THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



688 



issuing of first swarms wlien working 

 for comb lionev. Neither do I know 

 how swarming can he delayed earlier 

 in the season, aside from what ean be 

 done liy shading, ventilation, and giv- 

 ing plenty of room. 

 Rogersville, Alich. 



For the Amertenn Beo Journal. 



The Pollen Theory. 



DR. C. C. J1ILLEK,6— -00, 300. 



I have been watching with interest 

 the pollen discussion, quite inclined 

 to the belief tluit pollen may be at 

 least a prominent factor in the win- 

 tering problem. A case coming un- 

 der my observation puzzles me to ex- 

 plain in accordance with the pollen 

 theory. On Feb. 20, 1884, I found one 

 of my colonies dead in the cellar. 

 Upon examination I found not a very 

 large colony, some drones among the 

 bees, a few cells of sealed brood (evi- 

 dently drone-brood in worker- cells), 

 not a drop of honey in the hive, and 

 more or less pollen in every comb. 

 The pollen had a fresh and shiny ap- 



Eearance, as if the honey had just 

 een taken from it. There was no 

 trace of diarrhea about the hive or 

 combs. Every comb appeared as 

 sweet and clean as if it had just been 

 taken from a healthy colony. 



Some of the facts which I have here 

 given may have no bearing on the 

 case, but I have thought best to give 

 full details. The main points are, 

 that here was a colony apparently 

 starved to death with plenty of pollen 

 easily accessible, and no appearance 

 of diarrhoei. 



On the supposition that pollen is 

 the only or the main cause of bee- 

 diarrhcea, the question arises, " Did 

 these bees eat all the pollen that they 

 could, so long as life lasted, without 

 being affected by diarrhwaV and, if 

 so, cannot all bees eat it with the 

 same immunity y Or did these bees 

 finish their honey, and then starve 

 rather than eat enough pollen to in- 

 jure tliem y and, if so, do not all bees 

 act in the same way 'i Or, is there 

 some other explanation of the affair V" 



Marengo, 111., Oct. 10, 1884. 



For tbe American Bee .loumal. 



"Does it Pay to Use Foundation?" 



W. M. W'OODWARD.t^ 



I take strong ground in favor of the 

 use of comb foundation as a means 

 of profit in the management of an 

 apiary. Mr. U. E.Dodge, I see, is also 

 a doubter of the prolit in its use, and 

 calls for the showing in dollars and 

 cents. Mr. D. might have seen the 

 benefit and profited by its employ- 

 ment had he not failed to comply with 

 the first great principles of its use for 

 profit. 



First, why are bees profitable at allV 

 Simply because they will gather and 

 store more sweets than they consume. 

 If it is shown that founiiation aids 

 them to store more honey in a given 

 time, and that honey in a marketable 

 shape, then the case is decided ; 



otherwise the proposition fails. I 

 believe that botli of these may be 

 done. There are several principles 

 which mulerlie all prolit in the pro- 

 duction of comb lioney : 1- Ttiat the 

 size of the brood-chauiber should cor- 

 respond witli the present wants of 

 the queen, allowing no space to be 

 filled with honey, and thus blocking 

 up against the increase of brood. 



2. That the brood should be wrapped 

 in, as it were, with surplus recepta- 

 -cles. 



8. That there be absolutely no im- 

 pediment to the bees in carrying the 

 honey away from the brood-chamber. 



4. That the heat be uniformly dis- 

 tributed throughout the hive. 



5. That ventilation be amply pro- 

 vided for, without requiring many 

 bees to fan air in or out. 



^Ir. Dodge certainly neglected the 

 first of these principal conditions, 

 according to his own statement ; and 

 I suspect the second, and probably 

 the third also to some extent. Of 

 what use were those 10 frames when 

 they only served to store honey in, 

 and block in the queen until, perhaps, 

 she might even be compelled to go 

 into the surplus receptacles for room? 

 On the other hand, had Mr. D. taken 

 the honey stored in the 10 frames, in 

 the early part of the season (only to 

 the detriment of his bees and of him- 

 self), in marketable surplus-honey, he 

 would long since have seen the profit. 

