470 



THE AMERICA!^ BEE JOURNAL. 



silken cradles. her eggs to be developed 

 in due time by the increasing warmth 

 of the season. Put a single one of 

 these so-called "spider bags" into 

 each hive with empty combs, and be 

 no more anxious about them — you 

 have got "• without money and with- 

 out price " that vigilant tidelitv so 

 indispensable in this matter. "The 

 spider is now your very good friend. 

 She mounts guard over vour combs, 

 and will proiect tliem from the moth 

 initil the last one has found its proper 

 place with your bees. 



I rearet that tliis information was 

 not given long ago to the bee-keeping 

 world. It was intended to appear 

 years ago in the revision which I 

 hoped to make of my work on the 

 " Hive and IIoney-Bee." I specially 

 regret that I eoiild not give it last 

 spring when it would have been of so 

 much greater service. But it is only 

 within a very short time that I have 

 recovered sufficiently from my old 

 head trouble to take any interest in 

 bees, or to write on any thing con- 

 nected with them. With gratitude to 

 our Heavenly Father, "who forgiveth 

 all our iniquities, and healeth all our 

 diseases," and with hearty good-will 

 to all bee-keepers at home and abroad, 

 I sign myself their friend. 



L. L. Langstroth. 



Oxford, Ohio, July 1, 1885. 



N. B.— July 7, 1885. I have just 

 taken from a loft over my woodshed 

 some old combs of the kind that the 

 moth loves, and that have lain there 

 in an open nucleus box since 1874! 

 They have not been molested, and the 

 spider webs adhering to them tell in 

 short the whole of this long story. L. 



[The foregoing article was put " in 

 type " on July 8th, but it was " with- 

 held " till now by agreement with Mr. 

 Langstroth, and proofs were sent to 

 him, so that it might appear simulta- 

 neously in several bee-papers. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Making Honey— Good Honey Season. 



f. THEILMANN. 



Evei-y bee-keeper in the land should 

 help to create light to disperse the 

 darkness which prevails in a large 

 majority of people who are not 

 acquainted with the honey-bee and 

 its work. I have just read the follow- 

 ing in Ihe Acker (indGarien-buu Zeiturifj, 

 of Milwaukee. Wis., for June 15, 188-5 : 



" A mercantile liouse in Boston 

 makes artificial honey, also the comb, 

 and brings it into market for prime 

 American honey. The combs are 

 made of paraffine wax, and the honey 

 is a mixture of very thick glucose and 

 a little good lioney. The mixture is 

 filled in the cells and sealed up by 

 passing ;i hot iron over the cells. A 

 large quantity of this product has 

 already been sliipped to Europe."' 



Such a statement as the above is 

 more serious than funny to the honey- 

 producers, as it will do their business 

 great injury. This has undoubtedly 

 resulted from Prof. Wiley's lie, and 



he should be prosecuted for it, which 

 is probably the only way to stop its 

 circulation in the newsp"apers, and at 

 the same time enlighten the public 

 and the editors who copy such ignor- 

 ance. It is altogether impossible to 

 seal a honey-comb with a hot iron to 

 make it look anything like the sealing 

 of the bees. I would like to see the 

 person or machine that can make the 

 comb. 



We have had very fine weather for 

 bees since May 12, and for the past 

 two weeks white clover has yielded 

 well. The basswood trees are just 

 beginning to open their buds, which 

 look healthy, and are heavily laden. 

 Swarming has been lively for the past 

 ten days, nearly all of my colonies 

 having swarmed once, and that is all 

 I want to have them swarm. Most of 

 the new colonies are working in the 

 boxes on the old stands, 



Theilmanton,o, Minn., July 7, 1885. 



[ They locate this stupid lie alter- 

 nately in Chicago, New York, and 

 Boston— anywhere to give it a new 

 start at rolling.— Ed.] 



For ttie American Bee Journal. 



Is the Pollen Theory Proven True? 



S. A. SHUCK. 



The arguments presented in favor 

 of the " pollen theory " are too iudeti- 

 nite. Mr. Ileddon's experiments 

 are the only features in this discus- 

 sion that appear as facts in favor of 

 this theory ; yet, to the careful reader, 

 these apparent facts are only circum- 

 stantial firoofs of the pollen theory, 

 and simply demonstrate a self-evident 

 fact— that bees cannot discharge pol- 

 len when they eat none. 



