THE AMERICAJ!^ BEE JOURNAL. 



359 



intestines of tlie bees every time, and 

 no conditions euu avoid it ; as I before 

 have said, we need not fear bee-bread 

 as long as the temperature is kept 

 Iiigli enough, for without a waste of 

 tissue, bees will not need nitrogen, 

 nor will they touch it ; but when nitro- 

 gen is in the honey, they consume it 

 of necessity. 



Mr. Barber speaks of dry feces as 

 though he thought it might be possi- 

 ble that if all outside conditions were 

 right, accumulations could be con- 

 tinually voided in a dry state, in the 

 cluster and in the hive. Prof. Cook 

 tells us that his experiments upon 

 this point have satisfied him that bees 

 never normally void at all in their 

 hives. I think he is correct. A few 

 times I liave seen bees void feces that 

 was solid enough to hold a round 

 form, and stretch out from y to M 

 inch m length. If this discharge were 

 left in a dry air for a short time, it 

 would become dry feces ; but this 

 never happens except in the last 

 stages of the disease, bee-diarrhea, 

 after the bees have held tlieir feces 

 until they are sick. Prof. Cook has 

 lately microscopically and chemically 

 analyzed sni)posed dry feces received 

 from Mr. W. F. Clarke and Mr. S. 

 Cornell, and found it to be wax and 

 pollen, wood, paint, and other chew- 

 ings. When we take into considera- 

 tion the natural home and surround- 

 ings of the honey-bee, we at once sus- 

 pect the error of the dry-feces theory. 

 I am wondering how the preferable 

 damp cellar can aid dry discharges. 



According to the pollen theory, 

 breeding in confinement should tend 

 to promote diarrhea if the tempera- 

 ture is too low, but if not too low, it 

 would not so tend. This is what we 

 also find to be the facts. On what 

 basis, except the pollen theory, can 

 we account for the superiority of 

 sugar syrup {long ago admitted) when 

 used in any system of wintering V 

 Who, by any method of wintering, 

 can show 1.51 days' confinement (five 

 months) and no discharge at all where 

 sugar syrup is not used V My many 

 colonies that actually froze, died upon 

 their stores, with their proboscides in 

 their syrup. Had these colonies had 

 honey and bee-bread for stores, they 

 would, no doubt, have had diarrhea 

 just before they died, and we should 

 have thought that was the only cause of 

 death. 



I am sure that starvation is not the 

 cause of diarrhea. I have seen many 

 cases of either entirely absented from 

 the other. I think that Mr. (ioos is 

 entirely mistaken. I have wintered 

 bees successfully on boneset and 

 other fall honey, and, in fact, on all 

 kinds of honey that we have here in 

 quantity. 



Dr. Soutlu'.rd, of Kalamazoo, Mich., 

 is the only man I know of who win- 

 tered all of his bees packed out-doors. 

 To several colonies he fed clear honey- 

 dew, pud all of his colonies had no 

 upward ventilation or absorbents of 

 any sort— solid wood above and all 

 around, if I understand Hon. A. B. 

 Cheney correctly, who visited us both 

 about two weeks ago. No, it is neither 

 honey-dew nor dampness. His colo- 

 nies, having honey-dew, came out in 



good condition. When the liquid 

 stores are free from nitrogen (rtoaiing 

 pollen), as was the case last season in 

 most localities, it is only a question of 

 temperature Dr. So'uthard's bees 

 were much better protected, as he 

 writes me, tlian others that died. 

 When bees sicken with diarrhea in 

 warm quarters, it is a questioij of 

 nitrogenous food. This is my idea. 

 It also seems to be the idea of Messrs. 

 Hutchinson, Mason, Howard, Willis, 

 and others. Cold may kill bees ; but 

 pollen in some form is the prime cause 

 of bee-diarrhea, and a careful analysis 

 of the excreta will always show the 

 truth of niv statement, I think. 



Mr. Doolittle thinks that if the 

 pollen theory is true, a knowledge of 

 it is of no practical benefit. We do 

 not understand it at all alike. I feel 

 sure that my knowledge of it insures 

 me against any further winter losses. 

 Last winter I lost at lea8tfl,.500 worth 

 of bees. I am only hilarious over my 

 late experience, because I feel so con- 

 fident of the greater future gain in my 

 being able to register uiy name among 

 the ones who always winter bees suc- 

 cessfully. But this is not all. How 

 much can I do for others ? 



