THE AMERICAN BEK JOURNAL. 



455 



lias criticised ray article, for I think 

 such friendly criticisms lielp to bring 

 out the line.and often very v;iliial>lt' 

 jKiints that would otherwise pass un- 

 noticed . 



Mr. 1'. closes by saying : " He (the 

 bee-keeper) who first discovers the 

 cause ot bee-diarrha?a will receive the 

 heartfelt tlianks of his grateful 

 brethren." Xow I claim to lie that 

 one ; for I gave to the world the tirst 

 (iroofs. i. c. that pollen is the cause ; 

 and Mr. James ileddon is the second 

 to claim those thanks; but I think I 

 am just head-and-neck aliead of him, 

 vet I heartly congratulate him, and 1 

 think his article, on page 405, fully 

 confirms my proofs. 



My theory is. that bees often have 

 large quantities of pollen in their 

 combs, and yet come through tiie 

 winter well, and with but little if any 

 signs of diarrhoea ; but the reason is, 

 that in such cases they do not eat of 

 the pollen. I have seen whole combs 

 of pollen, in winter and early spring, 

 that had been uncapped and the 

 honey taken out, but the pollen un- 

 touched ; then at other times they 

 seem to eat of the pollen as fast as 

 they come to it, and then they have 

 diairha'a in proportion. To find out 

 under just what circumstances or con- 

 ditions pollen can be left in the hives 

 during winter, and not have the bees 

 eat of it, is the next important ques- 

 tion, and tliat far I have not yet ad- 

 vanced ; but the •'pollen theory," I 

 believe, sooner or later, every bee- 

 keeper will yet have to admit. 



Port Wasiiington, O. 



Prairie Farmef. 



Honey-Dew and White Clover Honey 



3IKS. L. HARRISON. 



" The best laid plans of mice and 

 men gang aft aglae." At the com- 

 mencement of the white clover bloom 

 I put some nice white comb in frames, 

 into the supei- of a hive, in order to 

 secure some extra fine extracted 

 honey. When tlie combs were filled 

 and nearly all sealed, I extracted 

 them and found the product to be 

 very tliick, dark honey of a peculiar 

 flavor. I ijiferred it was from the 

 black locust, but reports from differ- 

 ent sources by persons who have in- 

 vestigated the matter, indicate it to 

 be the product of honey-dew, gath- 

 ered from the unusually luxuriant 

 growth of maples, and some other 

 trees. There is an aphis found on the 

 leaves of these trees. This dark 

 honey will be mixed more or less with 

 white clover, and damaged to some 

 extent. 



The bees are holding high carnival 

 to-day, and it is mete they should, for 

 the linden bloom is at its'hight. They 

 have not a minute to lose, and dart in 

 and out of their hives with astonish- 

 ing rapidity. As I write by the open 

 window the perfume from thousands 

 of linden flowers is wafted in. The 

 delicious nectar secreted in the corol- 

 las of the linden bloom is a very dif- 

 ferent article than the product of 

 plant lice, and yet many persons 

 think bees make honev. and that it is 



all alike, and .should sell for the same 

 price. 



IJees are very rich in wax, and good 

 natured too, while forage is so abund- 

 ant. I came along on the sidewalk 

 to-day, and a run-away swarm had 

 clustered on a small willow tree close 

 to the fence ; a lady was anxious to 

 secure them, and I shook them off 

 into a box for her. The bees rattled 

 down all over me like shelled corn, 

 but did not try to sting, and the limb 

 where they clustered was covered 

 with wax. 



There are a number of nui-away 

 swarms heard from in this locality, 

 and they will continue plenty as long 

 as people are so slow to learn that 

 bees should be hived as soon as clus- 

 tered. A neighboring Irishman had a 

 very large first swarm lately, and he 

 said he " would lave them until aven- 

 ing, and when it was cool he would 

 hive them." Ilis bees did not wait 

 until evening, but emigrated to a 

 home of their own finding. 



IJees will often desert a hive the 

 next day after swarming, if it is very 

 hot and the sun shines directly upon 

 it. We had a swarm lately that was 

 hived and placed in the shade in the 

 afternoon ; tlie next morning the sun 

 shone upon it and the bees came out 

 and clustered, although they had 

 built considerable comb. 



