58 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



croaching upon the brood chamber at 

 the present time, but it is (illed with 

 young of all sizes. Therefore, there 

 will be plenty of young, vigorous bees, 

 ■with meager stores. Late swarms, 

 either natural or artificial, should be 

 examined, in order to see if they are 

 gathering sufficient to keep up breed- 

 ing, and if tliey are not, they should 

 be fed. The value of bees have very 

 much increased, by reason of the 

 heavy losses of last winter, and even 

 should the coming season prove to be 

 a mild, and successful one, they will 

 be in demand, as the past summer 

 was not favorable for their increase. 

 We have often noticed that the small 

 colonies, that we were petting all the 

 fall, were our very best the following 

 summer. 



In order to rear brood, food should 

 be given sparingly, so as not to have 

 it stored in the brood apartment, but 

 when feeding stores for winter, it 

 should be given abundantly, as fast 

 as bees will store and seal it. A per- 

 son must be governed by his locality, 

 as to the time when winter stores are 

 given — some feed as soon as frost kills 

 the flowers, and recommend throwing 

 out all unsealed honey, and feeding a 

 syrup of granulated sugar. 



We have been strengthening our 

 weaker colonies, by taking two or 

 three frames of brood from the strong- 

 est, and giving it to them. In place 

 of the removed brood, good worker 

 comb was placed, aiid the colony fed 

 at night with extracted honey. When 

 we first attempted to remove these 

 brood frames, we were compelled to 

 beat a retreat, but after feeding for a 

 night or two, they were on their good 

 beliavior, and as'civil and polite as a 

 dancing master. 



Before opening a hive, when honey 

 is scarce, it is well to take the precau- 

 tion of feeding a little for a few 

 nights, and opening it early in the 

 morning or late in tiie evening, wdien 

 few robbers are on the wing. As we 

 had not feeders enough to go round, 

 we followed the advice lately given 

 by a bee-keeper, of using sniall tin 

 pans covered with thin muslin, and 

 tied under the rim, so bees cannot get 

 under it. These feeders are a success, 

 when the muslin is tied loosely, it will 

 settle down as the bees remove the 

 feed, and no bees get drowned. 



Peoria, 111. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Prof. Cook on Pollen and Fseces. 



WM. F. CLARKE. 



If I tackled Mr. Heddon with diffi- 

 dence, it is with fear and trembling 

 that I presume to break a lance with 

 Prof. Cook. But, high autliority as 

 he is, justly, amo!ig bee-keepers, he is 

 not infallatjle, and I am sure does not 

 wish to be so regarded and treated. 



I have read with considerable 

 astonishment the Professor's article 

 copied from the Bural New Yorker 

 into the Bee Jouunal of Jan. 11th, 

 and headed, " Pollen in the hive in 

 winter," and beg, with all due mod- 

 esty, to set forth tlie points of my 

 astonishment. At the outset, the 



Professor specifies a few statements 

 made by him in the bee periodicals, 

 and in his " Manual of the Apiary." 

 They are as follows : 



1. " That the old bee could live for 

 long periods without pollen." 



2. " It is to be presumed tliat the 

 old bees need, and do eat some pollen 

 during the active season." 



3. " That pollen is an indispensable 

 requisite to brood-rearing ; that it is 

 an essential element in the food of 

 larval bees." 



As a " scholium " under this last 

 proposition, the Professor tells us he 

 lias " expressed tlie opuiion that in 

 some conditions, the presence of pol- 

 len in the hive in winter is a positive 

 injury, and that, in all cases, it is un- 

 necessary." An emphatic remark is 

 then added, " that this pollen is more 

 valuable as soon as thebeescommence 

 to fly the following spring, and then 

 any frames that contain it should be 

 given to the bees." 



My astonishment began to burst 

 forth when I read the next sentence, 

 which I take the liberty of italicising: 

 '■ Tkese facts have lately been called in 

 question by several 'writers.''' 



Now, I am not aware that any of the 

 above stated positions have been lately 

 called in question, except the one 

 styled by the Professor " a scholium." 

 By the\vay,it is hardly " a scholium," 

 which means, according to the dic- 

 tionary, "annotation, an explanatory 

 note." I think it is an independent 

 proposition. As I am one of the " sev- 

 eral writers " referred to, let me say, 

 I call in question only the "scholimn." 

 JSJay, I have hardly called that inques- 

 tion. I have represented it as " not 

 proven." I have certainly called in 

 question Mr. Ileddon's i)osition that 

 pollen is tlie cau.se of dysentery, but 

 that is a far more sweeping statement 

 than the one made by Prof. Cook. 



