THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



535 



inclined to take. Will Mr. Abbott 

 kindly give us his views on thispointV 



Sonie bee-keepers take tlie ground 

 that bees during winter retain tlieir 

 feces; that owing to tlieir eating little, 

 ■and that of liigldy concentrated food, 

 their excreta during tlie winter season 

 are comparatively inconsiderable ; but 

 tliat tliey accumidate, so as to be a 

 source of discomfort, and render a 

 ^'purifying lliglit" in mid-winter de- 

 sirable. 1 do not agree with his tlieory, 

 and while I would avoid dogmatism 

 ■on a subject concerning whicli we are 

 80 much in the dark, wiui'.d put forth 

 this hypothesis : That nature lias pro- 

 vided a secondary and supplemental 

 mode of discharging excreta when 

 (light is impossible, and that this is in 

 the fortii of dry feces, which do not 

 befoul a hive that is free froin super- 

 abundant moisture. It is wortliy of 

 -mention liere, tliat some of our best 

 bee-keepers, c. g., Mr. GaUup and Mr. 

 L. C. Root, have testilied that bees 

 which have gone tlirough a long, hard 

 winter satisfactorily, do not befoul the 

 snow that may be lying on the ground, 

 •when they are liberated for their Hrst 

 flight in early spring. If this be so, 

 then the discharge of dry feces during 

 close continement. must satisfy the 

 calls of nature suthciently, and it may 

 be that a flight in mid-winter or early 

 spring is not absolutely necessary for 

 purifying purposes. Still, it is doubt- 

 less a relief and pleasure to stretcli 

 their wings, and get some out-door ex- 

 ercise once more. 



This then, brings me to my state- 

 ment, "I do not believe with Mr. Ab- 

 bott, that 'protracted continement' 

 produces 'dysenteric symptoms,' if the 

 been are in such u state that theq can void 

 dry excreta.'" I have italicised the lat- 

 ter part of this statement, because I 

 wish to call special attention to what 

 it involves. It is of .sa much impor- 

 tance, that I ought to liave been more 

 full and explicit in regard to it. I 

 think it is not so much out of harmony 

 with Mr. Abbott's views after all. if I 

 had made it clearer, and he had taken 

 in its entire signilicance. During tlie 

 briefer journey he describes, the bees 

 are in a state in which they can void 

 dry excreta. They are not confined 

 long, they do not gorge themselves 

 with food, and they are not subjected 

 to very severe excitement. But, dur- 

 ing tlie longer journey, they are in a 

 very different state. They have a 

 more protracted confinement, they 

 have access to combs full of honey and 

 .pollen, of which they are tempted to 

 take too large quantities, and they 

 are greatly shaken up and excited. 



The desirable state for bees to be in 

 during winter is one of comparative 

 quiescence. They become semi-torpid, 

 eat very little, are almost motionless, 

 and perhaps drowse, or sleep. Like 

 certain animals, they ■■hibernate." 

 It they can be kept in this condition, 

 I think they can and do void dry ex- 

 creta. This IS what I meant by say- 

 ing, "when we have described the 

 condition under which bees discharge 

 dry feces only, we shall have solved 

 the problem of successful wintering." 

 I am glad to have Mr. Abbott say, "to 

 tills I in a measure agree.'' He adds, 

 "in the meantime, I claim to have 



discovered one of those conditions." 

 It is doubtless obtuseness in me, but 

 though it involves a confession of 

 stupidity on my part, I must own tliat 

 I don't clearly comprehend what that 

 "one condition" is, except it be the 

 small liberity of tlight which a box 

 destitute of combs gives. Will Mr. 

 xVbbott kindly explain more fully what 

 that "one condition" isV I have read 

 his article over and over again, with- 

 out being able to come to a thorough- 

 ly satisfactory conclusion about it. 



When I expressed dissent from Mr. 

 Abbott's opinion that "protracted 

 coiiliuement" produces "dysenteric 

 symptoms," I had in my mind's eye 

 tiie fact that bees often endure a whole 

 winter's imprisoimient without any 

 trace of dysentery showing itself in 

 the hive. Perhaps, however, the pro- 

 tractedness is only a question of time, 

 and that, at length, the bees must 

 come to what Mr. Abbott thinks their 

 only natural way of voiding excreta, 

 or, as I would rather term it, the usual 

 and primary way of doing it. 



