THE AMERICAJ^ BEE JOURNAL. 



588 



soon clear itself from debt, and in the 

 course of a few years the surplus 

 would be large enough to enable the 

 association to furnish all the money 

 for every purpose. After the season's 

 business is finished, let a dividend be 

 declared to every one depositing 

 honey in the warehouse in proportion 

 to the amount and kind of honey 

 deposited. If this can be carried out ' 

 I believe the htoey-producers wiU 

 receive a larger return for their crops I 

 than they have ever done. 1 



I offer these thoughts as sugges- ! 

 tions; ilv only wish is to help the 

 good cause, and get 10 cents a pound 

 for our honey, if we can, 



A committee of five, consisting of 

 Messrs. Wilkin. Barrows. Richard- 

 son, Blanchard, and Grimes was ap- 

 pointed to report at a future meeting, 

 concerning a warehouse, storing and 

 selling honey, organizing, incorporat- 

 ing, etc. 



Adjourned to meet at Santa Paula, 1 

 Calif. C, M, Drake, Sec. 



For the American Bee JonmaL 



Using Plain Sheets of fax. 



CHAS, DADAXT Jt SOX. 



answers of several bee-keepers on the 

 same query show that they have ob- 

 tained as bad results as we did, Mr. 

 Hays' better success was probably 

 due' to the narrowness of the sheet 

 used. 



As to bees changing worker combs 

 in drone comb, as Mr. Hays has 

 noticed in his hives, we think that 

 his bees are very much different than 

 ours, for we have never seen it done. 

 If sometimes they build drone comb 

 on worker fouudation,it is the fault of 

 the comb foundation, or of the bee- 

 keeper, not of the bees. If the wax 

 used is not altered by the manufac- 

 turer—if the sheet is prevented from 

 stretching, either by its thickness or 

 by 2 or 3 "wires, all the cells will re- 

 main worker cells, 1 



For about 2(1 years we have advised 

 bee-keepers to replace all the drone 

 combs in their hives with worker i 

 combs ; we did it ourselves by buying ' 

 the combs of dead colonies around ' 

 us, and we have not yet seen a single i 

 worker comb replaced with drone | 

 comb. For 20 years we have had 

 colonies which do not rear IW drones 

 yearly : Therefore, if Mr, Hays thinks 

 that "he obtained a result different 

 from ours, he had better observe 

 again, and with a little more care. 



Hamilton,*o Ills, 



In answer to Query, Xo, 2S.3, on 

 page 468, on the result of using plain 

 sheets of wax in the brood-chamber, 

 we said that bees build on those 

 sheets very irregular comb, which 

 may be drone-comb r.s w«ll as worker- 

 comb. On page -536 Mr, J, F. Hays 

 writes : 



" From the answer of Messrs. Da- • 

 dant A Son one would suppose that , 

 honey-comb was always a clumsy, 

 haphazard affair, until the genius of 

 man enabled the bee to build its comb 

 without mixing drone and worker 

 cells together In an indiscriminate 

 mass. They doubtless gave their 

 honest opinion, but it is decidedly not 

 my observation, I have examined 

 the combs in a number of colonies 

 that were hived on empty frames 

 without any starters whatever, and I 

 found no more drone cells than in 

 colonies that were hived on full sheets 

 of worker comb foundation, Xow let 

 Messrs, Dadant & Son explain wki/ 

 bees should be more disposed to build 

 an irregular mass of drone and 

 worker cells on plain sheets than 

 where there are no starters at all,"' 



Our answer to the query was not 

 our" opinion,"' as Mr. Hays supposed. 

 but the result of our experience. About 

 1-5 years ago we put a plain sheet of 

 wax, BUing a whole Quinby brood- ' 

 frame, between two combs, in a very 

 populous colony. The bees began 

 immediately to build cells on it, but 

 they started the work in S or 10 dif- 

 ferent places at the same time ; some 

 working at the top, some at the mid- 

 > die ; some preparing worker-cells, 

 some others drone-cells. When the 

 sheet was about finished it had a 

 great many irregular cells, which 

 were necessary to join the different 

 spaces, since these spaces were built 

 independently from each other. The 



For tlie Amencan Bee Jonmal. 



