THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



151 



more nutritious, and the same quantity sustains 

 them longer. Tliey do not feed ui)on the honey 

 till the bee-bread is consumed. When they do 

 begin upon the honey they devour it very rap- 

 idly. The following experience may be of advan- 

 tage to apiarians : 



" Some years since, during the latter part of 

 ■winter, the bees were discovered to be dying. No 

 cause could be detected for some time. In the 

 loft of the kitchen there was a quantity of the 

 honey locust. One day the bees were seen fall- 

 ing from the garret to the floor beueatli. This 

 suggested the idea of their trouble. They were 

 perishing for food, and had found the locusts, and 

 were trying to feed upon them. Closer examina- 

 tion showed that they were very week and poor, 

 appearing unusually small. Tlie spring was so 

 near at hand with its flowers that they did not 

 need to be pensioners long. They were saved 

 with the following food : Water, sweetened with 

 molasses, dried fruit stewed and cut into small 

 pieces, and put in the water. Take out the empty 

 comb carefully and fill it Avith this, and put it in 

 the gum or near the entrance. Tli^ little creatures 

 seemed to appreciate the kindness chat saved them 

 in their extremity. They would gather around 

 the kind friend as their little repast was brought 

 to them, just as chickens gather about the one 

 who feeds them, and they showed no disposition 

 whatever to sting their rescuer. As soon as the 

 season opened they ceased to run to the hand 

 that fed them, preferring to go abroad and glean a 

 support by their own industrious toil. The neces- 

 sity of regularity in feeding was proven in this 

 case. The molasses being consumed, one clay 

 passed before any more was obtained. Intermit- 

 ting the feeding that one day caused the loss of 

 one hive. By the use of two gallons of molasses 

 Ihirteen hives were saved through the famine un- 

 til the opening season rendered Uiem self-support- 

 ing. They didn't need to be fed long." 



The idea is not entirely new to me. I have 

 always had my doubts whether bee-bread or pol- 

 len, collected in such large quantities in the hive, 

 should be used merely to nourish the embryo 

 bees or to facilitate the elaboration of wax, and 

 whether bee-bread did not also, enter for a good 

 share in the daily food of the bees in the hive. 

 Is not the want of it the cause of dysentery during 

 the latter days of winter, after the store of bee- 

 bread has been«exhausted in the hive ? Swarms 

 with plenty of honey, but destitute of bee-bread 

 or pollen, will not thrive (U- winter well. Let 

 practical and observing bee-keepers study and 

 experiment, and report to the Bee Journal their 

 further investigation on the uses of pollen in the 

 liive. John N. Rottiers. 



Lafargeville, N. Y. 



[For the .iiuerican Bee Jourual.] 



Trials and Queries of a Beginner. 



Mr. Editor :— I have for a lone: time promised 

 myself to write something for the Bee Journal, 

 but have often found that, like other promises we 

 hear of, they are made lo be broken, thousih I 

 liave made up my mind for once to keep mine- 

 so here goes. To begin, I Avill give you an abridged 



biography. I yfas born in the year 1836, and 

 consequently am in the large side of thirty-three 

 years old. I am a native of New York Slate ; re- 

 moved West in 1844 ; received my eariy training 

 in a fruit and ornamental garden, but for the last 

 fourteen years have been ^engaged in mechanical 

 busmess (a mason by trade) ; stand five feet nine 

 mchesin boots ; weigh one hundred and fifty-nine 

 pounds ; in temperament am always ready to re- 

 ceive truth, but not credulous enough for theories 

 logo down without evidence; am a great lover of 

 honey, and an enthusiastic admirer of the honey- 

 bee. But, Mr. Editor, this is as much as— per- 

 haps more than— will interest your readers ; sol 

 will try and give a little of my experience in bee- 

 keeping. 



Having, as I supposed, a splendid offer of a 

 swarm of bees in a barrel, I bought them, paying 

 the very moderate sum of thirty dollars ($3U) for 

 them. They were very heavy, and some of mv 

 bee-keeping neighbors assured me that I should 

 without doubt get four or five large swarms frcni 

 them that year. This I believed, of course ; 

 brought them home, with hia;h hopes of a " hon- 

 eyed future. "_ But, alas! that we should all be 

 doomed to disappointment. You may imagine 

 how eageriy I watched them night and day. and 

 with what pleasant anticipations! looked forward 

 to the time when the first swarm (of the dimen- 

 sions of a two-bushel basket, or more,) should 

 make its appearance. In the meantime, I had 

 expressed to some of my bee-keeping neighbors 

 my determination to send for " Quinby's Myste- 

 ries," which I had seen advertised in the Af/ri- 

 culturist. This, of course, displeased them very 

 much, for it gave evidence of two facts : 1st, that 

 I was losing confidence in their counsel ; and 2d, 

 that I was determined not to fool away my time 

 and money running after new " Mys'teries and 

 Isms." However, Quinby came to my relief in 

 time to assure me that I need not look for an end- 

 less number of "large swarms" out of my old 

 barrel. Also, that it was useless to try to get 

 them to colonize themselves in empty boxes, at 

 sides and real-, connected with the main hive by 

 tin tubes, &c. ; of which facts I had become pretty 

 well satisfied alieady. 



You may guess that I soon made up my mind 

 that I knew very little about bee.s, and I lost no 

 time in telling my boasting neighbors that they 

 knew less than I had given them credit for. I 

 immediately went to work and made a frame 

 hive with nine frames of the Quinby pattern (for 

 I then considered him thoroughly posted on bee 

 matters, and of course must be correct as regards 

 form of hive as well as theory) ; and on the 7th of 

 July, in the evening, after it had got dark enough 

 that the bees could not see to s^ing, I went at 

 them with hammer and tongs, &c., and some- 

 time before daylight next niorning had robbed 

 them of all their honey and got them in my 

 empty hive, with a few pieces of worthless comb, 

 gue>^dng they were all right. But, to all wJiom it 

 may concern, I may certify that that job effect- 

 nally cured me of all desire to handle live bets in 

 the dark. The summing up of the matter was 

 that I had about sixty pounds of poor honey, 

 eight pounds of wax, and a large swarm of bees 

 in an empty frame hive ; with'a countenance so 

 disfigured next day that my friend's didn't "know 



