1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



387 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Pollen— Its Relation to Dysentery. 



F. DELLA TORRE. 



From certain inquiries recently re- 

 ceived, it appears that my few remarks 

 at the National Convention at Lexing- 

 ton were not altogether understood. 

 With permission, I will reply through 

 the Bee Journal. 



1 stated that pollen (pure) was not 

 the cause of dysentery ; that so far as 

 is known, bees have been wintering on 

 combs containing pollen since the cre- 

 ation, in hollow trees, with very good 

 results, and that " bacteria" was only 

 theory, proved so by me from many 

 experiments, anions which I will men- 

 tion one easily understood, viz : I tried 

 to inoculate healthy colonies by remo- 

 ving all their stores and replacing (in 

 mid-winter) with combs from colonies 

 in the worst stages of dysentery; in- 

 stead of contracting the disease", they 

 cleaned up the dirty combs, so that 

 none but an expert, by noticing the 

 wood-work of the frame, could tell 

 they had ever been affected. I stated, 

 I believe, that I knew the one and only 

 direct cause of dysentery, proved be- 

 yond doubt or question, by actual ex- 

 periments, at all seasons (if the year, 

 and for three consecutive years. 



This sounds " very large" for one 

 mail's share of new discovery, if it 

 were such, but it is not, we have all 

 known the fact for years, without giv- 

 ing it the importance that it merits; 

 but I do claim the right to bring this 

 before my fellow-apiarists, and to com- 

 pel their attention in any way I can 

 to the importance of an exact under- 

 standing of these facts. 



The amount of pollen digested by 

 adult bees is practically nothing, and 

 under the most favorable conditions, 

 no matter what amount be eaten, it 

 will all be voided as a dry dust ; if the 

 conditions are unfavorable, dysentery 

 is the result. These are both state- 

 ments which all admit, and say, as a 

 logical consequence, that pollen is the 

 cause of dysentery, and " that settles 

 it." Let me draw a comparison, 

 clumsy though it be ; it may serve to 

 convey my meaning: If it were not 

 for gunpowder, bullets would be very 

 harmless for the purpose of destroying 

 life ; if itw y ere not for moisture, pollen 

 would not only not produce death (like 

 the bullets mentioned above). but from 

 it would spring life itself, in fulfilment 

 of the God-given mandate, "increase 

 and multiply." Why is it, then, that 

 pollen, ever ready to produce life, 

 should be accused of defeating the 

 very object for which it is created, 

 when the whole fault is our own, be- 

 cause we choose to draw wrong con- 

 clusions ? 



If I could only convince the frater- 

 nity of the importance of ever keep- 

 ing this word " moisture" constantly 

 before them, whether in debate or in 

 the apiarv, it will prove for itself bet- 

 ter than I can. that it is the cause of 

 dysentery, and an ever-present cause, 

 for wherever there is a cluster of bees 

 there you will find this subtle enemy 

 to bee-life being produced. 



Again, if it was pollen that produced 

 dysentery, would not all bees die that 

 have any in their hives in winter V I 

 do not call a colony in normal condi- 

 tion in this State, unless it has several 

 pounds of pollen at this date. When 

 pollen is covered with honey it will re- 

 main unchanged for a long period ; 

 but when exposed to damp air it, like 

 all other organic matter, decomposes 

 —in plain English, rots. 



Fresh, sound vegetables and fruits 

 are healthy for people, and fresh, sound 

 pollen is "harmless for bees, if they 

 choose to eat it. Rotten fruit or pol- 

 len, if persisted in. will cause sickness 

 and death to both of the above ob- 

 jects. This is not an abstruse subject 

 (I wish it was), but it is so simple that 



it foils one's attempt at a lucid expla- 

 nation. 



t lettl's golden rule is without a rival 

 for summer, but it should be supple- 

 mented for winter to read, "'Keep your 

 pollen dry." To do this your hive 

 must be di'y, and to effect tins desira- 

 ble object mere mechanical absorb 

 entS. chaff, sawdust, leaves, etc., will 

 not do, for if the air outside is damp, 

 that in the hive is more so. Then i! 

 is that t lie pollen absorbs moisture and 

 rots, giving off sulphuretted hydrogen 

 gas, which is poison to bee lite, besides 

 the very offensive odor which makes 

 them restless that this gas has, is the 

 first indication of dysentery. We 

 must use chemical absorbents. The 

 cheapest is a quicklime cushion divi- 

 sion-board, and that is the whole story. 

 then if you want any dysentery to ex- 

 periment with you must do as I have 

 done — buy it. 



Baltimore Co., Md., Nov. 22, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Experiments in Feeding Bees.l 



WM. STOLLEY. 



