THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



235 



THE POLLEN THEORY, 



which I beheve we may now cease 

 to call a " theory," as it is a well- 

 established fact that the excreta re- 

 sulting from bee diarrhoea, which is 

 the one great cause of mortality in 

 winter, is composed almost wholly 

 of pollen. 



I will now proceed to tell you, 

 first, what I know, second, what I 

 believe, and third, what I am in 

 doubt about connected with this 

 subject. 



First, as above stated, I know 

 that all diarrhoetic excreta is replete 

 with pollen ; that bees will not suffer 

 with the disease if their winter diet 

 is confined to properly prepared, 

 pure, cane sugar syrup ; that a nor- 

 mal colony of bees thus supplied 

 and placed in a dry, well ventilated 

 repository in which the temperature 

 never falls below 50° nor above 55°, 

 with the hive properly covered, is 

 surer to come out in spring in a 

 more perfect condition than do our 

 horses and cows ; that bees will some- 

 times winter perfectly in a very damp 

 atmosphere ; likewise, in a high tem- 

 perature, or one as low as 30° or 35°, 

 providing the food is as above cle- 

 scribed ; that in the line of possibility 

 we have mastered the problem and 

 can winter any or all of our colonies 

 with certainty. 



Second, I believe that a low tem- 

 perature is the most common and po- 

 tent indirect cause of the disease, be- 

 cause it compels the bees to exercise 

 in addition to their other means of 

 keeping up their temperatures, and 

 this exercise begems a waste of tissue 

 which the bees endeavor to replace 

 by consumption of nitrogen-pollen ; 

 and that whenever this pollen is 

 taken into the intestines, an oppor- 

 tunit}' to discharge it must soon oc- 

 cur, or diarrhoea will result ; that 

 humidity is not detrimental to suc- 

 cessful wintering provided the tem- 

 perature be kept proportionately 

 higher; that bees do not normally 



discharge their foeces in a dry state ; 

 that some honeys contain much 

 floating pollen that the bees inad- 

 vertently consume when consuming 

 the honey ; that while floating pol- 

 len is more or less in nearly all nec- 

 tar, the most common manner of 

 mixing is soaking up with it, where 

 the honey is placed in cells that are 

 first partly filled with bee-bread. 



I believe that if we knew the exact 

 influence of each condition bearing 

 upon the problem, we should find it 

 true that, although we cannot winter 

 our bees perfectly, /. <?., without any 

 fecal accumulation whatever, we can 

 winter them practically successfully 

 upon natural stores, if we secure just 

 the right combination of conditions 

 surrounding them. I should have said 

 that we all know such is the case, 

 but it seems that the fraternity is not 

 yet satisfied that any person knows 

 that combination. In fact there are 

 but few who believe that any combi- 

 nation of conditions will secure uni- 

 versal success, where natural stores 

 are used. I believe that there is no 

 locality in which bees cannot be win- 

 tered successfully upon the natural 

 stores of that locality, if the right 

 combination of condition? for that 

 locality be maintained. Now as 

 honey is quite cheap, and, with 

 many, difficult to dispose of, I favor 

 extended experiment in the direction 

 of success with natural stores, for all 

 of us who are not already able thus to 

 succeed. 



Third : under this head I may group 

 many things together, without men- 

 tioning any of them specially by re- 

 peating that [ do not know, nor have 

 I any specific or settled belief re- 

 garding just the right combination of 

 conditions with which to winter my 

 colonies successfully upon natural 

 stores. 



Last winter I devoted most of my 

 colonies to experimenting in this line 

 and shall repeat it the coming win- 

 ter in high hopes of reaching the de- 

 sired result, which I shall be glad to 



