THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



471 



ventilation, and more of tliat 'Miiglily 

 oxygenized food"— sngar synii'— 

 which is found to lie so much betler 

 than honey to aid the licca to witli- 

 stand our inclement winters V We 

 may take from them the conitis con- 

 taining excess of bee-biead, and re- 

 turn tliem as soon as they have need 

 in tlie spring, and especially if it lal^es 

 up needlul room for other stores; but 

 to undertal<e to prevent the storing of 

 liollen, or to remove it after it is 

 stored, as contemplated by Mr. Iled- 

 don, will be just so much" loss, at the 

 rate of :* 1 per pound (which is tlie 

 value placed upon it by an eminent 

 anthorily), while the compensating 

 advantages of the prevention or re- 

 moval do not yet appear. 



We often have bad spring weather, 

 when the l)ees cannot gather the 

 needful supplies of pollen to enable 

 them to breed up in time to take ad- 

 vantage of the yield of white clover. 

 We can well imagine Mv. II. with his 

 pollcnless bees, under these circum- 

 stances, and what woiUd be the result 

 of it. For my part. I have never seen 

 too much bee bread in my hives, and 

 never expect to. When the combs 

 are well tilled with it in the spring, it 

 is soon gone, often long before fruit 

 bloom, which I consider chielly val- 

 uable to our bees, only because of the 

 very large amount of pollen collected 

 from it. 



The past spring I had one colony 

 which had been built up from nuclei 

 last fall, which, it seems, had little 

 pollen but plenty of honey and sugar- 

 syrup. After a time, I wondered why 

 they did not breed up faster, and I 

 suspected that tlie queen was worth- 

 less; but upon examination, I found 

 that they had not a particle of bee- 

 bread, and had not been able to collect 

 enough pollen before fruit bloom to 

 fill one comb with brood. Tlie result 

 was, no surplus from this colony. 



In conclusion I cannot refrain from 

 commending to Mr. Ileddon the very 

 valuable advice given by Rev. Wm. 

 F. Clarke, in the closing paragraphs 

 of an article on page 364 of the Bee 

 Journal for ISSI. 



New Philadelphia, O. 



For the American Bee JouroaL 



Central Illinois Convention. 



A bee-keepers' association was 

 formed at Jacksonville, III., on July 

 12, 1884, by the a(loi)tion of a suitable 

 constitution and by-laws, and the 

 election of the following officers : 

 Capt. Henry W. Hitt, Merritt, 111., 

 President ; Jno. ^V. I'.owen, Jackson- 

 ville. 111., Vice-President; Wm. 

 Camm. Murrayville, Secretarv ; G, F. 

 Middleton. Jacksonville, 111.", Treas- 

 urer. 



Some discussion arose as to the 

 name of the new societv. but it was 

 finally decided to call it 'the " Central 

 Illinois Bee-Keepers' Association ;" 

 though some members thought that 

 there was a societv at iJloomington 

 styled the Central Illinois : vet it 

 could be changed if such proved to be 

 the case. 



It was intended to include the bee- 

 keepers of Scott and .Morgan counties 



oidy, but J. M. llambaugh, of Brown 



county, desired that others be allowed 

 the privilege of joining; so it was 

 decided to accept all without refer- 

 ence to the county in which they 

 lived. 



An interesting discussion arose as 

 to prices of honey and prospects for 

 honey crop. It seemed to be the opin- 

 ion of all that the (latlering prospect 

 for a large honey crop, this year, 

 would not be realized. Xearly all re- 

 ported that white clover was still 

 plentiful, but few bees working on it ; 

 and that the bees were cross "and in- 

 clined to rob. Adjourned to meet on 

 July 2G, ],S84. W.M. Camm, «ec. 



II. W. IlriT, Pres. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Report of the Honey Crop. 



W. II. STEWART. 



While we question the correctness 

 of some reports, we are forced to ad- 

 mit that sometimes one, or may be 6 

 colonies out of ■')(} or 100 do produce 

 wonderful yields. 



On page ll") of the Bee Journal 

 for 188:^, Mr. Doolittle states that he 

 obtained 061; pounds from a single col- 

 ony that did not swarm, and was not 

 divided : but we notice that this col- 

 ony was one of many in the same 

 apiary ; and. although" he states that 

 it had no help from any other colony, 

 yet we understand that the empty 

 combs which he gave them, aided 

 them very much. 