Since Sept. 29, 1 have attempted an 

 experiment with my bees to which I 

 was led, partly by my good success in 

 wintering them safely last season 

 (nearly exclusively on syrups of coffee 

 A sugar), and partly because several 

 correspondents of the American Bee 

 Journal have suggested to take 

 from the bees all their natural stores 

 (in particular the pollen), and feed 

 coffee A sugar syrup instead. To be 

 as safe as possible in prosecuting my 

 plan, and be ready at short notice to 

 put my bees in proper condition to go 

 into winter quarters, I proceeded in 

 the following manner : 



On Oct. 18, I extracted all frames 

 filled with partly unsealed honey, and 

 those containing the most of pollen, 

 but leaving in each hive 5 frames 

 containing the most of sealed honey 

 and the least of pollen. After ex- 

 tracting, I selected the choicest of 

 the comb and put back in the center 

 of the brood chamber for each colony 

 according to strength, 2 or 3 frames 

 thus emptied only, and contracted the 

 space by division or chaff boards. 

 Thus arranged, I allowed my bees to 

 partake of the honey adhering to the 

 extracted comb, as well as to suck all 

 the cappings dry. After they got 

 through with it, I commenced to feed 

 the sugar syrup out of large feeders 

 made out of \% inch thick planks, 

 from 8 to 12 inches wide, and about 2 

 feet long. About 10 of them were 

 prepared with grooves *£ inch wide 

 and probably % inch deep. Thus I 

 could feed about 2 gallons at one fill- 

 ing. 



All the feeding was done outside the 

 hive near my bee house, but out of 

 sight of their hive. Since I have no 

 strange bees to con tend with, I thought 

 this the quickest and best way, and 

 can say it worked to my entire, satis- 

 faction, and but very little fighting 

 among the bees took place, since there 

 always was plenty of food for all the 

 busy workers. According to the pre- 

 vailing more or less suitable weather 

 for the bees to work. I fed respec- 

 tively per day, 15, 20, 25. 40 and 30 lbs. 

 of coffee A sugar; total. 155 lbs. in 6 

 days. Adding about the same weight 

 of water, constituting the syrup fed. 

 the bees carried into their hives fully 

 310 lbs. in 6 days, not counting what 

 honey they got from the extracted 

 comb and the cappings fed to them. 



After feeding the mentioned quan- 

 tity of sugar syrup, I weighed each 

 hive again as I also had weighed be- 

 fore feeding. The result was that all 

 colonies combined had gained but 127 

 lbs. net.; hence, there was an actual 

 loss of 28 lbs., even of the dry sugar 

 fed, besides the water fed with the 

 sugar. Fearing that cold weather 

 might set in before I could complete 

 and thus test the matter as to winter- 

 ing bees on coffee A sugar exclusively, 

 I concluded to stop feeding, and ar- 

 ranged my 14 colonies on Oct. 26, by 

 leaving from 20 to 28 lbs. of sealed 

 winter stores in each hive according 

 to strength of each colony. 



I contracted tin 1 space inside the 

 hive to from II to S frames ; put, a hole 

 ', of an inch through the comb, 2 

 inches below top bar, and after laying 

 2 cross-pieces over the middle of the 

 top-bars, thus making 2 winter pass- 

 ives clear over and through the comb, 

 I put on the clean woolen quilts, tilled 

 the supers with bags of loose texture 

 tilled with wheat chaff and straw. 

 Thus prepared, they will be moved 

 within a few days now from the front 

 of my bee house to the back wall, and 

 packed in the same manner as last 

 winter. Yesterday we had, after 

 (piite a severe cold", a very warm day, 

 so that the bees had a good (light, 

 while this morning at sunrise the 

 mercury indicated is F. 



Commencing the season with fl col- 

 onies, I now have 14, and took from 

 them 230 lbs. of extracted honey, 

 which is all spoken for at 25 cts. per 

 lb. My bees have a total of 353 lbs. of 

 well-sealed winter stores, of which 155 

 lbs. is coffee A sugar syrup, and 198 

 !bs. of honey. Whether they will 

 winter as well as last winter remains 

 to be seen 



Grand Island, Neb., Nov. 17, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Transferring Bees. 



a. b. mclavy. 



I have watched with no little inter- 

 est the proceedings of bee-keepers' 

 conventions this fall, for a practical 

 and concise essay on the transferring 

 of bees. I do not think that it has re- 

 ceived the attention it deserves, as it 

 is the first step in improvement of 

 manipulation of bees. Whilst it is 

 true that no special skill to accom- 

 plish it after it is understood, is re- 

 quired, yet the " modus operandi " is 

 a stumbling block to many. I do not 

 seek to impart knowledge, but to 

 gather it in my study of bees, and 

 whilst the directions given below are, 

 as far as I know, original with me, if 

 any improvement is suggested, I will 

 ghidlv adopt it. I have tried almost 

 all the ways already suggested. I 

 have found none that operate as satis- 

 factorily. 



If the bees are already where you 

 wish them to remain, well and good. 

 If to be moved from another locality, 

 we will select a place where we wisli 

 them to remain. Now we use the 

 Langstroth hive with a movable bot- 

 tom board; supposing others do also, 

 we will say in the first instance, slip 

 the bottom board under the old hive, 

 with the front of the hive and the 

 opening for ingress and egress on the 

 front edge of the board, and place 

 vour alighting board just as you wish 

 it to remain, often transferring. The 

 same directions apply to those which 

 you have brought home. If you in- 

 tend using a painted hive, now paint 

 the old hive just the same color the 

 new one will be, and do not disturb 

 the bees any more for 2 or 3 days. In 

 that time they will have gotten used 

 to the new order of things, especially 

 the bottom and alighting boards. 

