590 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOJRNAL. 



For the American Bee Juurnal. 



Pollen Theory, Bees in Winter, etc. 



JAIEES HEDDON. 



Ill reply to Mr. Pond, on page 560, I 

 will say that I never meant to claim, 

 when using the word " strain," that 

 I had a " fixed " race or strain of bees. 

 I do not think I have, and I will say 

 here to all, that I am constantly fixing 

 and trying to improve my stock, and 

 always expect to be doing so, whether 

 I use German blood with my dark 

 Italians, or the latter alone. For the 

 production of extracted honey, the 

 dark Italians are good enough, and, 

 all in all, perhaps are excelled by none, 

 but in the production of comb honey 

 I cannot think of parting with a mix- 

 ture of the German blood. There is 

 no need whatever of bringing in any 

 ill-temper by any such mixture, if 

 properly directed. I fully appreciate 

 Mr. Foiid's honest earnestness. I have 

 been right there myself. 



I can see no propriety in carrying 

 the pollen discussion any farther. I 

 am, at present, preparing such tests 

 as will satisfy me perfectly in regard 

 to the correctness or incoiTectness of 

 the theory, and trust that my simple 

 reports, next May or June, will be all 

 the reader will care to hear from me 

 further upon the subject. Every one 

 can experiment for themselves. 



Dr. Tinker opened an attack upon 

 this theory. I see nothing new in his 

 last article worthy of muc'ii argument 

 and space. As I am entitled to the 

 last word, I claim the right to correct 

 his mis-statements, etc. Regarding 

 my replies in " What and How," 1 

 confine my tone of answers more to 

 what I know than any theory, belief, 

 or hypothesis of mine which I may 

 argue strenuously in favor of. for the 

 sake of getting at the facts underlying 

 our winter disasters, while most 

 bee-keepers are still spending their 

 time telling how many laths they lay 

 over the frames, and which way tliey 

 are laid, etc., etc. Should the pollen 

 theory prove the correct one, I pre- 

 sume the Doctor will be sorry he lias 

 found out the truth, simply because it 

 was not his theory. 



I have never fed glucose to bees, 

 but if I am rightly informed regarding 

 the results realized by those who have, 

 it has had no influence toward killing 

 bees by any poisonous action, but has 

 produced dysentery, and according to 

 my theory, glucose ranks as much 

 below honey as honey does below 

 sugar syrup, in point of its greater 

 proportion of nitrogen or vegetable 

 substance compared with its oxygen 

 or heat-producing powers. 



Kegarding packing inside or out- 

 side of hives, I have tried both, several 

 times. Neither one prevents dysen- 

 tery, but the heavier out-side packing 

 giving much better protection, has 

 that much more tendency to prevent 

 and alleviate the disease, and saves 

 lugging about such useless loads all 

 summer. 



Yes, I have said for years that I 

 believed that I could winter any one 

 colony of l)ees with as much certainty 

 as my cow, but cost and trouble being 

 greater than the risk, I have pref erreii 



trying to find out the true cause of 

 dysentery, and then is the time to de- 

 vise cheap and practical methods of 

 wintering bees successfully with cer- 

 tainty. 



I have read, re-read and studied 

 Mr. Corneil's last effort, and think 

 that lie deserves the greatest credit 

 for that article. I am of the opinion 

 that he is wrong, and that I am right, 

 and I am further of the opinion that 

 if I am wrong, he is certainly right. I 

 greatly rejoice in feeling that at last 

 we are coming to knowledge of some 

 value. After first admitting that by 

 observation and reading, we are con- 

 versant with many facts that seem to 

 coincide with Mr. Corneil's theory, 

 yet I wish to append a few that look 

 rather dark. 



Now, first, regarding Mr. Balch's 

 bees, I think he will agree with me 

 that this dampness had been with 

 them for weeks, and that they showed 

 no signs of disease whatever, and from 

 what we know of getting bees out "just 

 in time to save them," we would say 

 these bees could have staid in another 

 month with, perhaps, no signs of dis- 

 ease whatever. I think Mr. Cornell 

 makes a weak point when he ignores 

 our ability to tell the difference be- 

 tween extremely damp and dry cellars 

 "without instruments." Knowing 

 the extreme dampness of Mr Balch's 

 cellar containing the perfectly healtliy 

 bees, I will venture to say," without 

 knowing, that the 140 colonies dying 

 out of 150 were better ventilated than 

 the healthy bees above referred to. 