My astcuiishment was considerably 

 increased when I read a little further 

 on the following allusion to somebody. 

 " One writer, however, wlio, whatever 

 else maybe said of him, puts forth 

 very original ideas, and contradicts 

 nearly every well-grounded fact in 

 apiculture, calls for proofs." I said 

 to myself, as I read that over and over 

 again, "can he mean me V" "Puts 

 fortli very original ide;is." Wei], 

 that's highly complimentary, but I 

 can't claim any originality ; I'm but 

 a humble disciple of Langstroth, 

 Quinby , Cook, and other great authori- 

 ties in apiculture. " Contradicts 

 nearly every well-grounded fact in 

 apiculture." That isn't me; " sartin, 

 sure." If I contradict any " well- 

 ! grounded fact in apiculture," I don't 

 ; know it. Neither do I know any 

 j writer in the bee periodicals of whom 

 ' his sweeping assertion is true. Who 

 !is itV "Calls for proofs." Well, 

 I that's me. I am in the habit of doing 

 that on every subject, even tlie sub- 

 ject of religion. And, surely, Prof. 

 Cook will not make it a ground of 

 complaint against any man, that he 

 " calls for proofs." 



I have called for proofs that pollen 



is the cause of dysentery, and tliat it 



is injurious to adult bees. lam call- 



I ing for these proofs yet, after care- 



' fully reading Prof. Cook's article. All 



that the Professor undertakes to show, 

 is " that bees are often better off with 

 no pollen in winter." He adds, " Per- 

 haps, too, they take some of the nitro- 

 genous food, and as a result, become 

 diseased and die." So long as that 

 " i)erliai)s " sticks there, I shall keep 

 calling for proofs. 



It may be " that bees are often bet- 

 ter off with no pollen in winter," 

 This is probably true as " often " as 

 there is an unusually mild spell in 

 mid winter, such as the Professor de- 

 scribes, leading to premature breeding. 



I can assure the Professor and all 

 others, that I never write for the mere 

 sake of controversy. My aim is to 

 elicit facts — to come at tlie truth. In 

 order to do this, I wa?it not theories 

 or opinions, but proofs. I propose to 

 keep on calling for these, until they 

 put in an appearance. 



Prof. Cook tells us he has for sev- 

 eral winters given one-half his bees 

 pollen, and the other lialf none. In 

 all cases, it has haiipened that the 

 bees without jiollen had no brood in 

 the spring, while in the rest he says, 

 " we almost always found brood." Is 

 it considered a detriment to a colony 

 to have brood started at the end of 

 winter V I ask for information. I 

 may be an old fogy and all behind the 

 times, but I have always regarded it 

 as one proof of a colony being in "good 

 order and condition," and having 

 wintered well, when there is more or 

 less brood in it, especially more, at the 

 opening of spring. It uiaybe,Ihave 

 never denied it, but only called for 

 proofs— that it is better' to deiuive 

 colonies of combs containing pollen, 

 when preparing them for winter, but 

 if so, it will add considerably to the 

 labors, quite abundant enough, of bee- 

 keepers who have large apiaries. 



I am not a chemist, and cannot pre- 

 tend to discuss " hydro-carbon," " ni- 

 trogen," etc., with the Professor, yet 

 I may venture to remind him that 

 pollen is not only nitrogenous, but 

 carbonaceous, albuminous, etc. It is 

 good for young bees, like " milk for 

 babes,"' and as milk isn't bad for 

 adult men and women, perhaps pollen 

 may not be bad for mature bees. Who 

 knows V The fact that they can do 

 without it, does not prove that they are 

 better without it. Bees can do with- 

 out honey, and live on sugar syrup, 

 but most of us would rather see our 

 hives well stocked with honey in the 

 fall, than be under tlie necessity of 

 feecling artificially for winter supplies. 



There is yet another sentence in 

 Prof. Cook's article which I read with 

 astonishment. It occurs toward the 

 close. He says, "I have never found 

 any support of the theory of the late 

 Mr. Quinby, that bees secrete a dry 

 powder in winter.'' I am greatly sur- 

 prised to find the Professor calling 

 this idea into question. But, stop; 

 perhaps like the original and hetero- 

 dox individual he refers to in the 

 former part of the article, he only 

 " calls for proofs." Well, L. C. Root, 

 p. 2.54, "Quinby's New Bee-Keeping" 

 adduces proofs, and says, " Careful 

 observations by others, as well as my- 

 self, confirm tlie truth and importance 

 of his (Mr. Quinby's) conclusion." 

 Has Prof. Cook tested this matter by 



