182 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



return ; I closed the entrance, and 

 the drones that clustered on the hive, 

 I killed that night. In the morning 1 

 found all the rest of the drones clus- 

 tered inside of the hive, near the en- 

 trance, and I killed them all. I had 

 no queens to mate, and in a short 

 time they had the combs all filled in 

 the same style as before, and when 

 capped I shaved all thetwostory cells 

 down level with the capped worker 

 cells, and the laying workers were 

 quiet. 



No. 32 (pure Italian) was infested in 

 the same manner, and about the same 

 lengih of time. 



No. 30 (pure Italian) was queenless 

 from May until September. I kept 

 them replenished from other hives, 

 and never had any laying workers. 



No. 48 (Syrian- Italian) was queen- 

 less three months, and replenished 

 from other hives, and never had a 

 laying worker. 



No. 29 (pure Syrian) was queenless, 

 and had no laying workers. 



I found drone cells in several other 

 hives ttirough the season, all through 

 the worker brood, and I removed the 

 queens to learn the cause, and after- 

 wards returned the old queens. I 

 found more of those laying workers 

 in June and July. Those drones do 

 not make long trips from the hive ; 

 they are lazy ; and the bees do not let 

 them live long. The Syrian-Italian 

 bees are mv favorites. 



Kane, 111. 



Middlesex, Ont., Convention. 



A meeting of prominent bee-keep- 

 ers was held at Ailsa Craig last week, 

 for the purpose of forming an associa- 

 tion to advance their mutual interests, 

 and discuss matters appertaining to 

 the keeping of bees. An organization 

 was effected with the following offi- 

 cers : President Mr. Campbell, of 

 Parkhill; Vice-President, Mr. Atkin- 

 son, of Ailsa Craig; Secretary, Mr. 

 Stewart, of Ailsa Craig. A profitable 

 and interesting discussion followed, 

 on " Bees and their Habits and Im- 

 provement," after whicli a deputation 

 consisting of Messrs. Aikes, Campbell 

 and Atkinson, was appointed to inter- 

 view the directors of the Western 

 Fair, with a view of securing better 

 accommodation and inducements for 

 bee-keepers wisliing to makeexliibits. 

 The next meeting will be held in Lon- 

 don, Ont. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



Spring Dwindling. 



J. E. POND, JR. 



March is the month of teiTor to bee- 

 keepers. Few colonies die during 

 winter if any care at all is used in fall 

 preparation, but spring dwindling, 

 which does not affect the colony till 

 the severity of winter is over, deci- 

 mates more apiaries than all other 

 causes combined. What is spring 

 dwindling, and how can it be pre- 

 vented y 



These are serious questions, and as 

 yet no positively correct answer has 



been given. The matter is largely 

 one of theory, and possibly a solution 

 may never be found, still in matters 

 of true theory it does well to agitate, 

 for by agitation only can we arrive at 

 truth ; that is, if no agitation is made, 

 and no discussion had, the matter 

 may be allowed to slumber into for- 

 getfuiness never to be awakened. 

 Spring dwindling is characterized by 

 diarrhoea, misnamed dysentery ; find 

 the cause and you prevent the dis- 

 ease ; discover a remedy and you can 

 cure it. 



There is a remedy, but the great 

 trouble is, it cannot be applied. 

 Cleansing flights will cure this diar- 

 rhoea, for it is not a disease, but only 

 an overloaded state of the bowel ; and 

 this overloaded state is found at just 

 the time wlien tlie l)ees cannot safely 

 fly, else there would have been no such 

 condition. It being impossible then 

 to apply a remedy, we must liend our 

 energies to seeking out the cause, for 

 that is the only course now left us. As 

 many causes almost as there are bees 

 in a cohmy, have already been given 

 us, none "of wliich, however, liave 

 proven to be correct ; and in my opin- 

 ion their authors had little faith in 

 their correctness, when they pre- 

 sented them. The trouble is.' there 

 are many causes ; or a combination of 

 causes is needed to produce it. The 

 bee in its normal state can exist for 

 many months witliout the need of a 

 cleansing flight ; and during that con- 

 finement can partake of botli honey 

 and pollen without producing any dis- 

 turbance of the bowel, all effete mat- 

 ters being carried off therefrom in a 

 dry state. If this is so, and I defy 

 proof to the contrary, we must tiieh 

 look for some poisonous condition of 

 the food, as the cause of this acute 

 inflammation which causes diarrhoea ; 

 for acute inflammation there must be, 

 to change the contents of the bowel 

 from a dry to a watery state. Now, 

 what is it ? 



