THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



they not possess the power of retention to a 

 very high degree, climatic causes would cut 

 down their limit of operation to a small por- 

 tion of the earth's si;rface. It is clear, then, 

 that confinement necessitates retention of 

 faeces; and must necessarily be at the bottom 

 of all causes. Still, it is a fact that one col- 

 ony will hold out much longer than another, 

 and this proves that a number of causes con- 

 tribute to aggravate the trouble. When bees 

 consume pollen from any cause, it helps to 

 load the ii testines; and, as Messrs. Dadant 

 say, it helps to make the retention of the 

 fsBces more difficult. 



I know by experience and experimentation 

 that, aside from confinement, a cold, damp 

 atmosphere is, perhaps, the greatest cause of 

 trouble. My experiments of last winter 

 showed that my cold, damp, vegetable and 

 fruit cellar would, in the short period of ten 

 days, bloat the bodies of the bees; and I could 

 reduce them to their natural size in about six 

 hours by subjecting them to a high tempera- 

 ture in my office with no obstruction over 

 the tops of the frames except a wire cloth 

 cover. My experiments taught me that bees 

 may "unload" by exhalation, in which case 

 they manage all the pollen they may have 

 consumed. That bees are under the neces- 

 sity of exercising their powers of retention 

 under certain conditions, when no pollen is 

 near them, I know to be true; and this de- 

 stroys the pollen theory, for its advocates, 

 those who fully embrace it, assert that pollen 

 is the one cause. On the, 17 th of last August 

 I shipped, to an amateur bee-keeper, two ex- 

 tra fine queens. His P. O. is a fourth class 

 concern, and the package was dumped into 

 a drawer and forgotten by the P. M. until I 

 traced it up at the expiration of 45 days. 

 The package was returned to me unopened, 

 and, upon examination, I found that the 

 bees had consumed every grain of the soft 

 candy and died apparently of dysentery. (?) 

 Both cages were bedaubed with the "signs;" 

 one of them badly. These bees were ca- 

 ged at the close of our summer drouth 

 at a time when brood rearing had ceased 

 and when little pollen was being used. The 

 worst case of so-called diarrhoea I ever saw 

 I discovered in a colony that had been fed 

 on pure syrup late in November. After a 

 long confinement they came out for a cleans- 

 ing flight, and many of them came out drag- 

 ging their bodies, as it were, and voiding, 

 upon the front of the hive and on the alight- 

 ing board, a mucilagenous, dirty-looking 

 fluid, without the yellow stain of pollen. 

 These cases, and those cited by Mr. Doolittle 

 and others, are important because they dis- 

 prove the pollen theory. 



Now a few words in reply to my friend, 

 the editor of the Review. He asks what it 

 is that the Judge of all the earth has fur- 

 nished that causes dysentery? Here it would 

 seem that friend Hutchinson believes that 

 all suffering and misfortune come through 

 or by reason of natural law. I have always 

 thought that suffering and misfortune are 

 the results or penalty of violated law. Bees 

 are natives of a warm climate; and, if moved 

 to a cold climate, with no compensation by 

 artificial means, they suffer the penalty of 

 violated law; and the penalty may be dysen- 



tery, or death in some other form. Reverse 

 the matter friend Hutchinson, send your 

 bees down to Kentucky, supply them with 

 plenty of natural stores, and if a single col- 

 ony out of 100, yes, or 1,000, is injured by 

 dysentery it will be the only one ever known 

 to perish from that cause in this part of Ken- 

 tucky. Why the differenc? The answer is 

 climate. 



Chbistianbueg, Kt., 



Dec. 2, 1888. 



It would seem that a warm, dry atmos- 

 phere in a bee repository, by facilitating the 

 processes of respiration and perspiration, 

 would lessen the likelihood of the bees' sys- 

 tems becoming clogged; but when their in- 

 testines become loaded — packed — with pollen 

 the bees cannot "sweat it out under their 

 arms." 



While Mr. Demaree is probably correct in 

 regard to the inaccuracy of the terms em- 

 ployed to designate the condition that arises 

 from a long retention by bees of their faeces, 

 it is doubtful if a more desirable term could 

 be found; and certain that its adoption could 

 not be secured. There is one comfort, a 

 brand new, scientifically accurate cognomen 

 would not rob this trouble of its terrors. 



For years Mr. Demaree has combatted the 

 pollen theory, pleading for natural stores. 

 But now, when hard pressed by the force of 

 stern, logical reasoning, he, in the excite- 

 ment of defense, inadvertently lets fly a shaft 

 of truth. He says: "Bees are natives of a 

 warm climate; and, if moved to a cold cli- 

 mate, with no compensation by artificial 

 means, (Italics ours. Ed.) they suffer the 

 penalty of violated law; and the penalty may 

 be dysentery or death in some other form." 

 This is exactly the ground taken by the ad- 

 vocates of the pollen theory. It is well 

 known that bees in warm climates do not 

 suffer from the retention of their faeces, sim- 

 ply because the frequent flights allow them 

 to unload the intestines. In higher latitudes, 

 where they are sometimes conflned for 

 months and months, their intestines become 

 loaded to repletion, and disease is the result. 

 Time and again has it been shown that the 

 mass filling the intestines is almost wholly 

 pollen; but the moment it is suggested that 

 it is the consumption of pollen in confine- 

 ment that causes dysentery, a few will hold 

 up their hands in holy horror, exclaiming: 

 "The Judge of all the earth makes no mis- 

 takes. In his all-seeing wisdom He has pro- 

 vided pollen and honey as food for bees, and 

 bees feed on the food provided for them 

 without harm." 



