606 



THE AMERICA^^ BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Pollen— Now for the Facts. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



For the past three years much has 

 been said by the press and otherwise 

 about pollen as being the agent of, if 

 not the direct cause of our wintering 

 troubles with bees. Most writers on 

 the subject claiming that the eating 

 of pollen was the cause of dysentery, 

 for in order to become the cause, or an 

 agent of, the bee must eat the pollen, 

 as all will admit. In all of these dis- 

 cussions (which I have watched very 

 closely) about the matter, I have 

 failed to see any proof given that old 

 bees do eat pollen. 



After carefully reading all Mr. Hed- 

 don (who has been the main agitator 

 of this question) has written on the 

 subject, I fail to find anything which 

 shows why he believes the theory he 

 advocates, unless it be on page 283 of 

 the Bee Journal for 1881, when he 

 says, " I have not found a dead col- 

 ony, where there was not plenty of 

 bee-bread, showing signs of late work 

 with it, or brood in all stages, and 



Generally both, but nearly always 

 rood." But it will be noticed he 

 does not tell us what those signs 

 were, or whether he saw the signs in 

 the absence of brood. 



On page 560, present volume of tlie 

 Bee Journal, Mr. Kohnke is very 

 positive about the matter, and says 

 regarding dysentery : '• If Mr. Heddon 

 had omitted one word in his reply to 

 Rev. L. L. Langstroth when he says, 

 'But they are sometimes compelled to 

 eat it ' (pollen), he would have given 

 the sole and only reason for bees dying 

 with it. Drop the word ' sometimes,' 

 and you have the whole thing in a nut 

 shell." Here, again, the reader will 

 notice that no proof is given to sup- 

 port the assertion. 



Since Mr. Heddon"s article appeared 

 on page 283 of the Bee Journal for 

 1881, 1 have tried several experiments 

 to make old bees eat pollen when 

 there was no brood in the hive, all of 

 which have resulted in the starvation 

 of the bees without a bit of pollen 

 being consumed, as far as I could see. 

 The first experiment I tried was this : 

 I had acolony which had a queen which 

 produced bees of a bad disposition, so 

 much so that I did not care if they 

 died. From these I took away all 

 their honey as soon as they had ceased 

 brood rearing (which was about Oct. 

 12), and substituted frames of pollen 

 with little or no honey in them. The 

 resuft was that as soon as they had 

 consumed all the honey they had in 

 their sacks, when I shook them from 

 their combs of honey, and the little 

 there was in the combs given them, 

 they died. The pollen was carefully 

 marked, and the combs examined 

 every other day, as I wished to as- 

 certain the facts in the case. As long 

 as a cell containing a little honey 



could be seen, the bees were as active 

 and lively as any bees, but soon 

 after there was no honey to be seen, 

 the bees became drowsy except in the 

 centre of the cluster. In a few days 

 those on the outside were apparently 

 dead, having most of them dropped to 

 the bottom Doard, or crawled into an 

 empty cell where such could be found 

 among the cells of pollen, while those 

 in the centre of the cluster were 

 sleepy as were those outside a few 

 days previous. At this time the 

 queen was still quite active with, per- 

 haps, a dozen bees near her, but the 

 most of the bees could hardly cling to 

 the combs, while every available cell 

 was filled with bees,too drowsy to back 

 out upon being touched. 



The next examination found them 

 all apparently dead, but I succeeded in 

 bringing a tew to life by warming 

 them and giving some honey as soon 

 as they would "take it. During all 

 this process I could not discover that 

 a particle of pollen was eaten, al- 

 though I watched very closely. Many 

 interesting facts were brought out, 

 however, such as which bees suc- 

 cumbed first, that the queen was held 

 precious to the last, and that bees 

 could be brought to life after appar- 

 ently dead, etc., but it would be out 

 of place to dwell on them here. 