 AVe are simply after facts, and through 

 them success. ISIr. Balcli, will you 

 not let us hear from you upon the 

 subject. 



If I am mistaken in regard to the 

 humidity during our warm winters, 

 here is something I am not mistaken 

 about. AVliile bees are dying by 

 whole apiaries in this and other sec- 

 tions of the country, there were dotted 

 here and there individual colonies and 

 whole apiaries that wintered perfectly, 

 showing no signs of disease, without 

 any upward or excessive lower venti- 

 lation whatever. Does the " signal 

 service records " show that humidity 

 thus runs in streaks through apiaries 

 and districts 'r* The quality of and 

 bad position in which polleii may be 

 placed in hives, does vary in districts 

 and apiaries. 



Mr. Cornell says. " that humidity, 

 cold and confinement, as factors in 

 wintering bees, are based on facts in 

 physical science ascertained and es- 

 tablished long before he and I ap- 

 peared on the scene." If he means 

 these are main causes, which he must, 

 does it not seem strange that we have 

 not yet learned to winter our bees ':* 

 Pollen as a factor in producing dysen- 

 tery, was not ascertained and estab- 

 lished before Mr. Cornell and I ap- 

 peared upon the scene, neither is it 

 yet, but I propose to agitate it till I 

 find out whether it is a factor or not, 

 and if it is, establish it ; if not, drop it 

 at once and continue the search 

 farther. 



Regarding the moisture passing 

 from bees by transpiration and exhal- 

 ation, perhaps Mr. Cornell has justly 

 corrected me. I took my cue from the 



writings of professed scientists, or, 

 perhaps, I may say older writers upon 

 the subject. However, this point 

 does not alter the correctness of either 

 theory, as far as I can discover. 



When I said that bees " would not 

 eat pollen when in normal condition " 

 I meant that their instincts would 

 guide them to the proper food for the 

 season, provided they were not en- 

 vironed by opposing influences. To 

 illustrate one such influence : Bees 

 will eat the honey from over and 

 among bee-bread, and leave the nitro- 

 genous tissue-making food and pass 

 on to the more heat-producing food, 

 lioney, if too much influence lie not 

 brought to bear against such removal. 

 But let cold, intense and steady, sur- 

 round the cluster, tlius making such 

 removal painful or impossible, then, 

 when hunger begins to gnaw, a lesser 

 instinct gives way to a greater one, 

 and bee bread is eaten. This con- 

 sumption takes into the system mat- 

 ter that rapidly loads the intestines. 

 A strong instinct not to void in-doors, 

 causes the bees to hold this feces 

 until the return of warmth will per- 

 mit them to go out, and if it does not 

 come disease ensues. 



I beUeve that honey contains veget- 

 able matter in such shape that if cold 

 forces consumption of greater quanti- 

 ties, and confinement prevents fre- 

 quent voiding that dysentery may re- 

 sult from its consumption alone. 

 Honey differs in that respect, and 

 glucose, no doubt, is worse tliau any 

 honey. Humidity plays the part of 

 conducting heat, and thus assists the 

 cold (so to speak) in intensifying its 

 effects. 



The carbonic acid gas question, I 

 know but little about, but I have 

 known bees to winter so perfectly 

 crowded into little, poorly ventilated 

 apartments that I am of the opinion 

 that that question is our " gnat," and 

 that the " camel " is something else 

 entirely foreign to it. Does it not 

 seem strange that Mr. Corneil should 

 demand immediate experimental 

 proof that the pollen theory is correct, 

 when his theory, that is older than he 

 or I, should have been as yet of no 

 practical value to bee-keepers gen- 

 erally ¥ 



We now come to the case of the 10 

 colonies dying while the 32 left behind 

 all lived. If my pollen theory is cor- 

 rect, the agitation of moving these 

 bees just at that time started them to 

 breeding, which, according to my ob- 

 servation, would be productive of 

 dysentery, because it would rear a lot 

 of young bees late in the season, 

 which would be more inclined to con- 

 sume pollen, and repeat the fatal mis- 

 take of breeding out of season, and 

 would also consume stores that ought 

 not to be consumed. But some one 

 savs, " I moved my bees in the fall, 

 and they wintered ivell." Moving bees 

 does not always stimulate them to 

 breeding, but in some cases it does. 



In regard to the excessive dampness 

 found in colonies having died of dys- 

 entery, it will be found, upon close 

 exam'ination, together with more ex- 

 tended observation, that the wet, 

 moldy condition is the effect of the 

 death, and not the cause. 



