502 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



almost sure to follow, and dysentery 

 and spring dwindling is often the re- 

 sult. Therefore, I am careful at this 

 time to see that the temperature con- 

 tinues favorable for the brood, and 

 the result is a hive full of bees when 

 setting out in tlie spring, and a con- 

 siderable portion of tliem young. 



If the temperature is inclined to 

 continue too low, 1 resort to artiticial 

 heat, and from several years experi- 

 ence, I am satislied that there is no 

 means of ventilation equal to it, and 

 with judicial use I think it will 

 always be attended with good results. 



AVhen the (lowers of spring come 

 and the bees can lind employment 

 gathering pollen and honey, I feel 

 that the time has come to set them 

 out. Then on a warm pleasant day I 

 set them each out upon the stand 

 from whence tiiey were taken in the 

 fall, and the warmer and pleasanter 

 the weather the liner will be the con- 

 dition of the bees. But if the weather 

 is cold and dauip. wlien thev are set 

 out, a bad condition will be induced 

 however perfectly they may have been 

 wintered. 



East Townsend, O., Sept. 2-1, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journat. 



The Problem of Wintering Bees. 



.JAJIK^^ IIKDDON. 



We have been told by some of our 

 brothers in apiculture, that •' cold " 

 was tlie cause of dysentery in bees. 

 When their "cold" tlieory was 

 shaken up, a little of it had to go into 

 partnership with " coutinement "' to 

 make it stand up, and with a more 

 thorough shaking they botli fell to the 

 ground. The same is true of the 

 "conlineuient " theory put into com- 

 pany with "cold." Oiu' friend, Dr. 

 Tinker, struck out on the " humidity" 

 or " dampness " theory, and one 

 shaking lias caused this to stagger up 

 against llie "cold," and if we con- 

 tinue tlie agitation, will they not 

 tumble hand-in-hand 'f 



Now, Mr. Balch's cellar, from 

 whence came the damp and moldy 

 hives all free from dysentery, was 

 kept at a lower temperature than 

 mine; so dry that sack salt would 

 hardly sliow moisture, as several bee- 

 keepers oljserved, and from whence 

 came -15 out of 48 colonies dead with 

 dysentery in its worst form, some of 

 them dying witliin tliree weeks after 

 being placed in there. Mr. Balch's 

 hives were all damp and moldy in side, 

 and neitiier the hives or the cellar 

 had what bee-keepers at large con- 

 sider sufficient ventilation to keep the 

 air decently pure. 



It seems that Dr. Tinker has a 

 double team too, and while he calls 

 the t)acteria and pollen theories my 

 double hobby-lioi'se team, he has one 

 of the bacteria and humidity. 



Well, there is no sin in honestly 

 trying t({ get at the bottom of this 

 great question, each one in his own 

 way ; and while I resi)ect the Doctor 

 for his el'foits, I lind that his team is 

 woudert'ully niismated, that is, that 

 the biicteriaand liuniidity theory have 

 no relation to each other, and do not 



look as much alike as a black Xorman 

 and a lemon-colored mustang, and 

 worst of all, the Doctor seems to 

 think it is quite likely that this radi- 

 cal, and ever tlie same effect, dysen- 

 tery, has two very unlike causes. 

 This, I do not believe for one mo- 

 ment. I cannot. In the case of my 

 48 colonies. 1 had them ventilated 

 some above radically, some in a me- 

 dium degree, and some but little, 

 many not at all ; some in hives 13 

 cubic inches, and some 13 square and 

 17 deep, and 9 in the Doctor's 10-frame 

 Langstroth. Every one of which 

 died among the first. The very tirst 

 one being one of these 10-frame Lang- 

 stroth hives with medium upward 

 ventilation, and containing an Ital- 

 ian queen, for which I paid Adam 

 C4rimm S8. 



Xow, I do not believe that the shape 

 of the liive, method of ventilation, or 

 the queen of Mr. (irimmhad anything 

 to do in causing it. and in this dry 

 cellar, where the mercury never went 

 below the freezing point, and hardly 

 below 44- F., neither or both com- 

 bined could have produced it. Time 

 after time have not only I, but scores 

 of others had their apiaries terribly 

 reduced by this malady, where neither 

 cold nor dampness were present, nor 

 Mr. Doolittle's long confinement. No; 

 too many of us know that these 

 theories are fallacious. Now, give 

 your bees pure, properly prepared, re- 

 fined cane sugar syrup in combs con- 

 taining no bee bread, in such shape 

 that they can reach it readily at all 

 times, and then, if the disease mows 

 down our colonies, as it has been 

 doing, I will agree to run for presi- 

 dent of an indignation society, which 

 meets semi-occasionally to expatiate 

 upon our universal ignorance. I have 

 before shown how nearly alike is the 

 pollen and bacteria theories. When 

 producers get the sticky and doubly 

 interesting habit of setting their sec- 

 tions down on the brood frames, I will 

 make every effort possible to see that 

 Dr. Tinker, of New Philadelphia, the 

 introducer of the golden-honey plant, 

 has the great credit that will certainly 

 be due him. 