Mr. Abbott thinks it possible that 

 "twice 24 days' quiet continement 

 through stress of weather in a hive 

 'well found,' might, under certain cir- 

 cumstances, be talked of as a nice 

 time of natural rest for bees." Well, 

 our best bee-keepers in the more 

 northerly part of North America, are 

 wrestling with the problem how to 

 winter tlieir bees during Hve times 30 

 days of "quiet coiiliuement through 

 stress of weather," and, if our worthy 

 friend across the water can help us 

 manage matters in such a way as to 

 talk of this long period as a "nice 

 time of natural rest for the bees," we 

 shall be everlastingly obliged to him. 



Listowel, Out., July 29, 1882. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



IJee-Keepiiig in Helleville, Ontario. 



BEV. vr. K. ISUliK, M. A., 

 Editor of Ontario Hornet. 



With ^Ir. Heddon I may say that it 

 is my part, too, " to feast on ideas in 

 print." I have certainly been very 

 much delighted with the many useful 

 ideas contained in the justly valuable 

 Bee .jouknal. A brighter day is 

 truly dawning for the apiculturist. 

 Kew Helds of investigation are con- 

 tinually opening. Men of eminent 

 ability and capaliility are engaged in 

 the work, not only in the discussion, 

 but in the actual experiments which 

 lead to the summit of success. 



Dreamers nev»M- roach the summit, 



Diters win tlu* [irlze at last; 

 Oreiiniers siniu'ltmea seek to jraln it. 



But their cluiui^es soonjire past. 



Men, to succeed well in the apiary, 

 must be men of ■energy and persever- 

 ance; they must examine their work 

 in all its bearing; view it from differ- 

 ent standpoints, and learn how to ob- 

 tain the best results. 



I agree witli Dr. Baker, that drones 

 are of use, but the term as applied to 

 people (meaning idlers), this is what 

 we should labor to avoid. There are, 

 doubtless, a great many that keep 

 bees that are too indolent to think, 

 much less to study the works on bee 



lore, and learn theoretically the suc- 

 cessful management of the apiary. 

 Very few in this part of Ontario have, 

 until recently, taken any interest in 

 bee lore; but the prospects for im- 

 provement are brightening. The Bee 

 JouitNAL circulates here, and will 

 doubtless do much in educating many 

 who are now (uily keeping a few colo- 

 nies of bees. I intend, when the busy 

 season arrives, to endeavor to extend 

 its circulation, and trust I may be 

 able to send you a long list of sub- 

 scribers. 

 Belleville, Ont., Aug. 7, 18S2. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Hiinior Practically Applied. 



MRS. C. J. ALLISON. 



"Who shall decide when doctors 

 disagree':"' is a mooted question; but 

 it is an admitted fact, that on all ques- 

 tions pertaining to apiculture, espec- 

 ially weedv ones, the Bee Journal 

 settles them. We have learned so 

 much from the failures as well as suc- 

 cesses of others (toe, that is Jeems 

 and myself) we will give you some of 

 ours. 



As we had to feed our 1-5 colonies 

 last season from the 20tli of July to tlie 

 last of August, vve concluded not to 

 divide much this year, so we only in- 

 creased to 24 by swarming, and divi- 

 ding and nuclei, and mostof them had 

 been doing sidendidly, storing honey 

 in the second set of boxes (American), 

 when the swarming fever came over 

 them, two swarms at a time— three 

 absconding, this week, to our knowl- 

 edge. I think we should have divided. 

 However, we are but novices of only 

 two summers' experience, hardly in 

 the A ]i5 C yet (don't know as much as 

 we did a ^tear ago). Well, we went 

 over the rest of them, cutting out their 

 queen cells and giving two frames of 

 foundation to keep their queen busy; 

 but work seems suspended where they 

 have issued. I intend next year to 

 have them all divided and in working 

 order bv the middle of June. 



We have an abundance of fall bloom, 

 such as asters, goldeiirod, smartweed, 

 and old litlds are blue with a weed 

 called square-plant, also blue vervain, 

 and a host of others. For 30 years I 

 have had the black flag raised against 

 weeds, and I am now huntin" for them 

 as so many greenbacks. Even the 

 nasty Jamestown weed don't look quite 

 as hideous, since I saw bees at work 

 on it. I lind my early education has 

 been sadly neglected— why not take 

 up the study of Botany now ':' It is 

 said, Humboldt took up new studies 

 after he was 80 years olil. 



What a la/.y race we Americans are. 

 The fact is, the great bread-and-butter 

 question absorbs soul and body of 

 most of us, and my ambition the last 

 2 years has been to have a leetle honey 

 on that bread. So last spring, to make 

 a success, we sent for seeds of catnip, 

 mignonette, cleome. motherwort, spi- 

 der plant, ligwort, dandelion, sweet, 

 white and Aliske clovers. Well, I 

 tried to weeil those beds out between 

 sliowers. and at last concluded I didn't 

 care so veri/ much tor honey ; pre- 



