574 



THE AMERICAJS BEE JOURNAL. 



75, a similar winter as to temperature, 

 with similar reports of losses ; and we 

 might go on and select the cold win- 

 ters by referring to the Asieuican 

 Bee Journal and noting when the 

 losses of bees occured. 



It has been urged that the excessive 

 humidity of the atmosphere during 

 cold winters was the cause of the 

 losses ; if so, then why are there ex- 

 ceptions of those who invariably win- 

 ter their bees witliout loss, or nearly 

 so ? Would not the natural damp- 

 ness affect all the colonies alike V 

 While we admit that dampness has 

 much to do in disastrous wintering of 

 bees, we regard cold as being the root 

 of the trouble; by preventing the 

 moisture which emanates from the 

 bees from escaping outside the hive. 



Pollen has been mentioned as the 

 cause of losses of bees in winter. If 

 it was, why do some colonies of bees 

 winter successfully, without remov- 

 ing a frame on account of the pollen 

 in it, in preparing them for winter ? 

 We pronounce cold the prime cause of 

 the general losses of bees in winter. 

 Is it not a fact that those who winter 

 bees most successfully keep them 

 warm, either by cellar, packing, or 

 otherwise ? Has their been substan- 

 tial evidence offered to prove that cold 

 was not the cause of bee mortality in 

 winter '? 



Bloomington, 111., Oct. 15, 1S83. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Pollen Theory and Dysentery. 



N. M. CAKPENTEK. 



From a rational point of view, the 

 theory that pollen is the cause of dys- 

 entery is entirely unreasonable ; it is 

 inconsistent with the laws of nature. 

 It Is well known tliat animal instinct 

 leads to those habits which result in 

 the perpetuation of existence, and 

 when man interferes to divert any 

 animals from their natural instincts, 

 the usual result is to weaken the 

 power of self-perpetuation, and the 

 honey bee is no exception to this rule. 



If it were not for " the good of the 

 bee " to gather and store pollen in the 

 hive, they would not do it. The inter- 

 ference of man with the natural habits 

 of any animal ner-er results in an in- 

 crease of their power to live. In every 

 department of animal life it seems to 

 be the primary object of nature to 

 give just those instincts, which if not 

 interfered with, will most surely 

 secure and perpetuate animal exist- 

 ence. The idea that the honey bees 

 makes the eggregious mistake of put- 

 ting into their hives just the thing to 

 destroy themselves, is not only a great 

 absurdiity, but contrary to all natural 

 law. 



Now it is too often the case that 

 when one fancies that he has develop- 

 ed an important theory, every seeming 

 fact which may be made to support 

 that theory is quickly seized upon, 

 while those having an adverse bearing 

 are ignored. In the earlier years of 

 bee-keeping, what bee-keeper has fail- 

 ed to find, when " taking up " an old 

 colony in a box hive, a most disgusts 

 Ing abundance of pollen; and it is 



well known that if such hives were let 

 alone, they were likely to winter well 

 and throw out an early and bouncing 

 swarm. It is a significant fact that 

 some of those who are the most ardent 

 advocates of this non-pollen theory 

 are not remarkable for tlieir success- 

 ful wintering. With my views of the 

 question, I have not hesitated to test 

 tlie matter in my own practice ; and 

 perhaps it would not be out of place 

 to relate a little of my own experience. 



Last fall for some reason the broad 

 frames of my hives had the greatest 

 amount of pollen that I have ever 

 seen in a 20 years' experience in bee- 

 keeping. The frames were about one- 

 third full of well-capped honey, and 

 the space below the capped honey, in 

 a large majority of the frames, was 

 from one-half to two-thirds filled with 

 pollen. The size of my frame is 10x13, 

 and in preparing my bees for winter, 

 I gave them only .5 of these frames. 

 I removed no frames on account of 

 the pollen they contained, consequent- 

 ly most of the colonies in my 76 hives 

 were clustered directly upon the pol- 

 len. Now, if this pollen theory was 

 correct, I ought to have expected to 

 see my hives pretty well daubed in the 

 spring ; but tlie consequence was that 

 only 5 out of the 76 had dysentery at 

 all, and only 1 of those had it badly ; 

 and it is well known that there was a 

 very gi-eat tendency to the development 

 of the so-called dysentery all over the 

 country last winter, "This is, of 

 course, only one fact; but it bears 

 pretty directly upon the question. I 

 have others of the same nature but 

 will not detail them at this time. 



