344 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



hive theory is unreliable for success- 

 ful wintering ; also that the consump- 

 tion of pollen is not always what 

 sweeps whole apiaries out of exis- 

 tence ; and Mr. Heddon frankly ac- 

 knowledges that it was " cold, too 

 long continued " that killed them. 



I am of the same opinion that it 

 was " cold, too long continued " that 

 was the main cause of the loss. 1 

 wish to ask Mr. Heddon whether he 

 would not have concluded that it was 

 the consumption of pollen as the 

 prime cause that killed this 49 colo- 

 nies if he had left natural stores and 

 plenty of pollen for their winter food, 

 and had given them no sugar syrup V 

 He claims that if bees are too cold, 

 tliey will eat pollen, and if they eat 

 pollen, they will have the diarrhea. 



Mr. H. states that it was continued 

 cold that killed the bees in his "old 

 cellar," and that none of them had 

 the diarrhea, and none of them had 

 pollen. Does not Mr. II. think that 

 the bees in that cellar would have 

 eaten pollen if it had been present 

 when they had began to suffer be- 

 cause of the cold V Does he not think 

 that if pollen had been eaten for the 

 purpose of counteracting the cold, 

 that tlie pollen thus used would have 

 caused the diarrhea? Does he not 

 believe that he would have concluded 

 in that case that it was pollen and not 

 continued low temperature in the old 

 cellar that had produced the first dis- 

 comfort of the bees? Mr. II. asks, 

 " What degree can bees stand ?" and 

 then very sensibly answers, " That 

 depends on the duration." Then, in 

 the next sentence, how frank and 

 manly his acknowledgement that 

 thatpoint " too many of us have over- 

 looked," and still further, "Forty 

 degrees below can be endured for a 

 short time, but lO^ to IS-" above will 

 kill bees if continued, diarrhea or no 

 diarrhea. In this point I have been 

 in error." 



How many of us have the degree of 

 self-control that would enable us to 

 carry on a sharp discussion in defence 

 of our opinion, and in the end say I 

 have been in error, I have overlooked 

 a most important point that has a 

 direct bearing on the question ? If 

 "weighed in the biilance." would I 

 be " found wanting V" The way I 

 now foot up ilr. Heddon's long, hard 

 work is as follows : 1. Too long con- 

 tinued low temperature. 2. Use of 

 pollen to counteract the continued 

 cold. 3. Diarrliea from long conflne- 

 ment after tlie use of pollen. 4. 

 Death by di.irrhea in continued con- 

 finement. 



Any one can read the above list of 

 causes and effects and see at a glance 

 that prolonged cold stands at the 

 head. Now the question comes 

 uppermost ; how are we to overcome 

 tliat prime cause of our winter losses; 

 viz., long continued cold V In my 

 first letter for the Bee Journal, I 

 wrote : 



Then kindly treat the ciueen of sweet, 

 Give her a cozy home. 



This we have to do or bee-keeping 

 will never be made- a success in this 

 cold climate. Who will now give us 

 the best essay on this most important 



subjects Mr. Heddon has revealed 

 the " giant in the cellar," who can 

 drive him out and give him a death 

 blow? 

 Orion, p Wis. 



For tne American Bee Journal. 



Northern Ohio Convention. 



The annual meeting of the North- 

 ern Ohio Bee-Keepers' Association 

 was held at Norwalk, O., JSIay 9, 1885, 

 President S. F. Newman in the chair. 

 The Secretary's report of the last 

 meeting was read and approved. The 

 Treasurer's report showed a balance 

 on hand of $1 1 .45. 



The election of officers resulted in 

 the election of President, Dan White, 

 New London ; Secretary, II. R. Board- 

 man, Townsend ; Treasurer, E. R. 

 Gibbs, Norwalk. 



H. R. Boardman wintered a large 

 stock of bees in-dooi-s in three differ- 

 ent localities, with as good success as 

 usual. The bees are in good condi- 

 tion now. The stores consisted largely 

 of dark, noor honey called honey-dew. 

 He does hot consider this honey-dew 

 necessarily fatal to the bees when 

 used as winter food. He wintered 

 several colonies fed entirely on it, 

 late in the season ; they wintered as 

 well as the best. His bees were set 

 in the bee-house about Nov. 20, where 

 they remained until April 1, when 

 thev were carried out upon the sum- 

 mer stands and fed common wheat 

 flour as a substitute for pollen. 