On page 434 of the Bee Journal 

 for 1883, Mr. Flory reports over (iOO 

 pounds fnim one colony ; but does not 

 state whether it was " spring count," 

 or whether divided — making 2 colo- 

 nies instead of one. If this were the 

 case, then it woidd appear quite rea- 

 sonable that 1 or 2 colonies should 

 produce 300 pcnmds each, when kept 

 in the same locality with many other 

 colonies. 



Again. Mr. F. does not state whether 

 he supplied those bees with empty 

 combs or not. It has been proven by 

 experiment that as much honey is 

 consumed in the production of a 

 comb (in the natural way) as the 

 comb will hold when finished. If 

 this be true, then the 20combs (Gallup 

 combs that hold about 6 pounds each) 

 which Mr. Doolittle gave to his col- 

 ony would be equivalent to giving 

 tliem 120 pounds of honey ; and not 

 only so. but the bees which were thus 

 enabled to rather honey to till those 

 combs, would otherwi.se have been 

 compelled to stay in the hive to build 

 their own combs, thus very much re- 

 ducing the honey-gathering force of 

 the colony. 



I am of the opinion that many bee- 

 keepers make great mistakes in re- 

 porting that certain colonies accom- 

 plish so nuich more than the average. 

 They may be correct in regard to the 

 amount of honey taken from a colony, 

 but in jumping at the conclusion that 

 the colony had gathered that much 

 from the field, is where the mistake 

 comes in. 



On page 560 of the Bee Journal 

 for 1883," Mr. J. E. Pond has trulv 



stated as follows : •' I presume that 

 every intelligent bee-keeper who gives 

 his own time to the care of his apiary, 

 has noticed that iuado/.en colonics.all 

 apparently alike and in good condi- 

 tion, 1 or 2 will give exceeiiingly good 

 results, comiiaratively, while the bal- 

 ance will hardly come up to the 

 mediocrity in the amount of surplus 

 obtained from them. 

 At lirst I concluded that it must be 

 owing to the superior strain of bees, 

 and endeavored to remedy it by mak- 

 ing such changes as would — theoreti- 

 cally, at least— equalize the matter ; 

 but when, the next season, I found 

 the best colony of the previous year 

 showing a decidedly poor state of af- 

 fairs, 1 concluded that something 

 besides poor stock was the cause of 

 the trouble."' 



In another portion of his article. 

 Mr. P. expresses the opinion that the 

 reason that different colonies give 

 such different results is, that all, or 

 most of the bees belonging to the 

 same colony, work in the same direc- 

 tion from their home, and in the same 

 pasture ; and that, as honey is found 

 in much smaller quantities in some 

 localities than in others, hence the 

 difference. 



Mr. P. gives the above opinion very 

 modestly, and does not claim to have 

 given the " whole truth, and nothing 

 but the truth," but has given it, 

 "hoping" to -create enough in- 

 terest in the matter to start an amica- 

 ble discussion in regard to it;" and at 

 the close of his remarks on the sub- 

 ject, says : '• Who will give the sub- 

 ject some attention, and the readers 

 of the Bee -Iournal their views 

 upon it y 



Mr. P. has done well in calling for 

 an investigation of this matter, and I 

 hope that our most able and experi- 

 enced beekeepers will at all times 

 give, in the Bee Journal, such facts 

 as may come under their observation. 

 To give my views and experience in 

 full, on this subject, would make this 

 article too long. 



Orion, Wis. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Mr. Heddon's Report. 



AVM. F. CLARKE. 



I have read the above article which 

 appeared on page 405, with much in- 

 terest, and with a sincere desire to 

 divest my mind of prejudice. It 

 carries, throughout, the air of a 

 knock-down argument in favor of the 

 pollen theory, but I submit that the 

 proof is far from being conclusive. 

 There is evidence, wdiich we had long 

 ago, that under certain conditions 

 bees will winter well without either 

 honey or pollen; but it is by no 

 means demonstrated that, if there be 

 pollen in a hive, bees will be silly 

 enough to eat it in such quantities as 

 to cause diarrluiea. In fact, the reverse 

 is shown by the facts which Mr. 

 Ileddon narrates. 



C)nly 4o colonies out of .336 were 

 " prepared without a cell of pollen." 

 There were, therefore, 291 colonies 

 that had nmrt' or less pollen stored. 