It has been claimed that pollen is 

 the cause of bee-diarrliea, because it 

 contains nitrogen. Mr. Ileddon, on 

 page 898, evidently refers to this, 

 where he defines nitrogen as " bee- 

 Viread ;" and where he requests me to 

 get all the nitrogen (pollen) out of my 

 bees and combs before trying my 

 " diluted-syrup-feeding experiment." 

 But when we take into consideration 

 Mr. II's third statement—" all diar- 

 rhetic excreta is mainly pollen"— we 

 have nitrogen represented as being 

 pollen or bee-bread, which is too gross 

 an article to be represented as 

 nitrogen. 



If the advocates of the pollen 

 theory wish to have it understood 

 that the nitrogenous element of pol- 

 len is tlie basis of their tlieory, well 

 and good ; if they wish it understood 

 that i)ollen. from its coarseness as an 

 element of food, is the cause of bee- 

 diarrhea, all right; or, if they wish to 

 cond)ine these two features, there 

 will be no objections, but let us not 

 have this matter "mixed up" any 

 longer. 



It has never been shown that nitro- 

 gen is in any way deleterious to bees, 

 and until it is so proven, this nitrog- 

 enous plea will appear to be a sort of 

 hallucination and not argument. 

 While Mr. Ileddon has thought it 

 expedient to deline bee-diarrhea in 

 certain directions, there has been no 



line drawn prescribing the diarrhetic 

 condition as it approaches a normal 

 or healthful discharge, thus leaving 

 the impression that all excreta con- 

 taining pollen is of a diarrhetic char- 

 acter. In fact, Mr. Ileddon's third 

 statement, " all diarrhetic excreta is 

 mainly pollen," tends to show that 

 the more pollen the more positive the 

 case of diarrhea. 



One of the most formidable features 

 in opposition to the pollen theory, and 

 especially opposed to the supposed 

 deleterious effects of the nitrogenous 

 element found in pollen, is that many 

 colonies wintering on natural food, 

 and in as fine condition as the very 

 best, show a larger per cent, of pollen 

 in their excreta than those suffering 

 most severely from diarrhea. The 

 excreta of bees wintering in such tine 

 condition, is nicely illustrated by 

 Prof. Cook, on page 391 of Gleanings. 

 The indetinite situation of the " pol- 

 len theory," thus shown, leaves it too 

 much like the scriptural illustration 

 of the " house built upon the sand." 



I see no features in Mr. Heddon's 

 argument, in reply to my article on 

 page 362, that cannot be met fairly 

 and easily ; but such contention is 

 only a battle of words, and requires 

 too much time and space to accom- 

 plish the desired end. As it is my 

 intention to present sufficient facts 

 and arguments in this article to crush 

 the pollen theory as it now stands, I 

 will omit any further consideration of 

 Mr. Ileddon's reply to me, more than 

 is necessary to make this article clear 

 to the reader. 



For myself, or any one, to argue 

 that because bees have been wintered 

 in any and all kinds of receptacles, 

 situations and weather, proves or dis- 

 proves the pollen theory, is simply 

 begging the question. But if I can 

 show that large apiaries are being 

 wintered on natural stores, one year 

 after another, and that, too, in com- 

 munities where from 50 to 75 per cent, 

 of the bees of other apiaries are lost, 

 during severe winters, I vsfish to ask, 

 what more is necessary V 



The pollen theory is represented as 

 being substantiated by the various 

 arguments and experiments of its 

 advocates who claim that pollen is the 

 prime cause of bee-diarrhea, while 

 other features are represented as 

 being secondary causes, hastening the 

 deleterious effects of pollen ; thus vir- 

 tually holding the position that the 

 escape from bee-diarrhea where bees 

 are retained on natural stores, is 

 purely accidental, and that bee-diar- 

 rhea i's the inevitable result sooner or 

 later. Such a position is substan- 

 tiated when there cannot be a single 

 instance of successful wintering on 

 natural stores found on record ; and 

 it cannot be substantiated sooner 

 than this, from the fact that a single 

 instance of successful wintering from 

 year to year, divests all opposing argu- 

 ments and experiments of their in- 

 tended virtue, by holding all the 

 truths within its own grasp. This 

 single instance of successful winter- 

 ing, simply shows that all the require- 

 ments ot success are met ; and the 

 successful wintering of one thousand 

 or ten thousand apiaries would not 



