I HE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



115 



Pollen for Brood Rearing— 

 The Necessity for It, Etc. 



BY M. H. DE WITT. 



I am very much interested about 

 pollen, because bees cannot rear brood 

 without it, or some substitute for it. 

 Bees kept in confinement and hn\ on 

 pure sugar and pure water, will thrive 

 aid void little or no excrement ; but 

 as soon as pollen, or food containing 

 the pollen element are given to them 

 their bodies will become distended, 

 and instead of a transparent fluid 

 they will void a fluid of a darkish 

 tint, which soil their hives and emit 

 quite an unpleasant smell. I once 

 wintered a fair colony of bees on 

 stores of pure sugar syrup, and when 

 they flew in the spring there were no 

 perceptible spots on the white snow or 

 their hives. They had no pollen, and 

 of course no brood rearing could go 

 on without it. A few years ago I 

 made some experiments with bees by 

 keeping them confined and forcing 

 them to try to rear brood without 

 pollen. The result was as follows: 

 Eggs were seen layed in the cells, but 

 none of them hatched into larva?. 

 Then I gave them access to corn meal, 

 and they began to load up and pack 

 it to their hives, and brood rearing 

 began in earnest, and every egg would 

 hatch into larva 1 . It has been known 

 for many years that in the springtime 

 bees will make use of the flour or 

 meal of many kinds of grain, and 

 many bee-keepers feed bushels of it 

 every season. The favorite grain 

 seems to be rye ; and as the bees are 

 apt to fall into it and sometimes get 

 so covered as to perish, I have been 

 in the habit of having the rye ground 

 up with an equal quantity of oats. A 



great many plans have been devised 

 from time to time in the various bee 

 journals for feeding it without waste; 

 but after all our experiments, a heap 

 of meal on the ground is about as sat- 

 isfactory as any way. Of course it 

 should be protected from rain ; and 

 as there is usually much high wind 

 in the spring, which is, to say the 

 least, very annoying to the bees, it is 

 well to have it in a spot sheltered as 

 much as possible, always aiming to 

 to give them as much sunshine as 

 possible. 



Sang Run, Md. 



Feeding. 



BY STANTON E. HITCHCOCK. 



One of the most important periods 

 a beginner in bee culture has to pass 

 through is in feeding at the right 

 time. Many beginners make a mis- 

 take in supposing that a colony will 

 make honey enough for wintering be- 

 fore working in sections, and will 

 place them in winter quarters without 

 closely examining them. 



Colonies should be fed in the fall, 

 even if you think they have stores 

 enough, for it is safest to be sure. I 

 would advise feeding colonies and let 

 them fill the comb, leaving room for 

 brood. They will come out in a bet- 

 ter condition if they have liberal 

 stores than if a small allowance is 

 given them. 



About every bee-keeper has differ- 

 ent methods of feeding, but for me 

 the more simple the feeder the 

 better as long as it auswers the pur- 

 pose. My method of feeding is by 

 using an inverted paper box on the 

 frames. The bees soon find where the 

 nectar comes from, and will quickly 

 place it in the comb, I fed fifteen 