On page 316, Mr. Barber speaks of 

 some who write much, but never win- 

 ter bees successfully. Now, in all 

 candor, I ask if they who loose bees 

 most, are not most apt to find out the 

 cause of such loss V Does not neces- 

 sity and superior advantages tend to 

 stimulate investigation V Have the 

 successful ones known w/o/ they were 

 successful y If so, why did they not 

 tell us all about how to meet with tlie 

 same success '? If they have told us, 

 why have we not succeeded V Why 

 have such intelligent and practical 

 bee-keepers as Mr. Hutchinson and 

 Mr. Oatman failed to succeed V Is it 

 not tri e that there was all the time a 

 factor in these losses that the success- 

 ful ones did not understand, because 

 it was not one of their environments V 

 I do not think I am any brighter than 

 others, but I am sure that I see clear 

 enough to not only wander out of the 

 darkness, but lead out my compan- 

 ions. The future will decide it, and I 

 am willing to stake my reputation as 

 a bee-keeper upon the results. I am 

 not looking back, nor wasting any 

 time "crying over spilled milk." I 

 am starting with about 200 colonies, 

 and in the near aututnn, I am going 

 to have as large a honey crop as the 

 season will admit of, and more colo- 

 nies than before, and then winter 

 them all. 



DowagiacP Mich. 



Read at the Northeastern Convention. 



Best Management for Comb Honey. 



FRANK C. BENEDICT. 



The question that has been assigned 

 me, if I shall speak upon it. in the 

 full meaning of the topic as it is given 

 in our programme, I shall liave to as- 

 sume myself as having a better 

 method than any of our honored 

 leaders in bee-culture. And when I 

 think of such men as the lamented 

 Quinby, Rev. L. L. Langstroth, Capt. 



Ilelherington, Messrs. Klwood, Doo- 

 little, Ileddou, Betsinger, and many 

 others, it little becomes me to assume 

 that I can give to beekeepers " the 

 best management of the apiary for 

 comb honey !" I hardly think when 

 the committee gave me the (juestion, 

 they toofk into consideration the va- 

 ried climate and the different sources 

 from which we procure our surplus 

 honey ; that the management in one 

 section of the country would not 

 bring liUe results in another of a dif- 

 ferent surplus source. So I shall con- 

 fine what I have to offer, to a section 

 in a latitude where clover and bass- 

 wood are the principal sources of sur- 

 plus. 



We shall have to start in early 

 spring, perhaps, before the first nat- 

 ural pollen is gathered, when we are 

 letting our bees work upon rye or 

 Graham Hour, as this should be given 

 to supply until natural pollen comes. 

 Now, when natural pollen appears, 

 or better, before, on some warm pleas- 

 ant day, look over each colony and 

 see that they have a good queen and 

 plenty of honey, and cover them' 

 with enameled cloth or some material 

 thatvvill keep in the heat and mois- 

 ture. In about ten days look them 

 over again, and you will find colonies 

 that cannot cover eight frames, or the 

 full number, to good advantage. Con- 

 tract these by using the division- 

 board until they have no more frames 

 that they can cover well. Be sure 

 each time to leave plenty of honey, 

 uncapping a portion that the bees 

 may move it about in the combs; this 

 will have a stimulative effect, and 

 cause the queen to lay more rapidly. 

 Some may ask, why contract the 

 brood-chamber V For the reason that 

 one of the great requirements of pro- 

 lific brood-rearing is heat, and if the 

 store is not large enough to warm the 

 room, then contract the room to the 

 size of the store. 



Now let tliem rest about ten days 

 more, and by this time the young bees 

 in the hive will begin to be quite 

 numerous, and if you find the queen 

 is using all the room, add one frame 

 to the brood-nest. But this time 

 make haste slowly, as you are liable 

 to sudden changes, and you have 

 many old bees that have nearly done 

 their work, whose places will soon be 

 filled by young bees. Now begin to 

 feed and stimulate to brood-rearing 

 as you have a good quantity of young 

 bees to care for the larvae and general 

 work of the hive. This feeding may 

 be done in the hive from a top feeder, 

 or from a feeder placed <at the en- 

 trance, or anyway that you can easiest 

 feed them a little every day ; three or 

 four tablespoonfuls is a plenty, unless 

 they are very short of stores. 



At this season of the year they use 

 a large quantity of water in preparing 

 the food for the brood, and if you will 

 supply it by feeding one part of sugar 

 or honey to three of water, it will save 

 thousands of workers that would go 

 out on unfavorable days in search of 

 water, and ne\er return. You are now 

 not far from the first of May. Push 

 them as fast as possible, as you only 

 have about fifty days to white clover 

 bloom. No one need have any fear of 



