470 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



first swarm. I could have taken from 

 them over 1200 pounds. The honey 

 flow is not yet over, and it may vet 

 aveTage nearly 200 pounds per coloiiy. 

 The honey taken is very tine, weigh- 

 ing 12I4 pounds per gallon. I use 

 spruce and cypress wood kegs, holding 

 5 and 8 gallons, and find them to be 

 better than tin vessels, and much 

 cheaper. My bees are pure Cyprians, 

 and some colonies did not like the 



many auxiliary causes, lest some one 

 living in the South might suggest 

 tliat. notwithstanding all the pollen, 

 bees winter tip- top down there. As 

 cold is the principal factor here in the 

 Xorth, not experienced bv our South- 

 ern friends, it strikes one'tliat cold as 

 '• the greater auxiliary to the cause." 

 is assuming too much, and lial)le to 

 turn out as with one of our own poli- 

 ticians, who, before the ballots were 



feather brush, so on these I used the ' counted, always claimed eve7ychinf' 

 tops of the camomile weed, and found I with confidence. 



it did not make tliem so hostile. After 

 working four years with the ("yprian 

 bees, I can truthfully say for them 

 that they are the best bee yet for our 

 hot, windy prairie country, and 1 

 think they will do well anywhere in 

 the South. Ileddon's '• pollen theory" 

 is certainly correct. I will soon give 

 my experience on this subject. 

 Dresden, Texas 



For the American Bee Juuriial. 



A Plea for Pollen. 



nil. G. L. TINKEK. 



The recent report of the costly ex- 

 periments made during the past "win- 

 ter by Mt. Ileddon in support of the 

 pollen theory, as anticipated, brings 

 to li^ht no facts not already reported 

 by Prof. Cook, who several years 

 since made many careful experiments 

 in wintering bees on sugar svrup, and 

 which proved clearlv enough that 

 cane-sugar is a better winter food for 

 bees than the natural stores; but 

 those who hold that thereby the theory 

 is also proved, are taking much for 

 granted. 



There are too many questions in- 

 volved to be settled by a single line 

 of experiment. The theory is not 

 only not proved, but it is far from 

 being advisable to reduce it to prac- 

 tice, although our friend is so very 

 confident that it is all right. I am 

 pleased that he is so ; hut trust that 

 he will not think Mr. Cornell, myself 

 and others, obstinate in our opposi- 

 tion, because we believe tlie theory 

 inadequate to cover the facts which 

 he alleges. 



The experiments required to be 

 made to prove anvthing at all. must 

 exclude honey entirely ; and the 

 stores be confined to sugar syrup and 

 bee bread in a hive properly "prepared 

 for winter ; but after these have been 

 made, there will still remain the great 

 question of the primary cause. 



Now, Mr. Ileddon talks to us very 

 familiarly about the causes " auxiliary 

 to the cause;"' and it has become in- 

 teresting to learn how he knows which 

 is primary and which secondary. Of 

 course we know that there is no first 

 cause, scientificallv speaking, and 

 hence we are to coiisider onlv those 

 causes or conditions wliich may be 

 controlled or modified by the hand of 

 man. 



First of all it will be noted that Mr. 

 Ileddon places much stress upon the 

 unity of the cause of bee-diarrhcea 

 This he is obliged to do if he would 

 substantiate the theory. It must not 

 only be a cause, but the one great 

 cause. It will luirdlv do to admit so 



My nivestigations of the cause of 

 bee-dianha?a prove what Prof. Cook, 

 Mr. Doolittle, and a host of other able 

 observers have found, viz : that " rest- 

 lessness," "excitement," or " undue 

 activity " of the bees in winter quar- 

 ters are the first symptoms of the dis- 

 order. On the contrary, those colo- 

 nies which remain quietlv clustered 

 upon the combs and have" enough to 

 eat, usually winter all right ; but if 

 they become restless there will soon 

 be a demand for nitrogenous food to 

 supply the waste of tissue. If, now, 

 they cannot void themselves in con- 

 finement as held (which, however, is 

 not yet clearly proven), then the in- 

 digestible particles of the bee-bread 

 consumed, together with the excre- 

 tion of the worn-out or effete tissues 

 (which, as one of the adjunct causes 

 of bee-diarrluea, completelv dwarfs 

 that of pollen), may accumulate, after 

 a time, in quantities producing serious 

 harm. It would, however, be a great 

 mistake to suppose that the accumu- 

 lations are the cause of the restless- 

 ness, since it is certain that bees do 

 eat pollen all through a long winter 

 confinement, and yet winter well. 

