504 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOaRNAL. 



Mr. Shuck deplores the amount of 

 space in the bee-papers devoted to 

 the wintering problem or the pollen 

 theory, which is the choice of myself 

 and others in our work to solve this 

 great apicultural enigma. Bee-papers 

 are published to give apiarists an 

 opportunity to exchange ideas and 

 thus foster apicultural progress, 

 through honest controversy, giving 

 experience, etc. ; we have a right to 

 make mistakes and report them. If 

 our knowledge was infinite, we would 

 be right upon all subjects, progress 

 would be impossible, and no bee- 

 paper would be needed. Such, how- 

 ever, is not the case, and every intel- 

 ligent reader demands only honesty of 

 purpose. 



There is now no perceptible road 

 around the pollen theory, except in 

 the "dry feces" theory. Even that 

 leaves our labors not in vain. With 

 that, pollen is the cause of bee-diar- 

 rhea ; without, it no diarrhea will 

 develop. It only remains that it is 

 easier and more practical to remove 

 conditions that cause pollen consump- 

 tion to destroy our bees, than tore- 

 move the pollen itself. I feel per- 

 fectly confident that I shall be able to 

 successfully winter my bees here- 

 after. I am also confident that others 

 will do likewise. 



Dowagiac, 9 Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Was it Pollen or Moisture? 



C. W. DAYTON. 



On Nov. 23, 1884, 1 placed in a cellar 

 containing -SoO cubic feet of space 

 (whicli was built for the purpose of 

 wintering bees), CO colonies of bees 

 which were suspended in mid-air, and 

 40 colonies in hives that were without 

 bottom-boards, and having solid 

 boards as covers to the brood-cham- 

 bers. The colonies were tiered up .5 

 high, facing an isle 3% feet wide, and 

 the differently prepared colonies were 

 alternated with each other as they 

 were put in. The stores consisted of 

 pure white-clover honey, and as much 

 pollen as it was possible to give them 

 and that was contained by the re- 

 quired number of combs. 



During all the winter the mercury 

 varied scarcely a degree from 44"^ at 

 the bottom of the cellar, and 47^ at 

 the top ; and with the exception of a 

 .3J^-incli pipe extending from the bot- 

 tom of the cellar and joined to the 

 chimney, all chances for ventilation 

 were cut off. 



For the first six weeks after the 

 bees were put in, the prospects ap- 

 peared to be favorable for successful 

 wintering. On Jan. 6, 188.5, 1 noticed, 

 while peering in at the bottom of the 

 hives, a slight restlessness of the col- 

 onies in the hives having tiglit covers. 



Jan. 13 found them very uneasy, the 

 cellar smelled strongly of bee-diar- 

 rhea, and many of the hives were 

 soiled with excrement. An examina- 

 tion at this time revealed condensed 

 moisture on tlie outside of the covers 

 or on the inside of the hives in some 

 part of the luood-chambers, the posi- 

 tion of which moisture varied in ac- 



cordance to the numerical strength of 

 the colony. After re-piling the hives 

 and removing the cover-boards, the 

 moisture escaped and the bees became 

 quiet and tightly clustered, and the 

 diarrhetic odor entirely disappeared 

 from the cellar. This case I believe 

 to be an instance in which bee-diar- 

 rhea was caused through the sipping 

 of condensed moisture by the bees, 

 in which case, had there been no pol- 

 len in the hive, the moisture would 

 have remained untouched as it does 

 when the bees hang out of the hive 

 during a shower in the summer sea- 

 son ; and the reason for it is obvious. 



Although the colonies remained 

 very quiet, affected bees continued to 

 go to the cellar-bottom until about 

 Feb. 1, when the loss of bees nearly 

 stopped, and all went smoothly until 

 the effects of the warmer weather 

 (which came about March 4) began 

 the retarding tlie escape of moisture 

 from the cellar. At this time I ob- 

 served that the colonies which were 

 made weak by the loss of bees, were 

 unable to protect their combs from 

 the increasing dampness of the cellar 

 which gradually covered them with 

 mold and moisture, and which, in a 

 condensed form, extended on all sides 

 of the clusters, and sometimes under 

 the feet of the. bees in the weaker 

 colonies. In case of the foregoing 

 conditions, it was not long until the 

 bees were forced to partake of sour 

 honey, in consequence of wuich 17 of 

 the "smallest colonies died between 

 March 9 and 16. Supposing the cause 

 of the death of these colonies, I im- 

 mediately supplied the rest of the 40 

 colonies with good honey, and caused 

 a draft of hot air to circulate through 

 the cellar, which removed the mois- 

 ture, and I lost no more before they 

 were put out on April 4. 



