THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



293 



which died from the effects of water- 

 loaded intestines which were clogged 

 by solid fecal matter. An examina- 

 tion of the brood-chamber found the 

 water and ice, which had been no- 

 ticed at the time of the lirst examina- 

 tion, to be gone, and the wljole brood- 

 chamber was now bright and clean 

 from the top to the bottom. For 21 

 days following the time of this 

 fliglit, the bees were confined closely 

 within the hive, and at the time of 

 their next flight, the few visible drop- 

 pings would have been unnoticed by 

 all except, perhaps, a very close ob- 

 server. 



It was late in the afternoon when 

 the bees in the other colony began to 

 fly, and they were as small and slim 

 as ever, and the evacuations, when 

 they were visible, were small, of a 

 soliii nature, and generally pollen-col- 

 ored. Examination revealed patches 

 of capped and uncapped brood in two 

 combs in one colony, and in three 

 combs in the other. 



The above are the conditions in one 

 case out of a large number, in which 

 instance the disease-producing agents 

 were rather moi'e separated than 

 usual. In a hundred colonies which 

 were afflicted with diarrhea, I have 

 yet to find an instance wherein if the 

 the liquid portion should be evap- 

 orated out of the excreta there would 

 remain scarcely enough to half-fill the 

 intestines of a bee ; by this I do not 

 mean converted into dry feces, but 

 having dryness equal to that found in 

 healthy excreta. In my experience 

 the thinness of the accumulations and 

 the length of the confinement after 

 the intestines become overloaded, are 

 the correct measures of the severity 

 of tlie disease. I believe that the ex- 

 clusion of pollen from the winter 

 stores is not a prevention of diarrhea, 

 but a prevention of the sipping of 

 moisture. 



Bradford, (^ Iowa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Preventing Honey-Granulation. 



A. B. WEED. 



The following paragraph which I 

 took from a prominent agricultural 

 paper, that had clipped it from the 

 Scientific American, shows, in part, 

 how much abuse and misrepresenta- 

 tion the honey trade is required to 

 withstand from so-called scientists, 

 and also from those agricultural pub- 

 lications which should be found 

 among its friends and promoters : 



'• Having for several years had con- 

 siderable trouble and loss in keeping 

 pure extracted honey, on account of 

 its tendency, in a short time (particu- 

 larly in warm weather), to crystallize, 

 I have been ready for any remedy 

 that was feasible. One lot that I pur- 

 chased in the comb and extracted my- 

 self, soon became almost worthless 

 from this cause. Some two months 

 ago I had a small lot that I found 

 crystallized when wanted for use, al- 

 though I had taken the precaution to 

 cork it tightly and put in a cool place 

 in the cellar. It occurred to me to see 

 what would be the result from melt- 



ing and adding a small amount of 

 glycerine. Placing the bottle in a 

 water batli, I soon had it melted and 

 added one ounce of glycerine to 

 about \}{ pounds of the honey, set- 

 ting it aside to cool. It has shown 

 no sign of re-crystallization, as yet, 

 and I am just using the last of it. I 

 can see no objection to this on the 

 score of adulteration, or any harm 

 from its use." 



By the learned correspondent 

 throwing out that suggestion, we may 

 soon hear the cry, " Honey is adul- 

 terated with glycerine!" Unless he 

 observes greater " precautions " than 

 he did with his honey— keeping it 

 tightly corked in a cool cellar — those 

 who understand the nature of the 

 article spoken of, will discover that 

 the only thing in question which is 

 not adulterated, is liis eagerness to 

 recommend methods before testing 

 them, and to overcome difllculties 

 which would not have occurred but 

 for his own mismanagement. 



Detroit,<x Mich. 



R ead at the N. Y. and Eastern Couventton. 



Rendering Conventions Profitable. 



