THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



409 



larvK to the perfect miller, right on 

 the outside of the hives : and the bees 

 will come out in tine condition. 

 DeKalb Junction, AM'., June 9,1884. 



For Oie American Boe Jouroal. 



Docility of Syrian Bees. 



K. J. KENDALL. 



n page S&2, Mr. 

 held. England, takes exception to my 

 remarks on page 108, regarding "a 

 communication of his in the British 

 Bee Journal of Jan. lo, relating to the 

 docility of Syrian bees. 



I am* sorry if I misunderstood and 

 misconstrtied what he said ; but the 

 two articles ;ire oefore the public, and 

 I shall not discuss them further. Any 

 one can see for himself how far I 

 ^\•ellt wrong. I am glad, however, of 

 :Mr. II. "s letter, because it exactly 

 agrees with my ideas ; for in sum ancl 

 substance it really amounts to say- 

 ing that Syrians are no more docile 

 than Italians, when you get down to 

 bed-rock. 



In yir. H.'s complaint as to the 

 wrong use of the word "Briton,"'! 

 think he is also striking at me, not at 

 the Editor, as he (the •• Ed.") seems 

 to think. I designated ^Ir. H. as a 

 ■' Briton ;'" the Editor merely used 

 the word "British."' The difference 

 between the two may be the differ- 

 ence between tweedle-dum and 

 tweedle-dee. It is not very impor- 

 tant, but Mr. H. thinks it enough to 

 lecture one of us on, and at the same 

 time to show that we, on this side of 

 the Atlantic, are ignorant (':') of na- 

 tional derivatives. I have frequently 

 noticed in the Bntish Bee Journal this 

 tendency to exhibit a depth of pe- 

 dantic knowledge of no practical use. 



But now in regard to these words, 

 "Briton" and "British." In their 

 original and earlier sense the words 

 were used, doubtless, to designate the 

 semi-barbarous race of people who in- 

 habited " the tight little Isle " prior 

 to the Saxon conquest ; but in their 

 later and common acceptation, it is 

 equally sure that they are used to 

 designate the natives of Great Britain 

 — and this latter acceptation is equally 

 as valid as the former. Mr. H. must 

 remember that it is not Americans 

 who gave the name of " Briton " to 

 Englishmen, but Englishmen them- 

 selves. 



I want to ask Mr. II. a question or 

 two : Between you, me. and the 

 ■\Vicker, will you tell me how many 

 times after, or at, a Good Friday ex"- 

 cursion to Conisbro Castle, a Whit 

 Monday trip to Koche Abbey, a picnic 

 in Xorfolk Park, a run-over to see 

 " 't Leger"' on Doncaster Town Moor; 

 or a political meeting in the old Pot 

 Market, or the Albert Hall, have you 

 expanded your lungs bv affirming with 

 great vehemence that " Britons never, 

 never, never shall be slaves,'" " Brit- 

 ons' Strike Home," and like patriotic 

 songs about " Britons V"' When you 

 sang those songs, who were the 

 " Britons '" referred to— the dead-and- 

 gone, before - the - Saxon - conquest 

 braves, or yourself and countrymen 

 now living Y 



If you will take your Nuttall's Dic- 

 tionary, I think you will find that it 

 says, a " Briton "' is a native of Great 

 Britain," as, of course, he is; and 

 any English school-boy will give such 

 an answer every time. The English 

 papers claim to be, and are included 

 in " The British Press." Are they 

 not eternally telling us about "British 

 Interests in India," and other parts 

 of the world y Do we not read, every 

 little while, of the " British Troops " 

 doing this and that ? Have we not 

 read, or heard of "The British Soldier" 

 and " The British Tar V" and even to- 

 day there are lots of schools in Eng- 

 land called " British Schools."' Why. 

 their second national song is called. 

 " Rule Brittannia ;" and next to "God 

 Save the Queen," this song is the 

 dearest to the hearts of Englishmen. 



I would recall to Mr. Hewitt's re- 

 membrance that well-known song, 

 "The Englishman" — note the title, 

 "The Englishman."' The first line of 

 one verse begins : 



" The Brifon may travel from the pole to the 

 zone, etc." 



and the verse ends : 



*' 'Tis a clorious charter, deny it who can. 



That breathes in the words. I'm an Englishman." 



