92 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



criptionof bees, which evidently iden- 

 tifies the ItaUan race of bees. 



The Italian being a"thoroughbred," 

 that is, a cross between several races 

 of bees, of a thousand years' duration 

 (and still they "sport") inbreeding, 

 ,ho\v unlikely it is, that a new strain 

 . of hybrids could be established in a 

 . few years of time. 



ANSWER BT C. W. DAYTON. 



The Italian may be either a cross 

 . or the pure race of different accli- 

 mation. It probably was in a 

 pretty early day when bees first 

 emigrated into Italy. They may 

 have been there before its settle- 

 ment by man. We have no his- 

 tory so ancient. The Italians, Cy- 

 prians, S3n-ians, etc., may all be 

 pure stock and originally the same. 



ANSWERS BY J. E. POND. 



So far as we have any knowledge, 

 the Italian or Ligurian bee is of a 

 pure race, giving the word pure 

 its generally accepted definition. 

 Whellter or not is originated in a 

 cross is wholly a matter of conject- 

 ure; if so, its formation was the 

 work of centuries ago, and all its 

 characteristics are so fixed tliat they 

 are duplicated with absolute cer- 

 tainty ; and further, those charac- 

 teristics are so firmly fixed that 

 they show themselves the stronger 

 when the Italian is cross-mated 

 with other races. This fact alone 

 ought to be suflScient proof; but 

 the markings that always exist, and 

 are the accepted proofs of purity, 

 add sufficiently to the evidence as 

 above, to render it certain that to- 

 day the Italian is a pure race. 



THE POLLEN THEORY. 

 SUGAR STORES. 



Query No. 17. If the so-called 

 '•polU'ii theory" is correct, why should 

 there be any" winter losses? that is, 

 why should not the total exclusion of 

 natural stores both of honey and pol- 

 len, and the snflicient supply of sugar 

 for winter food, prevent all loss during 

 any winter, no matter how severe or 

 long protracted? E. B. 



ANSWERS BY JAMES HEDDON. 



In response to query No. 17, I 

 will say, simply because bee diar- 

 rhtea is not the only cause of bees 

 dyino' in the winter. If the que- 

 rist will chemically analyze the di- 

 arrhetic excreta from bees, he will 

 find it pollen first and pollen last 

 and pollen all the time and every 

 time. 



I prepared a lot of colonies just 

 as above described, and during the 

 cold winter of two years ago, nu- 

 merous colonies left outdoors, froze 

 to death, but none showed any signs 

 of fecal accumulations. Seventy 

 colonies so prepared and somewhat 

 protected, came through in fine 

 condition, and when they first flew 

 on April 17, after confinement of 

 151 days, they voided nothing and 

 their bodies were apparently as 

 slim as in autumn. 



While I believe that bees can be 

 practically successfully wintered 

 in most instances and locations, 

 with natural stores and proper tem- 

 perature, I further believe that, if 

 properly-prepared,cane sugar syrup 

 is the only bee-food within the hive, 

 that this, in connection with proper 

 temperature, renders our certainty 

 as great or greater than that of 

 wintering our horses and cows. 



For some reason unknown to me, 

 our sugars of late years are bound 

 to crystallize in the comb, notwith- 

 standing the more than usual 

 amount of tartaric acid added. 

 Several have reported loss from 

 this cause, and it is a fact that 

 bees readily starve when the syrup 

 crystallizes. 



I tliank the querist for prefixing 

 "so-called" to the term pollen the- 

 ory, for I think it is no longer a 

 theory, but a demonstrable fact, 

 that 'the winter consumption of 

 pollen, either in the form of bee- 

 bread or floating in the honey, is 

 the direct cause of fecal accumula- 

 tion in bees. 



