1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



187 



very large buds. The leaves are larger than on any 

 other variety, being often eight inches in diameter, 

 are dark green on the upper fide and whitish 

 beneath, with small tufts of down at the intersections 

 of the principle nerves. The flowers are also larger 

 than those of any other Linden tree, and are white 

 without the yellowish tinge of the other varieties. It j 

 blooms in June. The seed pods are globose, downy, j 

 and have five ribs. The wood is whiter and more 

 tender than the others. This tree belongs to the 

 central portion of the United States, not extending 

 farther east than the river Delaware, but as far west 

 as Kentucky, north into Pennsylvania, Ohio and 

 Indiana and south to Georgia, and South Carolina. 



6. Tilia Americana Alba Glabra, Smooth-fruited 

 White-leaved Linden. Large-leaved Lime tree. This 

 differs from the last in having purplish colored 

 twigs, a yellow tinge to the flowers and in the seed 

 pods being destitute of ribs. It inhabits the same 

 district of country. 



7. Tilia Americana Alba Pendula, White- 

 leaved Weeping Linden. This is a sub-variety of 

 Tilia Americana Alba, with very large leaves and 

 slender drooping shoots. It is only to be found in 

 the nurseries among cultivated ornamental trees. 



become any more irritable than I am. I hope the 

 irascibility of bee-men arises from some other 

 cause, as I am very fond of honey, and would 

 dislike very much to give it up in that way. 



The bee dysentery appears to be a very knotty 

 question, now under discussion amoung bee-keepers. 

 Dysentery I believe is generally admitted to be the 

 disease. Remove the cause and the effect will sub- 

 side as a matter of course. One cause has suggested 

 itself to my mind which I have not seen hinted at 

 by any writers, viz. : the too free use of the extractor. 

 The honey being extracted closely, till late in the 

 season when the bees were driven by necessity to 

 gather and store away unhealthy food to obviate 

 famine, but thereby gendering disease. My opinion 

 is if the last honey gathered had been extracted, 

 and some of the first honey returned to them to 

 winter upon, the case would have been far different. 

 Bee-keepers, examine this matter, and see if bees 

 kept in straw hives, hollow logs, or plank boxes, 

 where no extractor was used, suffered from dysen- 

 tery to the same extent that those kept in movable 

 comb hives did. The question needs investigation, 

 and the evil should be remedied if possible. 



W. E. Freeman. 



Olustee Greek P. 0., Alabama. 



Mr. Gallup Called Up. 



Mr. Editor : — I do not wish to tease, annoy or 

 perplex any of your able contributors, but there 

 are several simple questions 1 would be glad to have 

 light upon. You doubtless have scores of contri- 

 butors who could answer the questions, but as one 

 might wait for another and finally none answer, I 

 will call on Mr. Gallup in particular. And 1st : 

 Are bees strictly honest as they are undoubtedly j 

 industrious, or are they like the fallen race of | 

 Adam, cursed with thieves and robbers ? 2d : 

 If thieves exist among them, how shall we know 

 them ? 3d : How shall we go about protecting 

 honest bees from their depredations ? How shall 

 we know the aggressor from the aggrieved, etc.? 

 4th : I see hives spoken of as being thoroughly 

 ventilated. If the hive needs ventilation why do 

 the bees take such pains to seal and glue up every 

 hole or crack ? 5th : Bees fasten and stick the 

 hive to the bench or stand on which they set ; is it 

 not wrong to be interrupting the bees by breaking 

 them loose constantly ? 6th: Of course bees should 

 be often examined for different purposes, but as it 

 is said they will go to eating honey and filling 

 themselves on all occasions when jarred or disturb- 

 ed, ought they not to be disturbed by examination 

 as seldom as possible? I confess I am a little 

 ashamed to ask so many simple questions, but one 

 must first expose his ignorance in order to gain 

 light, therefore I will try cheerfully to submit to 

 the humiliation. 7th: By reading the productions 

 of some of the most eminent bee-keepers, I am 

 inclined to think the business a very irritative one. 

 Do apiarians imbibe the nature of the bees, which 

 causes them to be so irritable, so ready to sting, 

 fight, etc. ? 



If they do, my better half says she wishes me to 

 drop all idea of the business, as she thinks I am 

 too high strung already, and she will try to put up 

 with nice tropical cane syrup or even sorghum 

 syrup in the place of honey, rather than I should 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



What Caused the Disastrous Loss of Bees last 

 Winter, and how may the Eepetition of it 

 be Avoided in Future? 



In answering the above questions, I wish to call 

 up some of the evidence given on this subject at the 

 late Annual Meeting of bee-keepers at Indianapolis. 

 Mr. Zimmerman said that old bees and long, cold 

 winters were the causes, and that he let some of his 

 swarms have a fly in a warm room, and that those 

 all lived, while all others died. Now this flying set 

 them to breeding, and they reared bees that lived 

 while the old bees died. The fact that the working 

 time of a bee is not more than sixty days, is not 

 sufficiently considered. Mr. Moon said that, every 

 swarm he fed on sugar syrup lived ; taking the 

 syrup for the remedy, when the fact is it only stim- 

 ulated breeding, and they reared young bees that 

 could live until spring. Mr. Smith asked why one 

 swarm died and another by its side lived. I say 

 one reared brood late in the fall, while the other 

 did not. 



Mr. Pope said that his bees died with plenty of 

 bees and honey in the hives, which shows that they 

 had plenty of old bees, and did not rear brood late, 

 for if they had, the combs could not have been filled 

 with honey. Mr. Prentice thought it was epizootic. 

 If so why did it not take all the apiaries as they 

 came, instead of skipping all that were breeding up 

 late in the season. Dr. Hamlin said there was great, 

 mortality among bees in Tennessee three years ago, 

 and he was of the opinion that it was on account of 

 too much honey. Here again we have the proof 

 that they could not have reared bees late in the fall. 

 Mrs. Tupper had no disease among her bees. The 

 fact should here be stated that she was rearing 

 queens and increasing stock until late in the fall, 

 showing that, her bees were young when put into 

 winter quarters. She examined over 500 colonies 



