234 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



simple, and here let me say that 

 a great many men fuss with their 

 bees too much, working contrary to 

 the natural requirements of the honey 

 bee, while others pay too little atten- 

 tion to them. 



I aim to have all my colonies sup- 

 plied with good vigorous queens by 

 the first of August, and to have all 

 brood hatched by October ist, that 

 all the young bees may have one or 

 more flights before winter sets in, in 

 order that they may become matured 

 and strong. I do not want babies for 

 the hardship of our cold northern 

 winters ; in fact, I prefer bees for 

 successful wintering that hatched in 

 August to those hatched in Octo- 

 ber. Could I have my own way, 

 I would not attempt to winter a 

 single bee hatched after September 

 I St. As I have told you before, 

 I see to it that my bees are all 

 supplied with stores by October 15, 

 after which they are not disturbed 

 until winter sets in, when the hives 

 are packed with dry planer shavings 

 on the four sides and top, and left 

 on the summer stands, where they 

 are left undisturbed during the en- 

 tire winter, except during a thaw, 

 when the entrances are examined to 

 see if they are clear so that the bees 

 can have a flight if they wish. 



In conclusion, allow me to say 

 that it is my opinion that the so- 

 called bee diarrhoea is caused : 



1st, by the young baby bees that 

 are too young and weak to withstand 

 our long cold winter. 



2nd, by allowing the bees to have 

 too much unripe and unwholesome 

 fall honey and honey-dew, both of 

 which are detrimental to the welfare 

 of the bees. Not only is the late 

 gathered honey itself injurious, but 

 the gathering of it uses up the vitality 

 of our August bees to such an extent 

 that they are not strong enough phy- 

 sically to withstand our long winters, 

 unless the very best ■ of food is fur- 

 nished them ; and here comes in the 

 truth as to the "pollen theory." 



These old bees being so nearly ex- 

 hausted at the commencement of 

 winter, they are forced to consume 

 a large amount of pollen in order to 

 keep up their physical force which 

 is necessary to generate heat suffi- 

 cient to keep the cluster warm, which 

 cluster (in this particular case) is 

 composed largely of very young bees 

 (baby bees I call them) hatched just 

 as winter sets in, when, if no late 

 honey had been gathered, there would 

 have been no rearing of brood after 

 September, and our August bees 

 would not be worn out in gathering 

 said honey, so they would have been 

 in full vigor and strength for winter, 

 and no baby bees for them to over 

 exert themselves in protecting. 



P. S. Judging from the present 

 outlook, I venture to say that bees in 

 this section will not winter well the 

 coming winter, owing .to the fact that 

 they are gathering too much late 

 honey and rearing too much brood 

 late in the season. There will be 

 too few August bees in our hives at 

 the commencement of winter. 



Bristol, Vt. 



Jajies Heddon. 



Urgent request is my only ex- 

 cuse for again coming forward with 

 a subject upon which I have already 

 said so much. I dislike to write 

 upon it again, the more because I 

 have had no reason to change my 

 former opinions regarding our win- 

 ter losses — opinions which I have 

 as clearly set forth in other papers 

 and in my book as I can do here at 

 this time. However, I will repeat 

 much of what I have before stated, 

 trusting my opinions may be new to 

 some of your late subscribers. 



As many of you know, my obser- 

 vations have compelled me to be- 

 lieve in what is known as 



