THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



food of a given locality is such year after 

 year that the bees pass the winter in excel- 

 lent health, then there is nothing more to be 

 done on that score, but, as I mentioned last 

 month, if it is not, if a large percentage of 

 the bees die with the diarrhoea nearly every 

 winter, then there must be a change of food, 

 and I know of no better plan than that of 

 feeding sugar late in the fall as suggested 

 last month. This is a heat forming food, 

 free from nitrogen, and its consumption 

 does not load the intestines. If fed late, it 

 is stored where it will be consumed during 

 the months of confinement. 



The warmer the cellar the better, provided 

 itj is not so warm that the bees are excited 

 to undue activity. Let it be such that they 

 will remain quietly clustered, but will not be 

 compelled to consume food largely for the 

 sake of the warmth its consumption will 

 generate. A moist atmosphere is detrimen- 

 tal because it is in effect the same as a low 

 temperature. Besides this it prevents, or re- 

 tards, the perspiration of the bees, which the 

 sooner clogs the system. 



Furnish the bees with plenty of wholesome 

 food, put them in a dry, warm, well-ventila- 

 ted cellar, and take them out as early as pos- 

 sible in spring, protecting them with pack- 

 ing, and all has been done that can be profit- 

 ably done to prevent diarrhoea. 



Dr. Miller says, in his " Stray Straws," 

 that if I lived in Marengo I would not fol- 

 low the plan of taking the bees from the cel- 

 lar as soon as it was warm enough in the 

 spring for them to fly. I should not take 

 them out thus early unless I protected them, 

 which I think the Doctor does not do. I 

 think this "Straw" of his is scarcely fair 

 inasmuch as it does not mention that I 

 would protect the bees after taking them 

 out. After bees have been confined sixteen 

 weeks, a still further confinement of three 

 weeks makes more difference than many of 

 us have been aware. 



EXXRT^OTED. 



Preventing Bee Dysentery by the Use of 

 Sngar Stores. 



Cold cellar did repress their noble rage 

 And froze the genial current of their soul. 



Mr. Heddon, in his article, refers to an ex- 

 periment that he made in wintering bees on 



sugar stores. In his book, " Success in Bee 

 Culture," he goes more into detail, and I 

 quote that part of the chapter on wintering 

 that refers to this particular experiment. He 

 says : — 



" In the autumn of 1884, I placed bees in 

 two cellars ; one containing 4U, and the other 

 91 colonies. The old cellar containing 40 

 colonies was at all times very dry, while the 

 new one containing the 91, was very damp. 

 Both cellars were allowed to become quite 

 too cold, to test the endurance of bees with 

 sugar syrup ; the temperature in the old cel- 

 lar was down as low as 10 and 1.5 degrees 

 above zero, in the new, damp cellar, as low 

 as 25 degrees. The old cellar contained bees 

 with sugar syrup only, and of its 40 colonies, 

 all but five died, with no symptoms of diar- 

 rhcBa in the hive. The new, damp cellar, 

 containing the 91 colonies, had T6 colonies 

 without pollen or honey — sugar syrup only — 

 10 colonies with little pollen, and stores of 

 part honey and part sugar syrup, and 8 col- 

 onies having all natural stores. This cellar 

 was so damp that mold collected on the 

 alighting- boards and between the combs, on 

 the under side of the covers, etc. About one- 

 third of the colonies had upward ventilation 

 by way of nails pushed under the board cov- 

 ers ; the other two-thirds had no upward ven- 

 tilation whatever. In numerous hives, water 

 could be seen running out on the alighting- 

 board. If the covers of those hives which 

 were tight down, were lifted and turned up 

 edgewise, water would run from them. In 

 spring, the health of the 91 colonies stood 

 thus : Of the 8 on natural stores, 6 died with 

 diarrhcBa, and the other 2 came out in good 

 condition. All were treated alike with no 

 upward ventilation. Of the 10 with little 

 bee-bread and mixed stores, 8 lived, while 2 

 died. Of the remaining 73, with nothing in 

 the combs but pure sugar syrup, not one 

 showed any signs of diarrhoea, whatever. 



I will now state how matters stood with the 

 out-door colonies of this same home apiary. 

 I had 49 coUonies, each on 6 American 

 frames with combs, in tenement hives, that 

 in summer contained 19 combs, all resting 

 horizontally. On either side of the 6 combs 

 and bees, was a 2-inch chafif , cloth-sided di- 

 vision-cushion ; over all, in the upper story, 

 was a large chafiE cushion, about six inches 

 thick. These hives were painted white, and 

 rested high, so that they were above the most 

 of the snow. Twenty-five of them contained 

 no honey, and only a cell of pollen here and 

 there, and were well supplied with sugar 

 syrup ; 24 contained a little honey and bee- 

 bread, and all the rest of the food was sugar 

 syrup. I had no idea of losing any of these 

 colonies, but in this I was in error, for every 

 one died. Among the 25 there was scarcely 

 a sign of disease ; the combs were clean and 

 nice. Among the other 24, there were occa- 

 sional symptoms of diarrhcea, here and 

 there, but not to amount to anything. I have 

 had colonies show many times more symp- 

 toms of disease and survive, and come up 

 strong for the June honey harvest. None of 

 these colonies died of diarrhoea. Of what 

 did they die ? Cold, too long continued ; 