In watching a swarm issue, we no- 

 ticed a ball of bees as large as an 

 apple on the alighting board of an 

 adjoining colony. We poked off the 

 bees and secured the queen, and 

 placed her in a cage in a new hive, 

 setting it where the one from which 

 the swarm issued formerly stood, and 

 in a few minutes the bees returned 

 and entered the hive. It would have 

 been a safer \\'ay to throw the ball of 

 bees into water, as they sometimes 

 sting a queen when they are being 

 pulled off. When thrown into water, 

 the ball quickly falls to pieces, and 

 the queen can be picked out without 

 being injured. 



The best place to store honey is in 

 a dry, hot, well-ventilated room. If 

 kept in a cellar it gets watery and 

 oozes from the cells. Do not allow 

 colonies to swarm o or 4 times, as 

 there would be little or no income 

 excepting from the first. If the queen 

 cells are cut out and the second swarm 

 returned, then there will be 2 large 

 colonies, and surplus may be ex- 

 pected. If bees are the object sought 

 in lieu of money, then build up these 

 after-swarms by giving them frames 

 of chipping brood, and honey from 

 strong colonies. If left to themselves, 

 they generally perish during the fol- 

 lowing winter. 



It is well to save the queen -cells in 

 the very best colonies. When the 

 cells are ripe, or, in other words, the 

 young are ready to emerge, the colony 

 can be divided. IJees gnaw off tlie 

 ends of the cells, not clear through, 

 but partially, atsout the time the 

 queen is expected, and a frame con- 

 taining such a cell and covered with 

 bees may be removed to a hive where 

 she will soon hatch, and the bees re- 

 main with her. Queens reared under 

 the swarming impulse are claimed to 

 be the test. These young queens are 



a bonanza, when fecundated and lay- 

 ing, for introducing into aqueenless 

 colony, or where an impotent queen is 

 discovered. 

 Peoria, 111., July 1,1884. 



Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association. 



A meeting of the Ontario Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association was held at Toronto, 

 July 8. The following were in at- 

 tendance : S. Cornell, President ; J. 

 Hall, 1)1-. Tliom, Jacob 8pence, 1). A. 

 Jones, 15. Chalmers, C. Mitchell, 

 ISIessrs. Patterson. Walker, Losee, 

 Baxter, Pellet, Webster, and others. 



The President explained that the 

 objects of tbe meeting were : First, 

 to obtain necessary legislation to pro- 

 tect the bee-industry against the dan- 

 gers of foul brood. A letter addressed 

 to Dr. Thom was read by the Presi- 

 dent, showing the dangers to the in- 

 terests of the Association generally, 

 growing out of the attempt of incom- 

 petent persons to conduct apiaries. 



Reference was made to the inter- 

 view between members of the Ontario 

 Government and a deputation from 

 the Association in reference to the 

 desired legislation, in which the Gov- 

 ernment requested that the Associa- 

 tion supply statistics showing the ex- 

 tent of the bee-keeping industry, and 

 the grounds of its claims to Govern- 

 ment aid. During the discussion a 

 number of opinions were advanced 

 in favor of the union of the Associa- 

 tion with the Ontario Fruit Growers' 

 Association, but no formal action was 

 taken in this connection. 



Considerable time was occupied in 

 the discussion of the best methods of 

 collecting the required statistics. 

 Finally, Messrs. S. Cornell, D. A. 

 Jones and Dr. Thom were appointed 

 to wait upon Hon. A. M. Boss to re- 

 quest that the Bureau of Agriculture 

 and Statistics take charge of the mat- 

 ter, and procure the information in 

 connection with one of the season's 

 crop reports. 



The Association, at the request of 

 the management of the Industrial 

 Fair, made the following nominations 

 'for judges for the honey and apiary 

 departments at the approaching To- 

 ronto Exhibition: Dr. Thom, S. T. 

 Pettit, D. Chalmers, C. K. Tench and 

 P. C. Dempsey. 



Mr! D. A. Jones was heard by the 

 Association with reference to the pro- 

 posed Foul Brood Act. He thought 

 experts should be appointed, whose 

 duty it would be, when so requested, 

 to examine supposed diseased honey 

 He thought it would be a good idea to 

 have diagrams and full descriptions 

 of the various stages of the disease 

 prepared. He believed the only dan- 

 ger of spreading foul brood was in the 

 bees carrying it from hive to hive. 



Dr. Thom called attention to the 

 necessity for the proper inspection of 

 imported bees, and ^Ir. Jones claimed 

 this matter as urgently requiring at- 

 tention as the inspection of imported 

 cattle. .Mr. Jones, in reply to a ques- 

 tion, also expressed the opinion that , 

 the present season would prove a 

 favorable one for bee-keepers. 



