584 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



are always more damp than the ex- 

 ternal air. Now, Mr. Heddon '• finds 

 that bees do winter successfully where 

 severe cold is brought against them ;" 

 yet this argument is offered as a 

 clincher against cold being generally 

 the primary cause, and the chiefest 

 feature whenever extensive disasters 

 have occurred. Only half the truth 

 is told. Severe cold of short dura- 

 tion, a month or two, is often safely 

 borne, but protracted severe cold has 

 never in the history of bee-keeping 

 been safely borne. Why, sir, such an 

 argument as this would prove the 

 most improbable cause to be primary ! 

 Confinement is a leading factor oiily 

 when we have long continued cause 

 of unrest, so that " the same line of 

 facts " do not apply as alledged. 

 Against the cause, humidity, there 

 is no attempt made to rate it as sec- 

 ondary. It is " interesting," there- 

 fore to note that Mr. H. " errs " in 

 making his first point, and that cold 

 as a primary cause is an impregnable 

 bulwark. 



We give our Southern friends credit 

 for their intelligence in perceiving 

 that cold is a primary cause of bee- 

 diarrhcea. And why should they not, 

 since cold is about the only difference 

 between the climate North and the 

 climate South V " Well, they have it " 

 in Missouri, Southern Indiana and 

 Ohio, but that is about as far South 

 as we find it. The disorder in Ken- 

 tucky Hi years since, according to G. 

 W. Demaree, in a late number of the 

 Kansas Bee-Keeper, was not " dysen- 

 tery " except in a few cases. " The 

 bees deserted the combs and hives, 

 leaving all clean and dry. The " un- 

 answerable " argument as to the 

 losses in Southern Indiana has also 

 been fully answered in the Bee-Keep- 

 ers^ Guide. 



Examples are cited of moving bees, 

 showing that no harm has followed a 

 few moments or hours of agitation. 

 True enough ; but this is a small mat- 

 ter compared with the excitement 

 and unrest that proceeds from the 

 severe struggle of montli after month 

 with unabated cold. No evidence is 

 given, not even a reasonable supposi- 

 tion why restlessness does not occur 

 until after an overloading of the in- 

 testines, as held. Mr. H.'s argument 

 consists in the simple assertion that 

 they are " silly " enough to eat what 

 is not good for them. Bees, be says, 

 will have diarrhoea very soon in sum- 

 mer " if coiifined.^^ There is no 

 doubt of it ; but what comes first, the 

 excitement and agitation or the pol- 

 len eating? But why eat pollen? 

 Answer : To supply the tissue waste 

 following the wear and tear of 

 wearied muscles. Now, this all comes 

 of instinct or nature's prompting, and 

 no " silly " freak about it. Bees eat 

 the pollen or bee-bread in answer to 

 a law of nature, but there must first 

 be the demand which comes of ex- 

 citement and unrest. The inducing 

 cause is the same in summer or 

 winter, and they eat much or little 

 according to necessity. If in any 

 case they eat too much, there is a 

 cause for it, and that cause is pri- 

 mary, and to remove which, is to tor- 

 ever prevent the occurrence of bee- 



diarrhoea. As it is impracticable to 

 remove all of the bee-bread from tlie 

 combs, or even such amounts as will 

 prevent the bees eating too much 

 when there is a demand for it, we can 

 only deal effectually with the primary 

 or inducing causes. In this Mr. Hed- 

 don seems to admit the fact, but 

 denies the induction ! He tells us 

 how "silly" bees are to eat pollen, 

 and then infers that if only the 

 greater part is removed they will not 

 touch it. Here is " consistency " for 

 you. 



Inordinate consumption of food has 

 been the rule in all cold winters, and 

 harmful accumulations in the intes- 

 tines of bees the result. No "fatal 

 error "about tliat. If colonies have 

 died in a non-freezing cellar in less 

 than three weeks, it has been the ex- 

 ception to the common result. And, 

 again, undue accumulations may not 

 have preceded the diarrhoea in this 

 particular case. This loss so oft re- 

 cited by Mr. H., has been obscure as 

 to cause, because all the facts sur- 

 rounding it were not known. But as 

 he thinks the cause to be one and in- 

 separable with his theory, he sup- 

 poses that his bees were " silly " 

 enough to gormandize on pollen with- 

 out a cause. 



Holding such diverse theories on 

 wintering, we do and ought to " dif- 

 fer " in our views. This will be ac- 

 corded to us ; but is it not a little 

 premature thus soon to claim the host 

 of bee-keepers for the theory ? Has, 

 indeed, our good fellow bee-keeper 

 such a hold on the fraternity that he 

 may bag their convictions at will ? 