Now, it is my turn to get into the 

 quagmire of not comprehending how 

 lots of top surface and surplus case 

 room can work favorably to the safe 

 wintering of bees, especially as so 

 many bee-keepers have declared 

 against the 10-frame Langstrotli hive 

 for this very reason, and further, be- 

 cause most of us still persist in re- 

 moving our surplus cases at the end 

 of the surplus season, and substituting 

 in its place a box whose top surface 

 room is more than 6.000 cubic inches, 

 and yet the bees will get the dysentery 

 and die. Nearly every year since I 

 adopted the 8- frame Langstroth hive, 

 I have been cursed with some 10- 

 frame hives, and strange to say, they 

 have fallen behind the average of my 

 apiary, in wintering safely. 



My opinion is this, bees are more 

 inclined to let alone the nitrogenous 

 food, bee bread, and use only the 

 oxygenized food, honey, when they 

 have the best of facilities to get at 

 their stores at will. If the Doctor can 

 tell us how bees can more readily get 



access to the adequate amount of food 

 required to winter them, said food 

 being distributed through ten combs 

 instead of eight, then 1 will not only 

 feel under obligations to him, but will 

 go back and impoverish Mr. George 

 and Katie Grimm, by showing them 

 that their parent's bank stock accu- 

 mulated from the use of bees in 8- 

 frame hives is all a myth, because it 

 is noiv clearly sliovvn that said hives 

 will not winter bees (though Adam 

 beat all the bee-keepers of tliis coun- 

 try in safely wintering large numbers 

 of colonies in his), nor are they well 

 suited to surplus storing, though tons 

 are annually coming from their tops, 

 and the change from the 10 to the 8- 

 frame hive is as sure as the trial is 

 made. 



I believe I ventured to predict that 

 more than likely disease would catch 

 the Doctor before old age overtook 

 him and soothed him to sleep. I 

 would rather it would be otherwise 

 with all who live, but, alas, it is only 

 the very rare exception. 1 do not ask, 

 nor expect the readers to place any 

 more confidence in my theories and 

 statistics regarding this wintering 

 problem than they do in my "amaz- 

 ing " little prophecy. 



"There la a history in nil men's lives. 



Fignrintr the nitture of the times diseased ; 

 The which ubserveii, a man may prophesy. 



With a near aim, of the main chance of things. 

 As yet not come to life, which in their seeds. 



And wealt beginnings. He untrea"ured." 



Dowagiac, Mich., Oct. 3, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Introducing ftueens. 



J. E. POND, JK. 



From my own experiments, I am 

 led to believe that queens may be in- 

 troduced safely with far less trouble 

 than is usually taken in the operation. 

 If the conditions are right, queens 

 may be allowed to run into hives 

 without taking any precautions what- 

 ever, and will be accepted at once ; 

 unless the conditions are right, queens 

 will not be accepted, no matter what 

 precautions are taken. 



AVe all well know that it is a great 

 injury to a colony to be without a lay- 

 ing queen for several days, and if this 

 can be avoided, very substantial gains 

 will be made in the amount of the 

 honey crop. Ttiat there is no abso- 

 lutely safe method of introducing 

 queens as yet discovered, is true ; it is 

 also true that it is very difficult to 

 determine w^heu the conditions are 

 such that a queen will be accepted. 

 In my experiments I have taken all 

 these matters into consideration, and 

 find that the occasional loss of a 

 queen, made by introducing her at 

 once when the old one is removed, is 

 more, far more than counter-balanced 

 Ijy the gain in not allowing the colony 

 to remain qiieenless an hoiu\ I have 

 particular reference to the time when 

 honey is being gathered freely, as that 

 is the time when the loss of a queen 

 is severely felt. In introducing a 

 queen. I now adopt no precautions 

 whatever, except in early spring and 

 fall, but simply remove the old queen, 

 and allow the new one to run into the 

 entrance. 



