600 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



may be) are found in the intestines of 

 bees that have wintered well," as if 

 there were doubt of it. Let him turn 

 to Vol. I of the Bee .Journal, page 

 253, and he will tind Donhofl's anal- 

 ysis of the excreta of bees, the clos- 

 jng sentence of which states that 

 " according to an approximative esti- 

 mate, the excreta of bees consist of 

 about one-third uric and hippuric 

 acid, and the residue of indigestible por- 

 tions of pollen.'' The plain inference 

 from this, is that pollen forms part of 

 the natural food of bees. But this 

 proved, Mr. Heddon says, " I should 

 next want to get to an "agreement as 

 to what condition is meant by " well." 

 i5ees may be wintered safely ; ;'. e.. so 

 as to save the individuality of the 

 colony, and not be wintered as '" well " 

 as I wish, and as I wintered the 4-5 

 colonies referred to in my report." 

 Mr. Heddou's report left the impres- 

 sion that among tlie 291 colonies that 

 were not deprived of pollen, many 

 wintered " well," as " well " as the 44 

 that had no pollen. In my review of 

 his report. I asked, " Did others that 

 had some pollen winter equally well 

 with the 44 that had none ?" This 

 question is not squarely met by Mr. 

 H., although he says, it seems to him 

 it was answered before I asked it. 

 It seems to me it is not answered yet. 

 He says, " We told you that the 

 workers of every diseased colony, 

 which we examined, except the 45 in 

 qiiestion, had distended bodies ; while 

 those of the 44 gave no appearance of 

 such distention." " Undiseased," 

 mark, yet they "had distended 

 bodies!" Can this mean any more 

 than that they were not so slim as 

 " those of the 44 V" " Those of the 

 44 " had more highly-concentrated 

 food than the others." They were 

 like highly-grained horses, while the 

 others were like horses that had less 

 grain and more hay. This looks very 

 much as if it were an advantage 

 rather than otherwise to have some 

 pollen in the hives, for the bees were 

 " undiseased," and in fuller flesh, or, 

 as we are wont to say, " in better con- 

 dition " than " those of the 44." 



I fail to see with what propriety 

 Mr. Heddon calls my criticism on 

 " the comb-full of bee-bread " a 

 "catch-quibble." According to his 

 report, there was nearly if not quite 

 as much bee-bread in that hive in the 

 spring as in the fall. Many other 

 colonies beside this No. 45 had as 

 much pollen as it had, yet they came 

 through " undiseased." If !No. 45 

 consumed so little pollen, less, or at 

 any rate, not more than many other 

 colonies that wintered without dis- 

 ease, is it not reasonable to suppose 

 that some other cause than the pres- 

 ence of pollen in the hive was at the 

 bottom of the trouble V I think so. 

 Mr. Heddon himself all but suggests 

 another explanation, when, after 

 speaking of the strangeness of this 

 one case out of 45 sugar-fed colonies 

 (and, I admit the strangeness), he 

 thinks there might have been no 

 trouble, but that " the late brood 

 threw the cluster upon this comb." 

 Being there, they were so " silly " as 

 to eat pollen, would, I suppose be 

 his conclusion. But may not some 



other circumstance connected with 

 " the late brood " account for this 

 colony going wrong V As there was 

 young brood in that hive when it was 

 put into winter quarters, it is prob- 

 able it had a large proportion of young 

 bees in it. 



I think our most experienced bee- 

 keepers have become chary of stimu- 

 lating breeding late in the fall, and 

 will not differ much in the opinion 

 that old bees winter better than young 

 ones. It may be that young bees are 

 more liable to restlessness than old 

 ones, and do not so readily calm down 

 into that state of quiescence which is 

 most favorable to wintering " well." 

 This brings me around to my theory of 

 hibernation, on which I will only say 

 now, that if bees are restless when in 

 confinement, whether cold or heat 

 causes the restlessness, they will eat 

 voraciously ; their instinctive aver- 

 sion to befouling the hive will cause 

 them to retain their fteces ; and they 

 will have the diarrhoea. It is a condi- 

 tion of things which impels them to 

 take so much food that they must 

 have a cleansing flight or become dis- 

 eased, and not the particular kind of 

 food they eat that causes the trouble. 

 Fix thern so they can hibernate, and 

 pollen or no pollen, they will winter 

 all right. 



Speedside, Out. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Does 'it Pay to Use Foundation? 



