July 8, 1869. ] 



JOTTRNAIi OF HORTICDLTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER, 



35 



empty hive, remove a strong colony of hybrid bees from their 

 stand, and place the one with the old Liguriau queen and the 

 few bees in its place, shall I obtain a strong swarm ? or will 

 the hybrids kill the old queen ? If so, wiU she leave brood m 

 the bell-glass for them to rear another queen from? 



The stock which swarmed is still very strong, the bees 

 havin" returned, but they refuse to enter the super, and I can 

 hear what I beUeve to be the young queen almost constantly 

 piping. Is she imprisoned ? and if so, how is it she is not 

 released now the old queen is gone ?— An Old Scesckibek. 



[It is much to be feared that the hybrids will kill the old 

 queen, but she may lay eggs in the super. Had you removed 

 her own hive, and allowed her to be joined by the returning 

 bees, success would have been certain. A young queen is, 

 doubtless, at liberty within the hive, and the constant " piping " 

 denotes the probability of her soon leading forth a swarm. 

 You cannot do better than advertise any stocks which you may 

 have to spare.] 



FOUL BROOD— ITS PRODUCTION AND CURE. 

 It may be remembered that in the number of " our Journal" 

 issued on the 11th of March last, I noticed a new theory by 

 Mr. Lambreeht, of Bornum, in Prussia, on the subject of foul 

 brood. I have just received a communication from that gentle- 

 man, of which the subjoined is a translation, and by which it 

 wiU be perceived that his alleged discovery is in course of in- 

 vestigation by a committee of German bee-keepers, who are 

 satisfied that he has succeeded in producing foul brood in a 

 healthy stock by feeding it with fermenting honey and pollen, 

 and that he has yet to complete his undertaking by curing this 

 viriolent disease within two days. Should he succeed in so 

 doing he will deserve to be rewarded for his discovery, and I, 

 for one, shall not grudge the moderate rate of subscription 

 which he requires for divulging it. — A Devonshibe Bee-keepeb. 



Second Report. 



" Brunswick, April 24th, 1869. 

 " The persons mentioued in the former report went this day, to- 

 gether with Mr. Lambrecht, to the place where the e^iperimental hive 

 was standing. After examining it, Mr. Lambrecht pronoanced the 

 colony to be in the early stage of fonl brood. Althongh there were 

 single larva; or nymphte dead and in a suspicions state, yet the opinions 

 of the Committee were divided at to the presence of foul brood. 

 This induced Mr. Lambrecht to give the bees a further portion of fer- 

 menting pollen with honey, and to demand that two frames of comb 

 some years old shoold be inserted. Mr. Gravenhorst was charged 

 with effecting this as soon as possible." 



(Signed as before.) 



Third Report. 



" Brunswick, May 23rd, 1869. 

 "The undersigned inspected the experimental hive this day. In 

 both pieces of old comb, inserted on May 2nd, they tonnd cells pierced 

 and unpierced with depressed covers, from which, after tearing them 

 open, a sticky, fetid, brownish grey substance was extracted. The 

 Commission decided and expressed their full conviction that foul 

 brood had broken out, especially as decaying larvae were found also in 

 newly-built drone combs." 



(Signed as before.) 



Science has solved a difficult problem ; the causes of foul 

 brood are made plain, and are known ; it has, therefore, become 

 possible to discover means, by the application of which foul 

 brood can be cured in one, or at most in two days, and the 

 fermented vitiated honey again made fit for bees. 



The means and the process of cure will be published in the 

 course of this year in a pamphlet, for which purpose a sub- 

 scription list is opened. SUould five hundred subscribers give 

 in their names, the price of a copy will be 4 thalers, Prussian 

 currency (12s.). Names and addresses may be sent to Mr. 

 Gravenhorst, in Brunswick. — A. Lambrecht, Bornum, near 

 E'Orssum, BrunsicicJc. 



OK THE ORIGIN AND CURE OF FOUL BROOD. 



For some years I have busied myself with endeavouring to 

 discover the origin of the deadly plague of foul brood, and 

 having by the aid of chemistry and physiology, after number- 

 less experiments, arrived at certainty on this point, the natural 

 result was the discovery of means whereby in the shortest 

 period the causes and their disastrous effects can be removed. 

