THE AMERICAl^ BEE JOURNAL. 



599 



For ttie American Ilee JournaL 



Swarming, Hibernation, etc. 



ABEL GRESH. 



As a b^jriniier in improved methods 

 of bee-keeping. I freqnently find diffi- 

 culty in liaiuionizins tlie teacliings of 

 old bee-masters with my experiences. 

 First. I would refer to W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson's article on page5.')l. He says, 

 "Let the bees swarm— just once." 

 All of mine swarmed in June, and by 

 applying the Heddon-plan, and cut- 

 ting out all the cells but one— the best 

 in appearance— all went well until the 

 beginning of a flow of honey from 

 buckwheat in September, when they 

 all took another turn, and one colony 

 cast an after-swarm which I returned. 

 €an Mr. Hutchinson, by any method, 

 control this swarming in the fall V Or, 

 can he delay it in the spring so that 

 the two seasons will come near 

 enough together to have it suffice the 

 bees to swarm but once V This ex- 

 cessive increase is likely to become a 

 nuisance to a bee-keeper who desires 

 to keep only a moderate number of 

 bees ill a locality where sales of full 

 colonies is limited. 



I commenced in the spring of 1883 

 with 2 colonies ; the spring of 1884 

 with (i, and now I possess 22. after 

 returning 2 swarms for want of suf- 

 ficient hives. In the course of 3 or 4 

 years I would scarcely know what to 

 do with them at this rate of increase, 

 even though I sold all for which I 

 could find market. Prof. Cook's 

 Manual gives methods employed by 

 different successful apiarists, to con- 

 trol this increase, but I fail to And 

 any advocates of the methods there 

 given, amongst the best writers in 

 the Bee Jouknal. I would like very 

 much to read discussions of this sub- 

 ject, by the advocates of " Let your 

 bees swarm — just once," and those 

 who advocate " hiving back," so that 

 we beginners could form our own con- 

 clusions as to the merits of each way 

 of producing surplus honey, which I 

 consider the sole aim of nine-tenths of 

 all bee-keepers. 



As to the hibernation theory : I do 

 not believe that hibernation is indis- 

 pensable to the safe wintering of bees. 

 A friend of mine had a colony of 

 bees packed very warmly in timothy 

 chaff, last winter, and tliough the 

 mercury here was 30° below zero, he 

 tells me that he could hear the hum 

 of that colony every time he went to 

 the hive ; they ate through the cloths 

 and let the chaff into the brood- 

 chamber, and acted in general as if 

 impatient for the appearance of 

 spring ; and that colony has been 

 amongst his best all summer. We 

 have also quite recently had frequent 

 reports of successful wintering in 

 high temperatures, and Mr. Doolit- 

 tle's is the only report adverse to it. 

 I believe, though, that hibernation is 

 the natural state in which bees can 

 successfully pass through consider- 

 able severity of cold. 



The " pollen theory" rather puzzles 

 me. I have been taught, all my life, 

 that the instincts of the lower crea- 

 tions are God-given and correct, as is 

 proven in almost every instance ; 



man, alone, being dependent upon liis 

 reasoning powers; and that nature 

 has, in tlie instinct of the bee, led it 

 into such a grievous error, practiced 

 by it in all times past, as to lay up 

 stores for its winter supply, which, if 

 it eats, will bring on disease and 

 death. I, for one, must be excused 

 from believing until further positive 

 evidence is produced. H' an individ- 

 ual's stomach is irritated or inflamed, 

 many undigested particles might ap- 

 pear in his excrement ; and wliat 

 would be thought of the practitioner 

 who would at once pronounce the un- 

 digested food as the cause of the 

 trouble, and advocate the entire ex- 

 clusion of such food from our tables V 

 And because, where such food was 

 excluded, persons remained well, is 

 no argument that the portion ex- 

 cluded was not tit to eat, as evidenced 

 for instance in the case of vegeta- 

 rians. Sick people often partake of 

 food which injures them, and so may 

 sick bees ; but I would as soon ex- 

 clude bread from the tables of healthy 

 people, as " bee-bread " from healthy 

 bees. 

 Weedville, Pa. 