Now, with my views of the ques- 

 tion, and with tliese facts in view, I 

 do not take any stock in the theory 

 that pollen is the cause of the so-call- 

 ed dysentery, which in a majority of 

 cases, is no dysentery at all, but sim- 

 ply a diarrhoea; and I am perfectly 

 willing that Mr. IIeddon,or anyone 

 else, should have all the honor there 

 is in fathering this most unreasonable, 

 and I think, unsupportable theory. 



Ellington, N. Y. 



For the American Bee JonmaL 



The New Races of Bees. 



B. F. CAKKOLL. 



As Mr. Doolittle can enjoy a good 

 thing when he gets it, and can shake 

 his sides in a good hearty laugh at the 

 expense of the ignorant, I want to tell 

 him how much fun I had with a col- 

 ony of Cyprian bees, presided over by 

 a sister of the queen he has. 



Last spring I had a young man to 

 help me divide some bees, and this 

 Cyprian colony was one. Putting on 

 a good veil and a pair of heavy gloves, 

 he thought he was proof; so he 

 shouldered a Bingham "conqueror" 

 smoker, filled with cotton seed that 

 emitted a cloud of smoke, forgetting 

 there was a small hole in his hat. I 

 had got fairly to work when I saw the 

 young mail was ready to stampede; see- 

 ing a host of angry bees crawling into 

 that hole, I encouraged the young man 

 to stand Arm, but they not only found 

 the hole but were using their darts 



freely on the young man's head ; down 

 went the smoker and off goes the 

 young man to the house with a train 

 of bees after him. I enjoyed this 

 finely, for not a single bee paid any 

 attention to me. I worked on with- 

 out smoke rmtil I had finished the 

 division. 



The queen I let Mr. Doolittle have 

 was from a fine imported queen from 

 D. A. Jones, and was mated by drones 

 from the old A. I. Root Cyprian queen. 

 As these were the only drones in my 

 yard, and as Mr. D. wanted a pure 

 Cyprian, I sent him one of four queens 

 reared in the fall of 18S2 (November,) 

 from this D. A. Jones' queen— all 4 

 were about equal, so far as temper 

 is concerned. From the Doolittle 

 reared I queen 20 queens ; 10 of these 

 are now in my yard, and these are as 

 gentle as Mr. D.'s or any other Italians. 



I liave another imported Cyprian 

 that has a somewhat better temper. 

 I now have only 3 colonies of Italians, 

 over 80 colonies of pure Cyprians, and 

 shall keep in my own home apiary 

 none but Cyprians. I opened the 

 colony several times from which Mr. 

 D. got his queen, without smoke, and 

 brushed the bees off the combs to cut 

 ont the queen cells, and did not get a 

 sting ! I use but little smoke in hand- 

 ling my bees, and I think if Mr. D. 

 would use little or no smoke, he wiU 

 get along better. I can send him an- 

 other queen that I think is pure, tliat 

 is of the gentle kind, but think daugh- 

 ters and grand-daugliters from his 

 " Carroll " queen will be an improve- 

 ment every time. I know these bees 

 to be superior to the Italians, and 

 want no others. My wife assisted me 

 to extract from all, in July and Aug- 

 ust, without gloves or veil, and did not 

 receive a single sting until we came to 

 the colony of Italians. 



As before stated, Texas is the home 

 of the Cyprian bee ; they may not do 

 for New York. Syrian bees are, with 

 us, considered good— better than Ital- 

 ians ; being a hardier race, they stand 

 our windy springs better. I have 

 tried these bees two years and can say 

 that they are good for Texas. It will 

 not do to handle these bees (cyprians,) 

 in damp or cold weather. I have 

 opened and carefully examined nearly 

 all of my hives to-day and yesterday, 

 and not an angry bee did I see. 1 would 

 rather be stung by a bee than to be 

 bitten by a flea. Tlie latter swells 

 my flesh and hurts for hours ; a bee 

 stmg seldom swells, and in 2 minutes 

 afterward I do not know it. Hang 

 on, Mr. D. ; try them one more year. 



Dresden, Texas, Oct. 17, 1883. 



ror the American Bee Journal. 



One Thing Lacking. 



DK. W. Q. PHBLrS. 



The '■ make-up " of the average 

 periodic bee literature lacks one con- 

 spicuous and importaut feature— sim- 

 plicity. Of the editorial matter we 

 have little fault to find, but the aver- 

 age contributor seems to delight either 

 in combatting some real or imaginary 

 opponent with ponderous words and 

 scientific phrases or to air histheoreti- 