U. E. DODGE. 



There are problems to solve which 

 constantly arise in apiculture, as well 

 a? in almost all other branches of 

 human industry, which at times puz- 

 zles the most observing. Whether 

 the bee-keeper can or cannot produce 

 natural combs as cheaply or cheaper 

 than he can produce foundation, has 

 been a query with me for several 

 years ; and the last two years of close 

 observation and careful experiment, 

 has confirmed me in the opinion that 

 money paid for foundation for use in 

 the brood-frames, is virtually money 

 thrown away ; that bees during a good 

 honey-flow produce and use as much 

 wax with foundation as without it, 

 and that it does not aid in the rapid 

 storage of surplus, or add anything 

 to the wintering qualities. 



Xow for my reasons : The season 

 of 1883, at the commencement of tlie 

 swarming season, found me with 300 

 good, wired frames nicely filled with 

 full sheets of Dunham foundation, 

 with the expectation of preparing 

 enough more to supply all my swarms 

 with ten full sheets in the brood- 

 chamber ; but it being an almost un- 

 precedented season for swarming, my 

 bees got the start of me, and the re- 

 sult was that all of my first s^yarms 

 were hived on ten full sheets of foun- 

 dation, while the second and late 

 swarms were hived on empty frames, 

 right the reverse from what'it should 

 be, as I supposed. Let us not draw 

 too hasty conclusions, but patiently 

 wait and note the condition of those 

 late and empty-frame colonies in the 

 fall, and their condition in the spring 



of 1884. I quietly submitted to the 

 disappointment and loss, as I deemed 

 it, and let nature take its course. 



Late in November, when an ex- 

 amination of the colonies having it 

 their own way was made, revealed 

 the startling discovery that no hive 

 was more than -;j, ami many not over 

 J2 full of comb, but wliite and nice 

 and well filled with hoiiev and covered 

 with bees. 



But here another problem arises 

 concerning the empty space below 

 the combs of those which were partly 

 filled with frames. What should I 

 do ? Should I add full frames of 

 sealed honey and pack them on the 

 summer stands V or should I put them 

 I into the bee-cellar, which is much less 

 I work, and take the chances of having 

 many dead bees and empty combs to 

 carry out in the spring V Should I 

 double them up or let them severely 

 alone, to be governed by that great 

 fundamental law, " The survival of 

 the fittest? " I finally decided on the 

 latter, and nut them into the cellar, 

 and piled them as closely together as 

 hives could be, the lower ones being 

 flat on the cellar bottom, and five in a 

 tier, one above another. 



They remained in this condition 

 until April 19 without disturbance. 

 On that date I nervously peered into 

 the gloom, and sounds of insect life 

 greeted my ears : courage and hope 

 prompted a hasty examination. Xo. 



1 responded promptly ; No. 2 greeted 

 my ear with that welcome sound of 

 life ; and so on through the entire 

 number, all responding in lively tones; 

 and an examination showed that they 

 were bright and clean, with no dead 

 bees or waste accumulations upon the 

 bottom-boards, while those colonies 

 with full sheets of foundation showed 

 accumulations of waste and moisture. 



Why this difference V Was it be- 

 cause the bees upon full sheets of 

 foundation had a larger surface to 

 cover and dissipate the moisture ? or 

 did the open space below the combs 

 in the partly-filled hives allow room 

 for a more free circulation of air '? If 

 this be the true solution of the cause, 

 then reason suggests the idea that if 

 we place a false-bottom or hoop some 



2 or 3 inches wide below the combs of 

 full colonies, we should produce the 

 same results. But this is not what I 

 am attempting to prove ; it is whether 

 I should have made anything, finan- 

 cially, by supplying each of those late 

 swarms with foundation. They are 

 to-day as good colonies and in as good 

 condition, and have given me as good 

 an average of surplus honey as have 

 the colonies which were supplied with 

 ten full sheets of foundation last year. 

 These being the actual facts, I fail ta 

 see where I got my money back for 

 foundation supplied to the early 

 swarms of last year. 



" But," says one, " you get all 

 straight combs." True ; I acknowl- 

 edge that fact, but I do not consider 

 it true economy to pay from §1.00 to 

 $1.50 per colony for straight combs, 

 when I can accomplish that object 

 with less labor and expense than it 

 takes to wire the frames and put in 

 the foundation. I am a stickler for 

 straight combs, and if there is any 