 This fact is now well established, as 

 pollen husks are always to be found 

 in the intestines of bees in winter 

 confinement; but no trouble comes 

 from slight accumulations. It is 

 only, when, as in such a winter as 

 that of isso-sl, bees are obliged to 

 consume inordinate and almost un- 

 precedented quantities of both honey 

 and pollen to keep life in them, that 

 these harmful accumulations arise. 



If restlessness, then, causes the 

 bees to eat too freely of pollenized 

 food, it ranks as a prior cause ; and 

 the most that could: be held is, that 

 the latter may be an auxiliary cause, 

 while restlessness, as the effect of 

 cold, humidity aiul confinement, one 

 or all, must stand as the primary 

 cause or causes amenable to the hand 

 of man. I am, therefore, unable to 

 see the propriety of excluding the 

 bee-bread from the bees in wmter, 

 but think that we should provide 

 against the primary causes ; and I 

 shall hold that the "latter policy may 

 be more economically executed than 

 the former, and that it is practicable. 

 efEectual in results, and consistent in 

 theory. 



To prevent the consumption of too 

 much pollen by the bees, under ad- 

 verse conditions, it would be neces- 

 sary to exclude nearly all of. it from 

 them, which measure will certainly 

 require more "fussing" than most 

 men will care to give their bees. It 

 will not be enough to limitthe amount 

 to one-half or one fourth of the ordi- 

 nary quantity stored ; for the colonies 



dying of diarrho?a, do not eat all 

 their bee-bread, but leave large 

 amounts of it. 



Again, Mr. Ileddon has given one 

 case whicli died of diarrhiea, as he 

 states, caused by eating from only 

 one comb ; and yet, when he exam- 

 ined it, it was ■'■ nearly half full of 

 bee-bread." As this comb undoubt- 

 edly contained some honey, and also 

 a patcli of brood " as large as a man"s 

 hand," in the fall, how much bee- 

 bread, think you kind reader, does it 

 take to kill a colonv of bees y Accord- 

 ing to this showing, a few dozen cells 

 of it is ample to kill any colonv, other 

 things being favorable. It is plain, 

 therefore, that it will be impractica- 

 ble to exclude it in such amounts as 

 to insure safe wintering ; unless, in- 

 deed, we come down to the use of 

 " tooth-picks." 



There are bee-keepers living farther 

 north than Mr. Ileddon, and who win- 

 ter, year after year, a great many 

 more colonies, and with almost no 

 loss at all. Wintering is no trick for 

 them ; bee-bread in the hives in win- 

 ter gives them no concern, and thev 

 seldom have a case of bee-diarrlKea". 

 That their methods are not practica- 

 ble and efficient, there is no doubt ; 

 and that all other bee-keepers may be 

 equally successful, there is also" no 

 doubt. Could Mr. II., therefore, give 

 us a practical method of excluding all 

 pollen from the hives in the fall, it 

 would offer us no advantages in win- 

 tering not already possessed, even if 

 his method of winteringwould always 

 prove safe, which is not now, has not 

 been in the past, and will not be in 

 the future. 



On page 171 of the Bee Jouknai, 

 for 1881, is a report by Mr. Wilber 

 which is especially commended to Mr. 

 Ileddon's consideration. The report, 

 like all others that I have read on the 

 use of sugar syrup, is, on the whole, 

 favorable against the use of natural 

 stores. In this case, however, one of 

 the sugar-fed colonies wintered in tlie 

 cellar, died of "dysentery," and two 

 of those wintered on the summer 

 stands, died ; but they " were the only 

 ones that died without the dysentery." 

 In view of such a report as this, of 

 what was clearlv a carefully made 

 test, who will say that, if we had had 

 such a winter as that of 18.S0-S1, Mr. 

 Ileddon would not have lost one-half 

 of his-t') sugar-fed colonies ; and that, 

 too, not from iliarrhoea, but from 

 another trouble not less to be dreaded, 

 viz : restkssy^ess under the smarting 

 effects of bitter and prolonged cold in 

 a damp, devitalizing atmosphere V It 

 is plain that, if bees get restless from 

 any cause, and they have not access 

 to bee-bread or otiier nitrogenous food 

 to supply waste of tissue, tliere vital- 

 ity will be speedily exhausted. 



I shall repeat, therefore, what was 

 stated a year since : that I believe 

 that the pollen whicli bees consume 

 in winter, is essential to tiieir well- 

 fare, and never detrimental, except 

 when the force of circumstances com- 

 pels them to eat not only more pollen, 

 but more honey than the vital powers 

 can endure. 



This being true, should we not give 

 bees better winter protection, better 



