1881 



GLEAJ^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



493 



I had a hive of tees queenless one month. On ex- 

 amining, I found one side of a frame laid nearly full 

 of eggs— from 2 to 8 eggs in every cell, and not a 

 queen nearer than 15 ft. I did think a queen might 

 have made a mistake and gone into the wrong hive; 

 but why did she lay the eggs in the way she did? I 

 have introduced a young queen in the same hive' 

 and she is doing well. 



Does the food that the bees give their young 

 change their sex, or docs a queen lay male and fe- 

 male eggs like a fowl? M. A. Garrett. 



New Iberia, La., Sept. 3, 1881. 



Bees sometimes ball their own queen dur- 

 ing a season of scarcity, seeming to have 

 tried to revenge themselves on tlieir poor 

 mother because the forage failed in the 

 tields. At such times they often start queen- 

 cells. I have sometimes thought it might be 

 caused by other hives standing too near — 

 the young bees, after some playspell. getting 

 in. and, finding a strange queen, commence 

 to ball her. You will tind in our back num- 

 bers, friend G., accounts of stocks that build 

 queen-cells right along, where they have a 

 laying queen. — Your last case is simply that 

 of a fertile worker, which subject you will 

 find fully discussed in the A B C book. — 

 Queens lay both kind of eggs, like fowls, 

 but they lay drone eggs in drone cells, and 

 usually, worker eggs in worker cells. 



IS POIiliEN AT FAUI^T? 



HOW SHALL WE FIX OITR BEES FOR WINTER? 



fjRIEND ROOT : —The ravages of last winter 

 have caused a multitude of views to be ex- 

 pressed as to the real cause of the general 

 mortality. I would say, in regard to them, as Dr. 

 John Gumming once said in regard to the many ex- 

 positions of the book of Revelation," A great deal 

 has been written upon this subject, much very fool- 

 ishly; more very rashly; nothing, however, in vain." 

 There will be some light evolved in almost every 

 view expressed. It is not 1o add myself to the al- 

 ready colossal number of writers who have ventured 

 to dissipate the darkness enveloping this subject, 

 that has prompted me to write this article, but to 

 correct, if I can, some views that have been already 

 advanced which I believe to be untenable. 



It has recently been maintained, by some very re- 

 spectable writers on apiculture, that pollen was the 

 Pandora's box out of which all our ills, during the 

 last winter, issued. Is this true? Let us see. What 

 is pollen but the fecundating dust of the anthers of 

 flowers, which bees have gathered, by their natural 

 instinct, from time immemorial? It is indispensable 

 food to the young larvic, without which brooding 

 can not be successfully carried on. It has, there- 

 foie, been in every hive, in its normal condition, 

 ever since the existence of the honey-bee. Its pres- 

 ence in the hive during winters in which bees have 

 easily survived, as well as those like last, in which 

 dysentery has prevailed, can not be questioned. 

 Why, then, charge the whole disaster upon the pol- 

 len, as if it were terribly at fault last winter while 

 perfectly harmless in other winters that bees have 

 generally survived? We might as well attribute 

 blame to the natural food of the human family, in 

 seasons conducive to dysentery, as to charge the 

 natural food of the bees with being the cause of dys- 

 entery r.mong them last winter. The fact is, that 



there are certain conditions of the human system, and 

 of the atmosphere, necessary to the enjoyment of 

 good health, even when we have the most suitable 

 and substantial food; and the same thing, I believe, 

 will hold good in the case of the honey-bee. 



Let us, then, look for a moment at the facts in the 

 case. These in reference to' last winter may be 

 summed i«p into two. First, we had a continuously 

 severe and cold winter, lasting from the beginning 

 of November until the last of March, in which bees 

 in this latitude had onlj' a single flight. Second, the 

 mortality during the winter was unparalleled. These 

 are admitted on all hands. The condition of the 

 bees was by no means uniform. Some were in good 

 condition, others were not; but all suffered less or 

 more, whether on summer stands or in cellars, 

 packed or unpacked. 1 infer, therefore, that the cold 

 of last winter, contiQuous as it was for whole months 

 without a single day of sunshine (which, by the way, 

 to all who noticed it was very remarkable), caused a 

 condition that induced dysentery almost as an epi- 

 demic. True, there were other secondary condi- 

 tions, induced by the excessive cold, that contribut- 

 ed to the fatal result. Bees were excluded from 

 reaching their stores of honey; this would necessi- 

 tate their eating more pollen than they otherwise 

 would, if it were within their reach. The effect of 

 this would be dysentery. The cold would likewise, 

 as Mr. Diulant has shown in a recent article, cause 

 them to eat more honey to keep up the neces- 

 sary temperature. This, if long continued, would 

 likewise result in the same way, if prevented from 

 haA'ing a purifying flight. Neither the pollen nor 

 the honey, do I believe, was greatly at fault, but the 

 cause of the general calamity was the remarkable 

 severity of the winter, which was entirely beyond 

 our control. We might, then, with equal propriety, 

 charge the cause of the "epizooty" among our 

 horses some years ago to the oats and corn they ate 

 that season, as to charge the cause of the bee dysen- 

 tery last winter to the harmless pollen and honey 

 that bees have gathered and eaten since they 

 hummed for the first time, among the primitive 

 flowers of the garden of Eden. 



Bee-keepers need chastisement, as well as others, 

 to Arcp them in mind of the divine sovereignty. 

 They are to remember that God gives power to be- 

 come wealthy in bee culture as in other things. 

 Farmers have their failure in crops; horticulturists 

 have their poor seasons; merchants have their dis- 

 asters; wool-growers their epidemics, and why not 

 bee-men? Let us, then, learn all we can from our 

 failures. A defeat to some generals is better than a 

 victory. I hope it will prove so to us. 



This article is already too long, or else I would tell 

 you how I have been succeeding. But I will only 

 say, that I have been doing well. I have made some 

 money. This is the only season I have ever realized 

 my outlays and somewhat of a gain. But I have 

 been as busy as a nailer. I hope to have some leisure 



now to write on some topics. 



W.M. Ballantine. 



Sago, Muskingum Co., O., Sept., 1881. 



Thanks, friend B. I think your point a 

 good one, where you say we might almost as 

 well lay the blame of the epizootic among 

 horses to their oifls or corn, as to lay the 

 blame on pollen for the losses in wintering. 

 Still, I have seen such good results in win- 

 tering with sugar stores and no pollen, that 

 I feel pretty sure that the food that nature 



