THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



617 



showing that kind of diarrhea does 

 not prove that bees winter better 

 without it. It only shows that bees 

 dying without it in their liive did not 

 have any in their excreta or intes- 

 tines. I fail to see anything favor- 

 able to the theory in this. Why did 

 they not live V It they died without 

 pollen, how much better off were 

 they than if they had it, and had 

 died showing diarrhea. It would 

 look as though they were killed by 

 cold in each case. Cold caused such 

 a depression of function that food 

 eaten was not digested, or possibly 

 caused such excessive exertion to 

 keep warm as to prevent digestion, 

 result death from lack of nutrition. 

 Suppose the bees both with and with- 

 out pollen, had not been exposed 

 long enough to |kill them ; warm 

 weather gave them a let up for sev- 

 eral days, they were exhausted (in 

 each case) from exertion and lack of 

 nutrition. Which colonies have the 

 best chance to repair the waste of 

 nerve and muscle, those with pollen 

 or those without V 



Those without have only the supply 

 contained in their bodies, whicii has 

 been largely drawn upon ; they will 

 have to wait until spring, if they live 

 until then, before tliey can get ma- 

 terials for repair, while the others can 

 supply their needs at once. You may 

 say, if they were not exposed to such 

 excessive cold, they would not need 

 repairs, neither would they have 

 diarrhea, or eat more pollen than they 

 could digest. We are shown that 

 pollen does no harm, If the tempera- 

 ture is right, and that quantities of 

 brood are reared before their spring 

 flight. 



Animals that hibernate store their 

 carbonaceous or heat-giving, as well 

 as the nitrogenous elements in their 

 bodie3,enough to last all winter. Bees 

 store both in combs, and have we any 

 more reason to think that they have 

 in their bodies a sufficient supply for 

 winter of one and not the other of 

 these elements. 



Man or animals require for food 

 carbon, nitrogen and mineral salts in 

 certain proportions. Different sea- 

 sons and circumstances require dif- 

 ferent proportions, but neither of 

 these elements should be entirely 

 lacking. I do not doubt that under 

 certain very favorable conditions bees 

 may be brought through the winter 

 alive with absolutely no pollen, but in 

 my opinion, with the same conditions, 

 they would be much better off with it. 



Possibly there may be times and 

 locations when a hive might contain 

 too much pollen, not giving enough 

 honey room in some combs, and if 

 cold conflned the cluster to these 

 combs, the result would be disas- 

 terous ; but in such a case, with 

 enough honey in the hive to support 

 them, and with proper temperature 

 maintained, no trouble would occur. 

 Bees will not eat it to harm them 

 unless in an unnatural condition. 

 Shall we not regulate the tempera- 

 ture instead of depriving them of a 

 necessary food, because they eat ex- 

 cessively of that food when in an un- 

 natural condition from lowered tem- 



perature. Then when they choose to 

 rear brood they have the means to 

 do so. 



Although this theory has been ad- 

 vocated and supported by a few such 

 prominent apiarists and writers as 

 Prof. Cook, Prof. Ilasbrouk, James 

 Ileddon and others, it does not seem 

 to meet with favor from the majority 

 of bee-keepers. Our heaviest and 

 most successful producers continue to 

 leave a liberal supply of pollen in the 

 hives for winter. 



In the Professor's essay we are told 

 that nitrogen may be changed or 

 transformed into fat. Does he mean 

 to tell us that by a vital process nitro- 

 gen may be chemically changed in the 

 body into f at V He gives fatty de- 

 generation of the heart as an example. 

 1 have always supposed that in this 

 case the nitrogen was replaced by fat, 

 that the muscle was wasted by use 

 and slow oxidization, and through 

 faulty nutrition was not removed, but 

 fat being abundant in the blood, was 

 deposited instead of the proper ma- 

 terial. Here is another chance for 

 our medical readers to enlighten us, 

 and I hope they will. 



Prof. Cook has rectified the impres- 

 sion given as to the amount of air 

 required by bees, and I hope we shall 

 yet be informed that it is not advis- 

 able to remove the pollen from the 

 hives, that everything considered bees 

 stand a better chance with than with- 

 out it, that fermented or thin honey 

 may also cause diarrhea, that a low 

 temperature is harmful, pollen or no 

 pollen, that the point to be considered 

 is temperature and pure air, and how 

 to keep it right. 