Other experiments were tried " not 

 unto death," but all to no avail as re- 

 gards forcing the bees to eat pollen 

 without the presence of brood. This 

 fall I experimented, to see if it made 

 any difference whether the pollen was 

 covered with honey or not, giving a 

 colony frames having a little patch of 

 pollen covered with honey, all the 

 rest of the honey being extracted 

 from them. Although I held the bees 

 to the experiment till I starved % of 

 the colony, still none of the pollen 

 was eaten. In no case did I ever 

 know old bees to eat pollen except 

 where brood was being reared. If 

 pollen is used while brood is being 

 reared, and at no other time, then the 

 brood becomes the prime cause of 

 dysentery (if dysentery is thus pro- 

 duced) and the pollen secondary. 

 That old bees are kept from starving 

 during times of scarcity in spring and 

 summer by eating jiollen when there 

 is plenty of brood in the hive, I think 

 I have abmidant proof of, but in this 

 case the old bees do not partake of the 

 pollen, only as it is partially digested 

 in the stomach of the niu-se bees^and 

 formed into chyme, when it is fed to 

 the old or field bees the same as it is 

 fed to the larvje. 



By placing frames of pollen in hives 

 containing iio honey at such times, I 

 have had the pollen rapidly consumed, 

 and the bees kept lively, while those 

 beside of them would eat up all their 

 brood and stai-ve as soon as the pollen 

 was gone, unless fed. It may be pos- 

 sible that as soon as brood-rearing 

 begins in the hive in the winter, that 

 the old bees are fed pollen in this 

 way, with plenty of honey in the hive, 

 but I have my doubts about it. But 

 if we admit this to be a fact, and that 

 dysentery can be thus produced, then, 

 as I said before, pollen can become 

 only secondary as to producing dys- 

 entery. 



From all the facts brought out by 

 my experiments, I am convinced that 

 pollen eating is not the cause of dys- 

 entery, and here venture the assertioa 

 that old bees will not eat pollen ex- 

 c'ept as there is brood in the hive, and 

 shall hold to it until it can be proven 

 that they do. 



Now, for the proof, gentlemen, and 

 if you- cannot furnish it, there is no 

 need of dwelling upon the subject. 

 We do not want any theories, or any 

 guesses about it. Simply tell us just 

 how you know that old bees eat pollen 

 when the hives contain no brood, and 

 if you prove they do, tell us also how 

 you know that by eating it, dysentery 

 IS produced. I wish to here thank 

 Mr. Cornell for his very clear and 

 able article on page .557. He there 

 gives us facts, which are of far greater 

 import to the bee fraternity than a 

 multitude of well-spun theories. 



Borodino, N. Y., Nov. 13, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Packing Honey for Shipment. 



JEROME TWITCHELL. 



I have a great many letters from all 

 parts of the country asking how to 

 pack honey for shipment, and for the 

 benefit of all, I would like to make the 

 following suggestions through the 

 Bee Journal : 



All honey-producers will, of course, 

 know that in packing the sections in 

 the case, they must be so arranged 

 that the combs will not touch each 

 other, nor touch the sides of the case, 

 and that they must be wedged in, so 

 that they are absolutely immovable 

 by the ordinary jar of handling the 

 cases. 



I would recommend always the use 

 of the paper pan in the bottom of the 

 case, (heavy manilla paper folded at 

 the corners in the form of a pan). It 

 catches all drippings, and preserves 

 the cleanliness of the case. The cases 

 should be of clean new lumber, well 

 fastened together with a panel of 

 glass in one side any how, or even in 

 two sides would be all the better, 

 the glass serves the double purpose 

 of revealing the contents to the hand- 

 lers of it on the railroads, thereby 

 making them more careful, and also 

 affording the retail merchant a neat 

 and convenient package from which 

 to sell the honey. 



Next, as to the size and shape of 

 the cases. These should be as nearly 

 uniform among all packers as possible, 

 and I would suggest as follows, viz. : 

 One-pound sections put 4 lengthwise 

 and 6 across in a one-story case, or 

 double in a two-story, making say 

 about 20 pounds in one and -tO in the 

 other. Two-pound sections, put 3 

 lengthwise and 4 across, making 

 either one or two stories, and about 

 20 and 40 pounds in a case. 



Larger sections tlian 20 pounds I do 

 not recommend at all ; so I have noth- 

 ing to say about size of cases for them. 

 Secure the lids with small nails, and 

 not too many. There should always 

 be hand-holds in the ends of the cases 

 to insure the careful handling of 

 them. Mark the weights on the end of 