A. J. KING. 



The published proceedings of our 

 conventions, extending over a score of 

 years, has done much to bring about 

 the present advanced state of the art 

 of profitable bee-keeping in the 

 United States. Twenty-five years ago 

 bee-keepers' associations were " like 

 angel's visits — few and far between," 

 and the number of persons engaged 

 exclusively in honey-production, could 

 be counted on one's fingers ; to-day 

 we have a National Association, and 

 hundreds of minor societies scattered 

 all over the country from Maine to 

 California, and from Canada to the 

 Gulf of Mexico. The published de- 

 liberations of these numerous asso- 

 ciations have not been confined to the 

 bee-papers, but have extended to the 

 agricultural press of the entire coun- 

 try, and to a limited extent to the 

 political and religious papers ; and 

 the consequence is that a large pro- 

 portion of intelligent persons know 

 something of the merits of modern 

 bee-keeping as distinguished from 

 that carried on by our grandfathers 

 with the hollow-log, box-hives and 

 sulphur pits, and are also able to 

 appreciate the difference in the sweet 

 products of these different systems of 

 bee-keeping. 



To enumerate all the beneficial re- 

 sults to the bee-keeping industry, 

 which may be traced directly or in- 

 directly to" our conventions, would be 

 well nigh impossible, besides being 

 foreign to ^he design of this essay, 

 which is to point out supposed defects 

 and suggest possible remedies in our 

 present methods of conducting them. 



Beginners, especially, are often con- 

 fused by the opposing statements of 

 professional bee-keepers regarding 

 the same subject, for instance : A 

 strongly recommends early stimulatic 

 feeding, and gives practical results to 

 " back up " his assertions, while B 

 just as strongly condemns it, and 



proves his position correct by results 

 in his own experience. A advocates 

 wintering bees on summer stands, B 

 denounces it: A recommends breed- 

 ing late in thi' fall, while B pities any 

 one foolisli enough to folhivv such ad- 

 vice ; A says that the bees know what 

 they are about when laying in a rea- 

 sonable supply of bread or pollen with 

 their winter stores, but B says that 

 they will die with the diarrhea ; A 

 recommends buckwheat as a bounti- 

 ful source of fall lioney, B doubts if it 

 is a honey-plant at all ; and so on to 

 the end of the chapter. A and B rep- 

 resent large classes of bee- keepers 

 equally experienced and equally 

 honest, and the subjects of their 

 differences are also representative of 

 all the principal tilings to be done in 

 order to secure the best results of our 

 modern scientific management. 



Where, then, is the reason for this 

 difference of experience and the dif- 

 ference in the advice given ? someone 

 will ask. We reply that it consists 

 mainly in the outward circumstances 

 surrounding each individual case. 

 For instance, in the far North, bees 

 must be housed in winter to secure 

 the best results. In this latitude chaff 

 hives are the best, while for the far 

 South, siugle-walled hives answer 

 every purpose. Stimulative feeding 

 in the cellar is absurd ; the same in 

 chaff-hives on the summer stand is 

 highly advantageous, while in the 

 South it is not needed. Buckwheat 

 and many other so-called honey- 

 plants in some localities yield a boun- 

 tiful supply of honey ; in other places 

 they yield next to nothing ; so the be- 

 ginner might be eminently successful 

 in the favored locality, while with the 

 same forage and management he 

 would utterly fail in the other. 



Temperature, density and moisture 

 of the atmosphere together with the 

 quality of the soil, are the chief out- 

 ward surroundings which should be 

 studied and known by every bee- 

 keeper. He should then by experi- 

 ment find out the habits of the 

 trees, shrubs, plants and grasses 

 classed as honey-flora; with this 

 knowledge he will be able to enter 

 the pursuit of bee-keeping with a fair 

 promise of success. When he arises 

 in convention to give in his experi- 

 ence, all the above information should 

 be given as a kind of preface to his 

 success or failure as the case may be, 

 then the apparent contradictions will 

 be reconciled, and our convention re- 

 ports will be reliable and helpful. To 

 forward this idea I would suggest the 

 appointing of committees to investi- 

 gate into the conditions by actual ex- 

 periment which produce such varying 

 results in our chosen pursuit, say a 

 committee of twelve or more, on 

 honey-plants, each taking about 

 twenty species of our best honey-pro- 

 ducers, and being located fifteen or 

 twenty miles apart, north and south, 

 with thermometers, barometers, and 

 hygrometers, note carefully the read- 

 ings of these instruments, whenever 

 any plant is affording nectar abund- 

 antly. 



I would also have appointed similar 

 committees to experiment on winter- 

 ing bees. Putting all methods to the 



