426 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



in Wisconsin means constant irrita- 

 tion, vexation, and litigation the 

 country over. Let us all liasten to 

 the rescue. 



NEW JIBTHOD OF TKANSFERKING. 



I notice that the brief answers in 

 the Query Department are apt to lead 

 to misunderstanding. That I ever 

 meant to leave brood to chill, in using 

 the Heddon method of transferring, 

 is not true. Of course if such trans- 

 ferring is done early, great care is 

 required. As I stated in my Manual, 

 the bees must be carried to a warm 

 room. I have tried this method, and 

 with the best of success and very 

 little labor. I can heartily recom- 

 mend it. Mr. Clute, who Iknow is 

 very cautious, full of tact, and one of 

 our most intelligent bee-keepers, has 

 certainly not given this method a 

 fair trial, or I am sure he would not 

 condemii it. I never, on my own 

 authority, praise such a thing till I 

 have thoVoughly tried it ; then I know 

 whereof I affirm. This method care- 

 fully practiced is just as safe as the 

 old way. and much quicker, and much 

 less laborious. 



IS BEE -BREAD ALWAYS POLLEN ? 



What does Mr. Ileddon mean, on 

 page 393, when he says : " Bee-bread 

 is always pollen V" I do not think 

 this is correct, and I do not think that 

 Mr. Heddon does. I should say that 

 bee-bread is the nitrogenous food of 

 bees ; that it is usually pollen ; that it 

 may be flour or meal ; and that some- 

 times, perhaps rai'ely, perhaps not, it 

 is made up of spores of fungi. One 

 of my last year's students, Mr. O. L. 

 Hersheser, now in charge of a large 

 apiary at Water Valley, X. Y.. writes 

 me that his bees have carried im- 

 mense stores of bee-bread from the 

 destructive blackberry or raspberry 

 orange rust, which has been so com- 

 mon and so injurious in several States 

 for a few years. Dr. Beal and I have 

 thought that we had discovered spores 

 several times in examining feces. 

 Surely Mr. Ileddon did not mean 

 what he is reported to have said I 



While I am writing, let me say that 

 had not Mr. Doolittle said so often to 

 us that he was not educated, we 

 should hardly believe it. AVith hosts 

 of bee-keepers all over the land, I 

 always turn with pleasure and pecu- 

 liar interest to his articles, feeling 

 sure I shall gain some valuable hints. 

 I feel very much indebted to Mr. Doo- 

 little not only for his public articles, 

 but for many valuable private hints 

 which I have ever found him ready 

 to give upon inquiry. If wliat I wrote 

 seemed harsh, I most heartily with- 

 draw it and beg pardon, for I could 

 never wish to pain any one, and cer- 

 tainly not one whom I count as a 

 warm personal friend. 



Agricultural College.? Mich. 



^^ The I'nion Bce-Kocpcrs' Association 

 of Western Iowa will meet in Stuart, Iowa, 

 on July 25, 188.5, at 10 a. m. 



M. E. Dakby, Sec. 



^^The Bee-Keepers' Association of Cen- 

 tral Illinois will meet at lilooniini^ton, Ills., 

 ou July 15, 188.5, at 10 a. m. 



Wm. U. L.\wrence, Sec. 



For tUe American Bee JoumaL 



Visiting Indiana Bee-Keepers. 



L. R. JACKSON. 



Having lost all my bees {94 colo- 

 nies), during the winter and spring, I 

 started on a visit among bee-keepers 

 to learn what I could of the cause of 

 our heavy losses. Through Johnson, 

 Bartholomew and Jennings counties 

 I found almost total losses in the 

 apiaries. In many places the bees 

 are all dead, and what are left are 

 nearly all weak and in poor condition 

 to do much toward building up this 

 season. A few have wintered nearly 

 all their bees, having given them just 

 the same treatment as those that lost 

 all did theirs. 



In Jefferson county I found but 

 little loss, and bees are generally in 

 good condition. At Dupont I called 

 upon Mr. S. E. O'Neal, who has 52 

 colonies in first-class condition, and 

 doing well. Mr. O'Neal is a close 

 reader of the Bee Journal, and is 

 well posted, but having a store and a 

 farm to look after, he is not able to 

 give bee-keeping much attention. 



At Wirt, Dr. C. C. Firth has 66 col- 

 onies in several styles of hives, from 

 the log-gum and box-hive to the 

 Langstroth. The Doctor is experi- 

 menting considerably, but I think 

 that he will finally decide in favor of 

 the Langstroth hive with the Heddon 

 case. He has a good location, and 

 could do well if he gave it the time it 

 requires, but by what I could learn he 

 has a very large practice, and keeps 

 bees more for pleasure and recreation 

 than for profit. 