S. F. Newman reports : Our (New- 

 man Bros.) loss has been very heavy. 



1 am satisfied that the loss resulted 

 principally from a failure in having 

 them properly prepared for winter, or 

 in proper condition. I divided them 

 late in the season, leaving them des- 

 titute of the necessary stores for win- 

 ter, and many of them, I am satisfied, 

 perished for lack of food. I carried 

 them out upon the summer stands on 

 April 10, but think they would have 

 been in much better condition now 

 had they been set out on the first 

 warm days in April. I use chaff and 

 simplicity hives ; wintered part in- 

 doors and part out. I think those 

 out-of-doors wintered best. 



The Association adjourned till 



2 p. m. 

 At 2 p. m. the Association was 



called to order by President White in 

 the chair. 



President White reports : My win- 

 tering has not been successful, al- 

 though I have not lost as heavily as 

 some of my neighbors. I tiave lost 

 too many, and some of those left are 

 not in as good condition as I would 

 like to have them. I use the chaff 

 hive ; wintered them out-of-doors. I 

 have not yet lost confidence in the 

 chaff hive to winter in. 



J. B. Darling, of Hartland, reports : 

 I lost ahout 20 per cent, of my bees. 

 I wintered out-of-doors. Thpse left 

 are now in fair condition. 



M. I. Todd, of Wakeman, reports : 

 I wintered my Ijees in chaff hives ont- 

 o^'-doors. My loss has not been very 

 serious, certainly not as compared 

 with tlie success of my neighbors. 



The loss in my vicinity has been un- 

 precedented. 



E. R. Gibbs reports : I had 56 colo- 

 nies last fall. I thought they were 

 well prepared and in good condition 

 for winter. They are all dead. I use 

 chaff hives. 



Samuel Fish, Milan, O., reports : I 

 set my bees out of the bee-house 

 about April 20, and thought they were 

 in very fair condition at that time, 

 but they have dwindled very badly 

 since, and are in a very unpromising 

 condition at present; many of them 

 being so weak that they are about 

 worthless. I think they were kept in 

 the bee-house too late. My prospects 

 for honey this season are not very 

 good. 



E. Walker, Berlin, reports : I had 

 35 colonies last fall ; they are most all 

 dead. I thought I knew how to win- 

 ter my bees, but I think I have learned 

 something about it 1 did not know 

 before. 



The reports of several others 

 showed about the same success in 

 wintering; each having a theory to 

 account for the fatal results, but each 

 disagreeing with the others as to the 

 cause of the trouble. The reports 

 show the winter losses to be very 

 heavy. Tlie discussion turned upon 

 the reports already received, and most 

 of the time during the afternoon was 

 spent endeavoring to solve the win- 

 tering problem. 



A discussion ensued in regard to 

 the proper time of setting bees out in 

 the spring that had been wintered in- 

 doors, and it was generally concluded 

 to be a matter of vital importance, at 

 least in some seasons, whether they 

 are set out early on the first warm 

 days, or left in late in the season. 



Mr. Fish : AVhat shall I do with my 

 little, weak colonies V Is it policy to 

 unite them now V 



Mr. Newman : No ; I would not 

 unite them now, but would build 

 them up by crowding them upon as 

 little room as the brood can be made 

 to occupy, by using division-boards, 

 and unite them into strong colonies 

 at the beginning of the honey season ; 

 thus keeping all the queens laying 

 eggs during tliis time, instead of but 

 one in each of the united colonies. 

 There is no advantage in uniting now 

 to have the brood better protected, as 

 the very small amount of bees now in 

 the hives would be proportionately 

 the same in the united colony, unless 

 one of the colonies to be united is 

 queenless, in which case it is always 

 best to unite. 



The Secretary agreed with Mr. 

 Newman. 



A quite lengthy discussion then en- 

 sued upon the use of division-boards 

 in building up light colonies early in 

 the season. Several considered them 

 indispensable, while a few did not 

 attach much importance to their use. 

 President White made a few re- 

 marks upon the necessity of making 

 a tliorough preparation of all colonies 

 in the fall, in order to be able to win- 

 ter with any certainty, 



Mr. Todd also made some sugges- 

 tions upon the same subject ; said he 

 was certain that it paid well to give 

 the bees every attention they needed. 