Does tlie Pollen Tlieory"ffitaate?": 



R. L. TATLOK, 



When I had read Mr, Wm, F. i 

 Clarke's article on page 468, a wicked , 

 thought for a moment took possession '■ 

 of me, that he was in the predicament 

 of a certain attorney, who, having 

 been employed by the defendant to , 

 attend to the case, when the case 

 came on for trial, found his brief con- 

 sisted of this only : •■ Xo case — abuse 

 the plaintiff's attorney,"' But on sec- 1 

 ond thought I knew that Mr, C's ' 

 character would never permit such a 

 course, and that his skill and genius i 

 would always prevent its necessity. , 



I need not say how greatly I have 

 admired his frantic efforts to make it 

 appear that the pollen theory has re- 

 ceived its •■ quietus,"' the more per- 

 haps because it does not seem to be 

 of the kind that ■•hibernates." Pos- 

 siblv calmer treatment on his part 

 would have a greater tendency to 

 make it sleep. But I admire" his 

 efforts chiefly because he makes his ' 

 statements squarely and positively, 

 without " ifs '" or " buts,"" or •' inmy- ; 

 opinions.'" >'o one can fail to know 

 where he wants to stand even though 

 he may not always be found standing. 

 He is. I believe", the father of the 

 attempt to induce apicultural writers , 

 meekly to insert one of the above, or | 

 a similar qualifying word, with every 

 statement, but "when we consider his \ 

 practice one is forcibly reminded of 

 an incident found related in one of i 

 our Lord"s parables, which runs thus : ' 

 " And he said. "Son, go work to-day 



in mv vineyard " and he answered 



and said, 'igo sir;' but went not."" 

 However, I like his practice better 



than his precept. He gives as hard 

 knocks as he can in a capital spirit, 

 and will be content, no doubt, to take 

 hard knocks given in the same spirit. 



One is a little surprised at tirst that 

 Mr. C. has not. in order to make his 

 position impregnable at every point, 

 squarely attacked Prof. Cook"s argu- 

 ment which seems to many to actually 

 demonstrate the truth of the theory. 

 If he would do so it would relieve 

 manv of us of most of our wintering 

 terro'rs. His making a straw man out 

 of a couple of detached phrases, taken 

 out of their connection, pieced out 

 with a like number from the writings 

 of Mr, Heddon, and knocking that 

 over, gives us hope, but no relief. 

 And even hope wavers, for I fear he 

 has made even the straw man too 

 strong, for I am more than apprehen- 

 sive that it has not yet toppled over. 



Let me protest here against his 

 over generositv in giving Prof. Cook 

 all the glory of having given this 

 whole thing "its " quietus."" Even if 

 it were well to dispose of the spoils 

 before thev are captured. I insist that 

 thev belong to Mr. C. and at least 

 when he brings the relief let his be 

 the glory : and we may. loo. suppress 

 our surprise at the course of his argu- 

 ment, for we mav not hope to divine 

 the plans of geni"us. Xo doubt many 

 harder blows"'are in reserve. Indeed, 

 1 more than half believe that all his 

 attacks hitherto have been purely 

 feints. 



In anticipation of the onsets yet to 

 be made, let us look over the Beld to 

 see as best we can how the contest 

 now stands. Prof, Cook argues fairly 

 that the consumption of pollen in any 

 considerable quantities by bees in 

 winter, when they are long confined, 

 from the nature "of the food and the 

 habits of the bee, is apt to result in 

 an over accumulation of fecal matter, 

 which causes the disease known as 

 diarrhea, the great foe to the safe 

 wintering of bees. He further shows 

 that facts learned from the examina- 

 tion in manv cases of the contents of 

 the intestines of bees affected with 

 the disease, supports his reasoning, 

 and that his many experiments in 

 wintering bees, with and without bee- 

 bread, prove it true Many others 

 of our most careful bee-keepers are 

 satisfied that they also have proved 

 the theorv true in the same way— by 

 actual tes'ts in wintering. To meet 

 this argument and to show that Pn>f, 

 Cook gives the pollen theory its 

 •■ quietiis,"' Mr, Clarke uses the fol- 

 lowing argument, using for premises 

 quotations from Prof, Cook and from 

 Mr, Heddon, and I will put it briedy 

 and in simple form tliat it may be the 

 more readilv comprehended : 



Pollen is' necessary for bees when 

 thev work : breeding is work, there- 

 fore pollen is necessary for bees in 

 breeding. And then : Pollen is uec- 

 essarv for bees in breeding ; bees 

 breed in confinement in winter with- 

 out disease, therefore the consump- 

 tion of ;x>nen by bees in confinement 

 in winter does not cause disease. 



The above. I believe a full and fair 

 statement of our writer's argument, 

 and it looks plausible on first sight, 

 but the merest tyro upon a slight ex- 