I propose to answer the question at 

 the risk of calling down heaps of scorn 

 and derision, from those wlio have al- 

 ready spelled, but have not got to the 

 head. Unsealed honey may be. and 

 at times is a cause of this complaint. 

 Confine a colony on a warm day, and 

 when you let them out, do they not 

 show symptoms of diarrhrea 'i And if 

 the confinement lasts for several days, 

 they are very largely affected by it.' 



Again, sealed honey may contain 

 enough moisture to cause it to fer- 

 ment. Does any one deny this '? It 

 so they can easily verify it. But the 

 real cause is, no doubt, lack of proper 

 ventilation. This will cause moisture 

 in excess ; the bees in their endeavor 

 to get rid of the moisture, are forced 

 to partake of food ; this food has be- 

 come soured, and ferments, and the 

 consequence is, that the bowels are 

 inflamed. 



Now if a warm pleasant day follows 

 immediately, no trouble ensues, but if 

 it continues cold for a number of days, 

 food must still be partaken of, and 

 tlie bowel constantly becomes more 

 and more distended, till at last poor 

 bee nature can stand it no longer, and 

 must discharge its offensive contents 

 in the hive or die, and if relief by rea- 



son of warm weather does not come 

 soon, the whole colony succumbs and 

 dies. 



The above is my answer in brief, 

 and I shall stand by it till some one 

 gives a better one. " If I am correct, 

 the remedy is easy to ascertain, but, 

 perhaps, difficult to apply. It consists 

 in so ventilating the hive that a per- 

 fectly natural condition of things is 

 constantly kept up during the whole 

 term of freezing weather. How this 

 state can be brought about, I leave 

 for others to determine. I have 

 my own ideas on the subject, and at 

 some future time may be tempted to 

 make them known. For the present 

 I am content if I have started up a 

 little spark, which may, in the near 

 future, form a big blaze. 



Foxboro, Mass. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Cyprian and Holy Land Bees. 



D. D. DANIIIER. 



I have had both kinds for 3 or 4 

 years, and would like to give my 

 opinion of them. I obtained Cyprians 

 for two breeders to see if they would 

 be alike. Their manner was alike, 

 but one was dark in color and the 

 other light. I think the dark ones 

 the hardiest, the best honey gatherers, 

 and they do not rob as much as the 

 others. I have 8 or 10 colonies of 

 them, and am not sick of them. If 

 Mr. Doolittle wants to get rid of his, 

 I will take them, for I think they will 

 just suit me. 



I have two Holy Land queens ; they 

 are very dark, and so are the bees, 

 but they are good workers, always 

 strong in numbers and stores. They 

 are always ready for defense. You 

 can leave home for a month and leave 

 the honey board off, and they wUl 

 take care "of themselves. 



I have 28 colonies of bees buried ; 

 they are mostly in deep frame hives, 

 but some are in straw hives, logs, and 

 box hives. Two are on the summer 

 stands, and all are wintering first 

 rate. 



Madison, Wis., March 5, 1884. 



Kur the American Bee Journal. 



An Important Point in Wintering. 



ALLEN PRINGLE. 



In a late issue of the Canadian 

 Farmer, a correspondent, in giving 

 his apiarian report, tells us how he 

 put 2-5 colonies into a cellar " built 

 expressly for the purpose "" in the fall 

 of 1882, and when he came to take 

 them out in the spring, they were 

 " one mass of mold." He says they 

 did not appear to have sufficient ven- 

 tilation ; that the entrances were com- 

 pletelv choked up ; and between dys- 

 entery and mold were a terrible 

 mess. After the spring dwindling 

 was over, he found himself with only 

 4 colonies. 



Now, this case furnishes a good 

 text. It affords an excellent oppor- 

 tunity to point out a radical defect in 

 the construction of hives ; a defect 