At Madison I first visited Mr. H. C. 

 White, who has 60 colonies, and is 

 the inventor of a hive and several 

 improvements in the bee-keepers' 

 supplies. Mr. W. has done much 

 good in building up the bee-business 

 in that part of the State. Andrew 

 Augustin has 3.5 colonies of very fine 

 bee's, but he is so busy with other 

 business that he can keep but a few 

 colonies. 



I next stopped at Mr. John Craw- 

 ford's near Pleasant, Switzerland 

 county. Mr. C. has 4.5 colonies of 

 bees. He is very enthusiastic, well 

 posted, and quite a scientific bee- 

 keeper. It is hardly necessary to say 

 that he is successful, for such a per- 

 son does not know the meaning of the 

 word " failure." He makes bee-keep- 

 ing his business, and usually keeps 

 100 colonies. Mrs. C. helps in the 

 apiary, and makes a good hand, too, 

 and is fond of the w'ork. 



T. A. Spencer has 3.5 colonies, but 

 he has too much other business to 

 give the bees the attention necessary 

 to make it very profitable. 



Robert Scott has 200 colonies at 

 Moorefield, and is said to be very suc- 

 cessful. 



John Farrell has .53 colonies, and 

 has plenty of enthusiasm to make it a 

 success, but he does not read bee- 

 literature. 



J. C. Smith, who has 20 colonies, is 

 a beginner, but he is a very enthusi- 

 astic bee-keeper. 



Charles Norris at Vevey, has 80 col- 

 onies. He has had 20 years' experi- 



ence as a bee-keeper, and makes it 

 pay well for the time he devotes to it. 



Wm. Falkner has 60 colonies. He 

 has given many years to the study of 

 the bee, and he is very successful. 

 He has had some experience with foul 

 brood— and thinks fire the safest 

 treatment. 



Thomas Tait, of Sugan, has 30 col- 

 onies. He is also a beginner, and ia 

 intelligent and enthusiastic. 



John Anderson has 100 colonies, 

 and has had moderately good success. 



At Brooksburg I found several bee- 

 keepers on a small scale, but none 

 that are giving it the attention nec- 

 essary to success. It is a good loca- 

 tion for some good bee-keeper, as 

 there are but few bees in the neigh- 

 borhood. 



After a ten days' trip I returned 

 home well paid for my time and the 

 money spent. I have made several 

 visits to beekeepers, and, in fact, 

 hardly a year passes that I do not 

 devote a few days to visiting bee- 

 keepers ; and in every case I have 

 been well paid. I believe that if 

 more of the bee-keepers would visit 

 their neighboring bee-keepers, and 

 spend a day with them, they would 

 find it both pleasant and profitable. 



Urmeyville,© Ind. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Bee-Diarrhea and Sugar Syrup. 



R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



For some time I have noticed with 

 interest the animated discussion upon 

 the above subject, and I must confess 

 that I do not believe in the pollen 

 theory. I have known of bee-diar- 

 rhea being produced in a colony with 

 sugar syrup as follows : 



When I was first keeping bees, in 

 spring, if on a windy, cold day the 

 sun was likely to shine brightly at 

 times, I confined bees in their hives, 

 as one of the most extensive apiarists 

 in Canada recommends, and also 

 others, this confinement produced in 

 a few hours, diarrhea, and I found on 

 the following day that the bees were 

 debilitated, and 1 imagined that more 

 injury resulted to the colony than if 

 the entrance had been left open one 

 bee-width. I decided that the diar- 

 rhea resulted from the excitement 

 through confinement, and their diges- 

 tion was impaired— a result often 

 found amongst animals, and even the 

 highest type of the animal kingdom, 

 particularly if the nervous system is 

 deranged, ilight the pollen grain in 

 the watery fecal discharge not be the 

 result of impaired digestion caused 

 by unfavorable surroundings, fer- 

 mented stores, and aggravated by a 

 predisposition to debility in the bee, 

 and not the discharge owing to the 

 pollen V 



I am well aware that bees will win- 

 ter generally better upon first-class 

 sugar syrup, but I attribute this, first, 

 to the fact that natural stores are 

 often gathered from questionable 

 sources; and second, natural stores 

 often consist of clover, basswood, 

 thistle, buckwheat, and many other 

 honeys, all in one colony ; these 