For Hie American Bee JournaL 



Milkweed Pollen. 



CLARENCE M. WEED. 



In the Bee Journal of July 30, 

 Mr. W. W. Trussel describes some 

 bees having, what he supposed, dis- 

 eased feet, which are said by Prof. 

 Cook to be the pollen-masses of milk- 

 weed (AscUpias). This is one of the 

 most common of bee-ailments at this 

 season of the year, especially in re- 

 gions where milkweed abounds. 



These pollen-masses are very pecu- 

 liar in structure. They consist of 

 several filaments branching off from 

 each other in such a way that the legs 

 and mouth-parts of bees and other 

 insects can easily become entangled 



o.— Leg, with Pollen-MaBses Attached. 



b.— Mouth-Parts, with Pollen-Masaes Attached. 



c— PoHen-Grain much Magnified. 



in them. In the figure a, a part of a 

 bee's leg is shown with these pollen- 

 masses attached. In figure ft, the 

 mouth-parts are shown similarly en- 

 cumbered ; and in figure c, one of the 

 pollen-masses is shown much mag- 

 nified. 



The extent to which milkweeds are 

 injurious in thus loading their visit- 

 ors' feet, is an open question. In 



many cases I have seen five or six 

 bees attached to the blossom-heads of 

 a single plant. Prof. Cook believes 

 that the injury is not very great. 

 Along the river-banks, near the College 

 apiary, there are great numbers of 

 milkweeds in blossom, from which 

 the bees gather much honey without, 

 serious diminution in numbers. 

 Michigan Agricultural College. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Pollen Logic. 



WM. F. CLARKE. 



Before that " buzzing about hiber- 

 nation " fills my ears, which Mr. Hed- 

 don predicts will deprive me of time 

 to " apply any literary vigor to the 

 pollen question," 1 want to point out 

 some defects in my friend's logic in 

 support of his theory. And, let me 

 say at the outset, that so far as I can 

 judge, I do think the theoi-y is hon- 

 estly his. I wish to place honor or 

 dishonor where it justly belongs, and 

 if the pollen theory should ever come 

 to be an established part of apicul- 

 tural science, I think the discoverer's 

 laurels will fairly belong to Mr. Hed- 

 don ; but I am not ready yet to en- 

 twine and present a wreath. He will 

 have to fight more gladiatorial battles 

 in the arena of argument, before I 

 consent to crown him as victor. 



The whole of Mr. Heddon's long . 

 article in the Bee Journal of Aug. 

 6, tempts criticism ; but I suppose I 

 have really no right to meddle with 

 any parts of it except those in which 

 he pays his respects to me. Courtesy 

 seems to require that I should leave 

 the other writers named to reply for 

 themselves. When they as ^vell as he 

 have "said their say," I and others 

 may express our opinions on the 

 merits of the discussion. 



The first point that properly be- 

 longs to me, is the natural silliness of 

 bees, and all I will say in reference to 

 it at this time is, that Mr. Heddon's 

 logic is at fault. He begs the ques- 

 tion by affirming that the intelligence 

 of man is needed to protect bees 

 against a choice of bee-bread in pref- 

 erence to honey as a winter diet. For, 

 1. It is not claimed that bees prefer 

 bee-bread to honey as a winter diet, 

 but that their instinct is a sufficient 

 guide when to take pollen in addition 

 to their staple diet, lioney, and when 

 to let it alone. 2. Mr. Ileddon as- 

 serts that bees are " silly " enough to 

 prefer bee bread to honey, which is 

 the very thing to be proved. 3. His 

 own report shows that it is not nec- 

 essary to exclude pollen from a hive 

 in order that bees may winter well. 

 A large proportion of his colonies 

 which wintered well had access to 

 bee-bread. 



Mr. Heddon cites the following as- 

 sertion as one which he is "not pre- 

 pared to accept or reject " for want of 

 evidence. It is this : That bees can 

 and do eat pollen all winter long and 

 yet winter well. Not prepared to ac- 

 cept or reject this statement V Why, 

 his whole pollen theory is a point 

 blank rejection of it. He further 

 says, " If pollen husks (whatever they 



