ; then 1 give them from 

 two quarts to a gallon of syrup at a time, 

 according to the amount required, and 

 they fill the combs so quickly that it does 

 not start breeding, as would be the case 

 if I fed a little at a time. 



After all the frames have been arranged 

 to my satisfaction, 1 place Hill's device 

 over them, and over this a blanket of 

 coarse coffee-sacking to prevent the bees 

 from gnawing tlirough, then fill the top 

 story with sawdust, and as I have a large 

 auger hole in each gable end of the cover 

 of the hive, this draws all the moisture 

 into the straw, as I find the straw damp 

 and moldy in the spring, and the lower 

 story dry and sweet. They are then ready 

 to withstand the coldest winter on the 

 summer stands. By this plan bees will 

 winter in the coldest weather on the sum- 

 mer stands and not feeze. I have win- 

 tered several small colonies that were late 

 swarms, in single-walled hives on the 

 summer stands, and unprotected, when it 

 was .31° below zero. Tlie wind was so 

 strong that I had to tie the covers down, 

 and screw the entrance-blocks down, and 

 they came through in good condition ; 

 in tact they seemed stronger in the spring 

 than they were in the fall. 



Davenport, Iowa. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



The Causes of Bee-Diarrhea. 



W. J. DAVIS. 



The past winter has tested the 

 power of endurance in animal life. 

 The long continuance and severity of 

 the cold must necessarily have pro- 

 duced heavy losses of bees in most of 

 the Northern States. But out of 

 those losses some lessons of instruc- 

 tion should be gathered. I think that 

 scieutilic apiarists are agreed that 

 usually not one, but a combination of 

 causes produce destructive bee-diar- 

 rhea. Good food, and plenty of it, 

 pure air in abundance, and protection 

 from extremes of heat and cold, are 

 three very important conditions of 

 health. Bees do survive severe win- 

 ters vphen the food and ventilation 

 are right. They may survive with 

 poor food, if the winter is mild 

 enough to allow of frequent flights. 

 In this latitude we may reasonably 

 expect plenty of cold weather ; mild 

 winters are the exception. Hence, if 

 we expect success in wintering, the 

 first question to be decided is, the 

 quality and quantity of winter stores ; 

 and, second, that condition of tem- 

 perature and ventilation which will 

 allow of five months of continement, 

 if the winter be of that character to 

 require it. 



I have had experience both in the 

 past and present, with bee-diarrhea, 

 and the present experience prompts 

 this article, and with tlie hope of 

 throwing some light on the subject, I 

 propose to give that experience. 



About 12 or 13 years ago a very 

 great mortality of bees occurred, 

 taking every bee in some apiaries, 

 and once since, a mortality nearly as 

 great. An analysis of the case so far 

 as could be reached, revealed these 



facts : The preceding autumn had 

 been warm and dry, and plant-lice 

 accumulated in large numbers, par- 

 ticularly on beech trees. They ex- 

 uded a dark, sweetish, bitter liquid 

 which was collected and stored by 

 the bees. The absence of beech trees 

 in this locality gave me a happy re- 

 lease from that trouble. But Mr. M. 

 K. Wing, of Chautauqua County, N. 

 Y., brought me a bottle of the " vile 

 stuff," and it made me think of what 

 a friend said about Mitchell's patent 

 slippery-elm beefeed, " the smell of 

 it would cause a bee to vomit." Bees 

 cannot be wintered in this latitude 

 on such " honey-dew." 



In the winter and spring of 1883 I 

 lost, in one locality, 15 out of 23 colo- 

 nies ; 3 very strong colonies that had 

 given the best results in surplus comb 

 honey during the previous summer 

 were the first to die. They had stored 

 all their good honey in the supers, 

 and they had put fall honey in the 

 brood-combs, after the removal of the 

 surplus-boxes ; and I have reason to 

 believe that it was largely from the 

 blossoms of the boneset, recom- 

 mended by Prof. Cook, in the second 

 edition of his Manual, as a honey 

 plant. There was considerable bone- 

 set in bloom in that locality in the 

 autumn of 1882, and but little else. I 

 am satisfied in my own mind that it 

 was not the so-called honey-dew. 

 There is no boneset near my home 

 apiary, and my bees at home had no 

 diarrhea that spring. 



Last fall I brought all my bees 

 home to winter ; part of them were 

 brought Qve miles in a spring wagon. 

 I moved them as it suited my con- 

 venience—the first load on Aug. 9, 

 and the last was brought home' on 

 Oct. 18. From Nov. 6 to Nov. 20, 100 

 colonies were put in a cellar under my 

 house, and 100 in a wintering-house 

 (above ground). One colony has died 

 of diarrhea, and several more have it 

 pretty badly. Every colony so af- 

 fected was among the last brought 

 home. There is not the slightest sign 

 of diarrhea among any that were at 

 home during the season, or those first 

 brought home. There was boneset in 

 that locality ; none here. I have lost 

 3 colonies by starvation (with honey 

 in the hives, but they failed to reach 

 it), and no sign of diarrhea with 

 either of them ; hence starvation does 

 not always produce diarrhea. 



Another cause of bee-diarrhea is 

 unseasonable breeding. Mr. Langs- 

 troth says in his work, that the queens 

 begin to" deposit eggs early in Janu- 

 ary, and I am quite sure that he is 

 correct. But suppose all queens do 

 begin to lay at that time, the amount 

 of brood produced depends on the en- 

 couragement given the queen by the 

 bees. The presence of pollen in the 

 hive would, as a matter of course, 

 incline the bees to brood-rearing, and 

 as the cells within the cluster become 

 filled with brood, the bees are unable 

 to pack as closely as when each cell 

 can hold an adult bee ; hence the 

 ability to resist cold is diminished, 

 and a feeling of unrest seizes the col- 

 ony ; large quantities of food are 

 eaten, and the result is diarrhea. In 

 the absence of pollen, or any substi- 