Whether Mr. Ileddon has been of 

 benefit or not to our industry in advo- 

 cating this theory, there is no ques- 

 tion in my mind but that he has done 

 great good and deserves much credit 

 for perfecting and so strikingly bring- 

 ing to our notice an improved system 

 of hive manipulation, which, it seems 

 to me, all progressive bee-keepers 

 must appreciate. I do not refer to 

 the reversing or inverting feature, but 

 to the interchanging of shallow brood- 

 frames in cases, and the manipula- 

 tion of cases instead of frames. 



Pawtucket,5 E. I. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Bees aDflHoDcy at MicMpi State Fair, 



H. D. CUTTING. 



The Michigan State Fair opened on 

 Sept. 13, with ten exhibitors in the 

 bee and honey department. A. D. D. 

 Wood, of Rives Junction, had a large 

 exhibit of one-piece sections, comb- 

 foundation mills, honey-extractor, 

 comb fo undation, extracted honey in 

 tin pails, 2 colonies, and several other 

 articles. W. D. Higdon, of Jackson, 

 exhibited several cases of comb 

 honey, 2 colonies, beeswax, smokers, 

 honey-knife, queen-cages, and a case 

 of bee-literature. O. A. Quick, of 

 Leonia, showed comb and extracted 

 honey, implements, case of sections, 

 etc. 



Mr. Shelby, of Jackson, exhibited 

 10 pounds of extra fine beeswax ; W. 

 D. Super, of Jackson, a section -case ; 

 W. Z. Hutchinson and brother Elmer, 

 a large lot of comb honey in shipping- 

 cases (14 sections to the case), ex- 

 tracted honey in Muth jars, honey- 

 bearing plants mounted (about 80 in 

 all), several different hives, honey- 

 extractor, a good line of implements, 

 8 colonies of bees, case of bee-litera- 

 ture, beeswax, etc. 



The writer exhibited comb and ex- 

 tracted honey, a large collection of 

 implements consisting of 226 differ- 

 ent articles, 3 colonies of bees, case 

 of bee-literature, foundation mills, 

 extractors, honey-beariiig plants (170 

 in number), bees-wax, sections, foun- 

 dation, bee-hives, smokers, knives,etc. 



The Agricultural College exhibit, 

 in charge of Mr. Gillette, consisted of 

 a large aud very fine collection of 

 honey-bearing plants, samples of the 

 different varieties of honey, and a 

 colony of bees. Prof. Cook " hit the 

 nail on the head " when he sent his 

 able assistant, Mr. Gillette, to repre- 

 sent the College in this department. 

 Every day at 2 p.m. Mr. Gillette 

 placed a bee-tent over the colony of 

 bees, opened the hive and showed to 

 the large crowd of visitors " just how 

 to do it." His lecture was very in- 

 structive and intertaining. Mr. Gil- 

 lette will long be remembered for his 

 gentlemanly courtesy by the many 

 visitors and exhibitors. 



Miss Anna Cutting showed a case 

 of comb honey. Two ladies exhibited 

 honey-plants in bloom, tut I cannot 

 recall their names ; also one exhibit 

 of a case of comb honey. 



Dr. A. B. Mason, of Wagon Works, 

 Ohio, presided as judge of the exhibit, 

 with his usual good nature. He 

 brought and placed on exhibition a 

 piece of granulated honey 10x10x12 

 inches, as white as coffee C sugar, 

 hard and dry. It was admired by 

 many visitors. On the last day of 

 the Fair one exhibitor sold over 100 

 packages of extracted honey, and to a 

 careful observer you could see that 

 the greater portion went to persons 

 that were not accustomed to eating 

 honey. This is one of the best places 

 to make consumers of honey, if you 

 give them a first-class article. We 

 find many persons prejudiced against 

 extracted honey, but when they per- 

 sist in calling it " strained " honey 

 do not appear vexed, but explain to 

 them that it is not strained, but ex- 

 tracted honey, and show them just 

 how it was done, and in this way you 

 help to educate the masses in the use 

 of nature's purest sweet— honey. 



We missed Mr. R. L. Taylor as an 

 exhibitor this year, but he came and 

 made a two days' visit. The State 

 Agricultural Society are well pleased 

 with our efforts to make a success of 

 this department. The premium list 

 is large ($300), and now all we want is 

 more exhibitors. We should have at 

 least twenty every year. The greater 

 the exhibits the more interest will be 

 taken. Several that are not in the 

 habit of making exhibits have prom- 

 ised to be on hand next year and 

 make it interesting. 



Clinton,<x Mich. 