As soon as they were taken from 

 the cellar, 12 colonies swarmed out, 

 and alighting in one cluster, I made 

 but 3 small colonies of them. On May 

 1, 11 weak and diseased colonies re- 

 mained of the 40 whose hives had 

 tight covers to the brood-chambers ; 

 and of the 00 colonies which were in 

 the hives that had neither covers nor 

 bottom-boards, 58 were healthy and 

 strong, one had starved and one was 

 queenless. 



One thing of which I took particu- 

 lar notice was, that the diseased colo- 

 nies were nearly, or entirely, desti- 

 tute of brood, while the healthy colo- 

 nies nearly always had brood in from 

 one to four combs. 



It should be remembered that in 

 this experiment the preparation and 

 condition of all the colonies was the 

 same, except the coverings to the 

 brood-chambers, and that the results 

 were exactly the opposite, so much so, 

 in fact, that my premeditations ( which 

 was to produce the disorder, give ven- 

 tilation, and thereby preserve the 

 colonies alive, though in a somewhat 

 weakened condition, as I had done in 

 other winters) came near being de- 

 feated. Had I been aware of the 

 humidity of the cellar in time, I have 

 no doubt but that my anticipations 

 might have been fully realized. 



With me, strong colonies only are 

 able to withstand the effects of ex- 



cessive moisture ; but give me a 

 warm and dry cellar, and I will suc- 

 cessfully winter the smallest colony. 

 To maintain a steady and even tem- 

 perature in cellar-wintering, is to 

 maintain that condition which is the 

 most favorable for the accumulation 

 of moisture. 

 Bradford, (5 Iowa. 



Read at the Maine ConTentlon. 



Bee-Culture in Maine. 



F. O. ADDITION. 



The following are extracts from the 

 President's annual address : 



It is not to be expected that all 

 who are engaged in bee-keeping will 

 make it a success, nor would I recom- 

 mend for every one to keep bees. 

 There are persons who do not seem to 

 every get time for thought, wlio are 

 ever at work digging and delving 

 from morn till night, often doing 

 things that it were better not to have 

 been done, when a little time spent in 

 careful study would have brought 

 better results with less physical labor. 

 We need^a certain amount of labor, 

 but we want a better understanding 

 of our business whatever it may be. 



In some States where the climate is 

 more adapted to honey-producing 

 than ours, and where a greater num- 

 ber make bee-keeping a specialty, 

 their crop will surpass ours in 

 quantity ; but we have the satisfac- 

 tion of this, that they cannot surpass 

 ours in quality, for no better honey is 

 produced than that which comes from 

 the hills and valleys of our own State. 

 Still we are far behind some of our 

 sister States in the science of apicul- 

 ture ; after the rapid progress we 

 have made for the past few years, we 

 are still only in our infancy ; compara- 

 tively few are engaged in bee-keeping, 

 and still less understand the princi- 

 ples necessary for a successful prose- 

 cution of the business. 



Many may say that they only keep 

 a few bees to get what honey they 

 want at home, and cannot afford to 

 go to the expense of keeping them on 

 the improved plan. Let me say to 

 those, " what is worth doing at all is 

 worth doing well." What would you 

 think of a man that would say it did 

 not make any difference how many 

 potatoes or now much grain he got 

 per acre, as he was only raising it for 

 his own use V There are, doubtless, 

 millions of blossoms that secrete 

 honey each year that are not visited 

 by the honey-bee. Then again, our 

 honey season is so short, and our 

 honey-flows at such stated periods, 

 and each so short that there is but 

 little danger of overstocking the short- 

 ness of our honey season, is another 

 reason why we should understand 

 the requirements of our bees, to have 

 them ready when the season comes. . 



There are many things for us to 

 learn before we can claim anything 

 like perfection in bee-keeping. I do 

 not mean by this that there are none 

 who understand the business, for we 

 have many such, and it is through 

 the efforts of these that we may look 

 for the greatest improvements, for 