 No, we believe that all are thinking 

 this matter over, still looking for 

 " more light." 



Yes, there are bee-keepers " way up 

 North " to the 43 and 44 parallels, who 

 can winter bees, but they give ample 

 protection, use very large well-packed 

 ventilated-hives," or thick-walled bee- 

 houses. In these the Toss has been 

 trifling, in careful hands, but there is 

 greater expense at the outset, perhaps 

 not in the long run. Cellar wintering 

 is the cheapest, toUerably-safe plan. 

 These statements are not inconsistent 

 with my expressed views, nor is it at 

 all necessary for me to show that 

 there are as many pollen-bearing 

 weeds a little farther North than 

 round about Howagiac. But why in 

 troduce this argument if I were so 

 inconsistent ? 



Mr. Heddon is very happy at grasp 

 ing my ideas. He inquires why I have 

 not offered " any reason why sugar 

 syrup is any better than honey as a win- 

 ter food." He has " done so," etc. It 

 is simply because it possesses greater 

 " heat-producing elements " than 

 honey. Our triend has stated it here- 

 tofore "more-highly oxygenized." 

 Now the language used on page 440 

 of the Bee Jouunal of 18S3 is good 

 enough. ^Ye presume it was an over- 

 sight not to give me credit. The 

 point, however, is this : If the pollen 

 theory is true, honey is good enough 

 to winter bees upon, as the assump- 

 tion that it contains enough floating 

 pollen to make it objectionable, is not 

 true. Not enough pollen could be 

 found in ten pounds of honey to dis- 



tend the body of one bee. Honey ex- 

 tracted from the brood combs might, 

 but not that from the supers. And I 

 do not think there is enough floating 

 pollen in extracted honey to affect 

 the bees one particle. 



The indisputable fact is, that sugar 

 syrup is a better winter food than 

 honey, because it furnishes so much 

 more heat to the bees that there is 

 little if any necessity for nitrogenous 

 food ; hence, they are disposed to let 

 bee-bread alone when they have a 

 food so strongly heat-producing that 

 they can keep warm and comfortable 

 without vigorous exercise. 



In making tlie statement that in a 

 winter like that of lcS80-81, the half of 

 his 45 sugar-fed colonies might have 

 been lost, it was presumed that in 

 making the great test of last winter, 

 Mr. H. used only single-walled, eight- 

 frame hives and no protection. With 

 these conditions, I repeat that such 

 loss would be probable in a hard 

 winter. 



My theory of successful preparation 

 for winter may be summed up in a 

 few words. Let the bees store all the 

 pollen they want to, but take from all 

 colonies the combs not required to 

 hold the necessary winter stores. 

 Contract the brood-chamber as much 

 as possible, remembering that six 

 Langstroth frames will hold ample 

 stores for the strongest colony to last 

 from November until May. Extract 

 no honey, but feed to each colony a 

 few pounds of granulated sugar in the 

 form of a moderately-thick syrup, or 

 enough to make out sufficient stores. 

 Give large, lower-ventilation, very 

 little upper, and winter in the cellar, 

 or protect well with forest leaves on 

 the summer stands. 



New Philadelphia, O. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



County Couvention in Indiana. 



Pursuant to a call, the kee-keepers 

 of Hamilton and Tipton counties, 

 Ind., met at Ekin, Tipton county, 

 Ind., on Thursday, August 7, at iO 

 a. m. 



Considering the busy time in thresh- 

 ing wheat in that vicinity on that day, 

 the meeting was attended by 150 or 

 more, in the beautiful grove of Mr. H. 

 Small. A deep interest in the ad- 

 vancement made in bee-culture, largely 

 added to the encouragement of those 

 taking an active part in advancing 

 the cause. 



At 10 a. m. the meeting vras called 

 to order by David Learning, president, 

 who also delivered an address, after 

 which the constitution, by-laws and 

 minutes were read by the secretary. 

 After other business was attended to, 

 the following oflicers were elected for 

 the ensuing year : President, David 

 Learning, Arcadia : vice-president, C. 

 C. Richerson, Tipton ; secretary, John 

 Fritz, Shielville ; treasurer, J. McKee, 

 Arcadia. 



This was followed by a few discus- 

 sions on practical bee-culture, after 

 which a hearty dinner was partaken of. 



At 1 p. m . , the president again called 

 the meeting to order, and the query- 

 box was again opened, and lively 