 About a year since, I ascertained that the first cause lay in fer- 

 menting pollen, by which foul brood is produced, and my 

 apiarian friends then urged me to publish this discovery, cer- 

 tainly not an unimportant one for the science of apiculture, in 

 an article of some length, under the title " Foul Brood amongst 

 Bees : its Origin, and the Means whereby it may with certainty 

 be removed." [E-'ctracts containing the substance of this article 

 were published in The Journ.u. or Horticulture of the 11th 

 March last.] After I had thus settled the foul-brood question, 

 and had discovered as possible causes of the pestilence, besides 

 fermenting poUen — feeding with flour or meal, with ferment- 

 ing honey, with honey with which grease is mixed, contagion, 

 and, lastly, spreading the pestilence by suffering substances to 

 decompose near the hives, — various views were expressed in 

 the bee-keeping world, and especially against my theory that 

 fermenting pollen is a cause of foul brood. Consequently I 

 undertook to demonstrate the truth of that theory before a 

 competent commission of apiarians. 



Mr. Gravenhorst, a bee-master in Brunswick, placed a 

 strong stock of bees during the course of last spring at my 

 disposal, and I commenced carrying out my experiment on the 

 1st of April. As I believe that the matter will be interesting 

 to the intelligent apiarian, while a cure for foul brood wiU be 

 welcome and satisfactory to all, I subjoin a copy of the reports 

 of the commission. 



First Report. 



" Bmnswick, April let, 1869. 



" The undersigned certify that the stock pciven by C. J. H. Graven- 

 horst for the purpose of experiment, was found upon thorough inves- 

 tigation to be perfectly healthy, with brood in all stages, and suffi- 

 ciently populous. A. Lambrecht, in our presence, inserted a comb 

 containing poUen and honey in a state of fermentation within the hive 

 near the brood. The care of the stock was entrusted to Mr. Graven- 

 horst, who reserved the right of placing it at a distance of two miles 

 from his own stand. 



(Signed) — C. J. H. Gravenhorst, 

 Helnrich Oppermann, 

 H. Herhst, 

 H. Wiedewroth." 



FAILURES IN BEE-KEEPING— SWARMING 



VERSUS SUPERING. 



Having seen at various times in your valuable publication 

 some accounts and also advice on bee-keeping, I make bold to 

 ask a little advice of some of your amateur correspondents, not 

 only for myself but also for many others, who I presume are in 

 about the same difficulty as myself. Too many of my old stocks 

 are very weak, and no doubt those of many others are the same. 

 I have kept bees for some years on the old or swarming system, 

 and also by taking the honey from the top of the hive in supers, 

 not allowing the bees to swarm. 1 believe my situation is not 

 a very good one ; but be that as it may, the swarming system 

 does not answer so well as it ought, for after swarming the old 

 stock is too often so much reduced as to be unable to recover 

 sufficient strength to encounter the ensuing winter, and con- 

 sequently the bees die before spring. 



On the super system also, iu too many cases after a couple of 

 seasons, the bees dwindle away, and in the third year do very 

 little or no work, unless (by means that we know nothing of) 

 they have their old queen replaced. I have bought both swarms 

 and casts, and I invariably find that the casts do the best, i£ 

 they come in time to collect sufficient to carry them through the 

 winter. Therefore I am obliged to believe it must be a young 

 queen that goes out with the oast. Indeed, I cannot see how it 

 can be otherwise. If the old queens do not go out with the 

 swarms, I am almost sure they do not go out with the casts. 



Now it appears to me, that the non-swarming system requires 

 young queens about every two years to do well. Therefore, it 

 any of your bee-keeping correspondents are of the same opinion, 

 will one of them be kind enough to tell me the best way, and 

 with least trouble, to obtain a succession of young queens at 

 least every alternate year ? — A Kent Bee-keeper. 



[We shall be glad of the opinions of any of our corre- 

 spondents who may be able to explain the probable causes 

 of failure. — Eds.] 



DISLODGING BEES FROM A TREE. 

 Thfjje years ago a swarm of bees went into a large tree just 

 outside our gate. They cast a natural swarm two years ago ; 

 last year they contented themselves with increasing their own 

 colony ; this year they are very numerous and strong, and have 

 seemed ready to throw off a swarm for a fortiiigbt, but have 

 not yet done so. These are their doings, now for a brief account 

 of my doings. 