What becomes of Mr. Ilewitfs as- 

 sertion that the word " Briton " can- 

 not properly be applied to an English- 

 man ":* Again, it is news to me to 

 hear that either the natives of " Cy- 

 prus, Canada. Hong Kong, India, Ja- 

 maica, etc.— in fact people of all 

 colors— are Britishers." The direct 

 contrary is true ; they are not British- 

 ers. There may be people living there 

 who are Britishers, but they w-ere 

 born in the British Isles or of British 

 parents if they are. If Mr. Hewitt's 

 bee-ology is no better than his eth- 

 nology, 1 am afraid we cannot depend 

 upon it. 



Austin, Texas. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Prevention of Bee-Diarrhoea. 



J. E. FOND, JR. 



On page 374 Mr. Fradenburg says : 

 " I have read with much interest the 

 articles on bee-diarrhcea. But all have 

 been theories and noproofs." " Xow,'" 

 he says, " I will give the proofs first 

 and the theories afterwards;" and 

 then states further : " j\Iy proofs are 

 sustained by .59 living witnesses." But 

 what do his proofs prove after all V 

 Certainly not that pollen is the cause 

 of bee-d'iarrhcea, but simply that in 

 the cases he mentions, no diarrho-a 

 was found when sugar syrup was used 

 for winter stores. 



Per contra, I will give some proofs ; 

 true, I have but 9 living witnesses, 

 but they will certainly give one-sixth 

 as much proof as Mr. F."s.59. Last 

 fall, when preparing 9 colonies- for 

 winter, I allowed all the pollen left 

 over to remain in the hives ; the re- 

 sult was, that not one of these colo- 

 nies showed a sign of diarrha-a, and 

 I never saw bees in better condition, 

 or recruit up faster than these 9 colo- 

 nies did, this spring. One of them, in 

 fact, gave me 72 pounds of surplus 

 honey from apple bloom, gathered in 

 five days. 



This proves nothing in itself, but it 

 certainly is as strong proof as that 

 given by Mr. F. If, however, it does 

 prove anything, it goes far toward 

 proving that pollen is not the cause 

 of bee-diarrhonv ; for if it is, my 9 col- 

 onies would have been affected with 

 that disease. 



The fact is, we must all of us look 

 further yet, for the cause ; when 

 found, there will be a general rejoic- 

 ing all through the land. 



I am satished that I have found the 

 solution of the wintering problem, 

 and in a future article, will give my 

 ideas. For the present I hope that 

 every bee-keeper will do his part to- 

 ward ascertaining the cause of bee- 

 diarrliiea, and he who first discovers 

 it, will receive the heartfelt thanks of 

 his grateful brethren. 



Foxboro. Mass. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Profitable Use of Comb Foundation. 



W. H. STEWART. 



Although I have kept bees nearly 

 every season for the last 40 years, and 

 have all the while striven to learn all 

 that I could of their nature, wants 

 and habits ; yet, after becoming some- 

 what acquaiiited with the many good 

 lessons on modern bee culture, as 

 given in the bee-papers by Mr. G. M. 

 Doolittle, I feel that he is capable of 

 teaching me very much which I have 

 not yet'learned. And. notwithstand- 

 ing his superior judgment and keen 

 powers of observation, I must say 

 that I am quite sure that the doctrine 

 (or a portion of it) taught in his arti- 

 cle on pages 671 and 672 of the Bee 

 Journal for 1SS3, is unsound. 



Though "Six. D. seems to express the 

 wish that the article above mentioned 

 should be allowed to pass without 

 criticism, when he says, " If any 

 think that it is not the right way to 

 work, thev can pass this article by, 

 the same as if it had not been writ- 

 ten ;" yet I propose to review the arti- 

 cle in part. 



The first mistake which I notice in 

 Mr. D.'s remarks is, " Many cannot 

 afford to buy it (foundation).'"' I hold 

 that no person can afford to keep bees 

 at the present stage of the art with- 

 out buying or making all the best im- 

 proved appliances which have been 

 discovered, and put them into profit- 

 able use. AVe might as well conclude 

 that some persons who keep horses 

 could not " afford to buy " oats or 

 corn for feed. I cannot conceive of 

 any reason why a bee-keeper could 

 not " afford to buy " foundation, un- 

 less it is because he is poor ; and if 

 poverty be offered as an excuse, I 

 would reply that no poor beekeeper 

 can afford' to put up with a small 

 yield of honey, when he could in any 

 proper way get a larger yield, and at 

 a less cost than the market value of 

 the honey. 



One of the most happy facts con- 

 nected with bee-keeping is, that those 

 having but limited means and only a 

 small patch of ground, may engage in 

 the pursuit on a small scale, and by 

 proper management, obtain good re- 