 Now. supposing the day is pleasant. 

 we will proceed to transfer. We will 

 get our new hive in readiness, and 

 place it with a frame of brood (from 

 another colony) therein on the bottom 

 board where the old box hive stood, 

 and put the cover on. Now on a sheet 

 folded once, we will lay the old hive 

 on the ground, say 30 "or 40 feet from 

 the place where it stood. If the sun 

 is warm, we get under some tree 

 which is at a convenient distance. 

 Do not lay the hive so that the combs 

 will fall together, but if possible, lay 

 it so that they will stand perpendicu- 

 lar; if they fall together, you may kill 

 a number of bees or your queen Now 

 with a hatchet or chisel and a billet of 

 wood, cut the nails so as to remove 

 one side of the hive, and with a long 

 knife sever the combs so as to lift it 

 off without tearing them. Now re- 

 move, as faras practicable, all the rag- 

 ged pieces of comb, and if containing 

 honey, put them in a pan, which keep 

 covered. 



You have now gotten to combs 

 which are likely to be of service to 



you; if straight, with a guage Stick 

 the depth of your frame, remove 



i herein pieces so as to lit your frames. 



If they contain honey and are nice, 

 lay them between folds of carpets OI 

 blankets, in fact, any kind of cloths 

 so as to keep them nice. 



The brood chamber now occupies 

 our attention, here it is, from the eg^s 

 to hatching bees. Now with your 

 guage stick, try to get them so as to 

 lit your frames as nearly as possible, 

 always cutting them to " the best ad- 

 vantage." that is, so as to get as large 

 and as straight combs as you can. If, 

 as is likely to be the case, the brood is 

 both above and below the " cross 

 sticks," make them your guide for 

 cutting, removing the brood combs 

 and laving them between fold of cloth 

 or something of that kind, but not on 

 top of each other unless separated by 

 folds of cloth, until all is removed. 

 You have probably before this re- 

 moved the side of the hive nearest 

 you, so as to get it out of your way. 

 There is now honey comb and bees in 

 the hive — the bees have retreated as 

 you have advanced, andare now likely 

 hanging in the far corner of your hive 

 like bees at swarming time, and the 

 queen is with them and the cluster is 

 probably made up of young bees. You 

 are. now to remove the combs yet re- 

 maining expeditiously, taking care of 

 the nice combs as before directed, and 

 the scraps are to go to the pan. Now 

 on a previously prepared pad, made 

 by several folds of cotton cloth 

 stretched and tacked on a board of 

 convenient size, stretch 3 or 4 cotton 

 strings cut long enough to go around 

 your frame and tie; lay your brood 

 comb on this, and, having removed 

 the comb-guide from your frame, cut 

 the comb so as to fit the frame nicely, 

 having an eye to keeping the brood as 

 near the center of the frame as possi- 

 ble, cut the drone comb off entirely, 

 and sacrifice the honey for the brood; 

 as fast as you fit the combs in the 

 frames, take them to the hive and put 

 them in, where you shall have 3 or 4 

 in the hive with the brood opposite 

 each other so as to keep the cluster 

 together, get the old hive now, and 

 take it to the front of the new hive 

 and brush the cluster off ; if you watch 

 carefully you will soon see the queen 

 —aid her to find her hive, and you will 

 experience the pleasure of having 

 transferred successfully. 



If the honey combs remaining are 

 nice and straight, cut them in like 

 manner to fit your frames and hang 

 them in your hive, if not, supply them 

 with foundation. If you wish to give 

 them the honey back as you will, very 

 likely, and do hot wish to be bothered 

 much with it, we will nail thin strips 

 of wood together by making a grate, 

 we will call it, to fit in the second 

 story, and let its four corners rest on 

 four cleats tacked in the second story, 

 and uncap the honey and lay it in this 

 grate. Now turn one edge of the mat 

 back and the bees will go to work to 

 carrying it down. 



The point in this mode is this ; I 

 find no use for smoke ; the operation 

 being performed away from the stand, 

 bees from other hives are not attrac- 

 ted to it. You do not daub the new 

 hive so as to induce robbing. The 

 bees not being intoxicated with smoke 

 repel all bees which are inclined to 

 rob. Yon are not bothered with the 

 Hying bees as they instinctively seek 

 the stand and cluster on the one comb 

 you had prepared for them, and if you 

 choose, the operation can be per- 

 formed so quickly that robber bees 

 have not the time to make more than 

 one or two trips before you are done ; 

 and lastly, but not least, your bees are 

 now in their new quarters— none the 

 worse for wear, as will lie attested if 

 vou notice, by their bringing out the 

 scraps in less than an hour, and fre- 

 quently before you have put the top 

 on preparatory to leaving them to 

 themselves. 



In a few days (2 or 3) examine the 

 combs ; if the strings have not been 

 removed, gently draw your knife 

 blade along the top of the bar so as to 

 cut the strings ; lift the frame from 

 the hive and carefully remove them. 



