148 



THE l]EE-;vEEPERS' REVIEW. 



(page 40, Jan. 16, 1902) I copy an ex- 

 tract from the Professors' talk. It 

 was this report of the Professor's ex- 

 periments that stirred up Mr. Huff to 

 give the gas a trial, with the results 

 as given in his article on another page 

 of this issue. Here is the extract: 



"Prof. F. C. Harrison, bacteriolo- 

 gist, Avho has recently returned from 

 a year or more of study at the leading 

 bacteriological institute in Europe, 

 gave the result of liis work during the 

 past season with foul brood. He stat- 

 ed that the work imdertaken with 

 foul brood at the Ontario Agricultural 

 College during the past year had been 

 rather limited. The only thing at- 

 tempted this year was some means 

 of destroying germs of foul brood in 

 coml)s. One remedy had met with good 

 success; that was, disinfecting combs 

 and hives with the vapor of formalin. 



Pieces of comb had been taken con- 

 taining wax and comb several years 

 old, dead brood, capped lirood, and 

 cells of honey into which had been 

 put fold brood germs. These were 

 placed in a liox the size of an ordiiiary 

 hive, the lower entrance in the box 

 having been plugged, leaving only suf 

 flcient room for the entrance of a rub- 

 lier hose coming from the disinfecting 

 apparatus, similar to that for disin- 

 fecting plants, etc. The formalin gas 

 apparatus was as follows: 



An alcohol lamp, and upon it a reser- 

 voir with a 40 per cent solution of 

 formalin. When the alcohol lamp was 

 lighted the gas was soon generated. 

 At the top of the box a one-half inch 

 opening had been left; out of thi'^ 

 the atmosphere passed as the box 

 filled with formalin gas. When the 

 box was full the gas would pass out 

 of the upper orifice, detected by the 

 odor. The api)aratus was then with- 

 drawn, both openings jilugged, and the 

 comb left under the nifluence of the 

 gas for one hour, aft(>r which exposure 



no growth was obtained, four tests hi 

 all having been made. The honey-cells 

 known to be affected gave no growth 

 The pressure obtained in generating 

 the gas might in a measure account 

 for the results. This ciu'e would be 

 practical in a large apiary. Other 

 appliances used in disinfecting would 

 answer." 



ECONOMICAL WORK. 



Learn to Decide Upon and Perform Only 

 Work that is Profitable. 



There is no doulit tliat a great deal 

 of the work done in many apiarie.^ 

 is wliolly unnecessary, and might be 

 cliaracterized as "fussing." Labor is 

 the most expensiv(' factor m honey 

 jii'oduction, and all possible short-cuts 

 should be taken advantage of. Tho 

 (luestions should always be asked: 

 I loes tliis worlv i^ay '.■' Will it bring 

 in moie than it costs ? Might not the 

 time be used to better advantage in 

 doing something else ? 



In a line with these thoughts. Mr. 

 F. P. Thompson contributed an excel- 

 lent :iiticle last .July to the Progressive 

 Bee-Keeper. It is a little lengthy, but 

 I consider it well worth the room it 

 occupies. Mr. Tho)npson says: — 



"As important as an.v thing, in mak- 

 ing money from bees, is to work so 

 that every stroke tells. It is easy to 

 l)ut a great deal of work on bees tliat 

 amounts to little or nothing, as to burn 

 money on tliein. This is why tlie advice 

 is always given, ant! always should bo 

 given, to learn bee-cnltnre by first 

 working witli a practical bee-keeper. 

 Some little knowledge of economical 

 v/oi-k m,iy be gained by reading, but 

 nothiiig makes it sti( k like exjierience: 

 and even when app;ir(Mitly fully known 

 by hearsay, tlu> test of experienc-3 