 Bees are profitable from the honey 

 they gather, and whatever aids them 

 to gather more, and store it in better 

 shape, is profitable so long as it costs 

 less than the gain. Comb foundation 

 does that in two ways : First, by re- 

 lieving large numbers of field bees to 

 gather honey ; and, second, by dis- 

 tributing the comb-builders over a 

 much larger space to receive the 

 honey gathered. Both of these prop- 

 ositions are proved by the speed with 

 which a large hive may be filled. 



1, too, had an experience in 1883, 

 one that quite exceeds Mr. D.'s; but 

 it did not prove anything to me 

 against the use of foundation. I also 

 hived several large swarms, some 

 double ones, in 10-frame hives, and 

 being afraid of brood in the surplus 

 case, 1 waited two days after hivitig, 

 to put it on. But the bees were at 

 work, and no inducement would 

 tempt them from this work below 

 until it was full ; and at the end of 

 six days one hive (which contained 

 my choicest colony) was full of sealed 

 honey, with about the space of a 

 man's head filled with brood, and the 

 queen thoroughly blocked in, and I 

 did not extract. In ten days the 

 colony began to reduce, and soon were 

 unable to cover all their combs, and 

 finally, every one so hived on ten full 

 frames of comb foundation, died be- 

 fore spring opened, from cold weather, 

 cold honey, or something else, 



" But why let this thing go on so ?" 

 one asks. Simply to learn the lesson 

 it teaches, and I learned it well. I 

 saw that the foundation gave the bees 

 great advantage of the queen, and 

 that I must devise some plan by which 

 to deprive them of the fruits of their 

 labors, and preserve the equilibrium, 

 and then all would go well. Had I 



given them ."jO one-pound sections for 

 honey, instead of the last seven 

 frames, thcv would have been better 

 off, and I richer U or 7 dollars per 

 colony. 



To meet such an emergency in 1884, 

 I constructed about 30 division-board 

 side-cases, taking sections crosswise, 

 and used them, 20 sections in each 

 side instead of frames, and gave the 

 queens, with prime swarms, three 

 frames for the first ten days. From 

 severalcolonies I secured every pound 

 of honey in sections which they 

 stored, until the queens began ta 

 breed. 



Every pound of honey can be taken 

 in marketable sliape. which aiiy colony 

 of bees can store, by granting only 

 what room the queen actually keeps 

 full of brood, and compelling the bees 

 to work in sections so arranged as not 

 to impede, but aid them in their 

 work, and when that is done there 

 will be no more crying down of comb 

 foundation, but a searching about for 

 better to aid them to perform quicker 

 work. 



The secret of profit lies simply in 

 the taking away of the honey when 

 stored, and compelling the bees to 

 store it just where you want it. I will 

 only add that if the foundation is ever 

 paid for by the bees, the pay must be 

 secured during the time required to 

 build the same comb. 



Ouster, 111. 



For the Americun Bee Journal. 



Bee-Keeping in Utah. 



.JOHN DUNN.KD 



In my former letter I gave an ac- 

 count of our blighted prospects, and 

 I can see from reading the Bee Jour- 

 nal that it has not been confined only 

 to Tooele, but other places have cause 

 to complain, and can sympathize with 

 us. I have just sent our fall report to 

 the Territorial Convention, which 

 meets to-night in Salt Lake City, and 

 as far as I have been able to glean, 

 the report for Tooele is, 8.51 pounds of 

 honey, 214 colonies of bees, fall count, 

 loss 38, and increase, 15. So you see 

 that there will be no bragging in the 

 News about the Tooele report for this 

 year ; but I am satisfied with the 

 little that we have done, and liope to 

 be able to give a more favorable re- 

 port for next year. 



The weather has been rather 

 changeable, having had snow and 

 rain at intervals for the past month, 

 just at the time when the bees would 

 have stored the surplus honey; al- 

 though 1 think that the most of the 

 bee-keepers have left the bees ample 

 stores for their own winter use in the 

 hives, and should they only come out 

 all right in the spring, we will have 

 little reason to complain. 



Some have become discouraged and 

 sold out very cheap, while others were 

 willing to share the loss, and have 

 even bought more bees. About a 

 month ago I lost nearly a colony of 

 bees in rather an amusing manner. 

 A neiffhbor of mine has quite a herd 

 of horses, and in order to be able to 

 go after them, be generally kept up 



