334 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



using the earth for a bottom-board would 

 not answer, but it is difficult to say why. 

 Mr. Tyrrell has used this kind of a bot- 

 tom-board in one apiary all of the past 

 summer, and he says that he has been 

 unable to discover any objection. 



If it is desired to move a colony, sim- 

 ply turn the hive-stand bottom side up, 

 lay a piece of burlap, or wire cloth, over 

 the hive-stand, set the hive upon it and 

 fasten it there, and the hive is ready for 

 moving. The narrow front piece to the 

 stand allows of ventilation, even if sever- 

 al hives are stacked up one above the 

 other. 



NO NEKD FOR BOTTOM-STARTKRS. 

 In all of my experience I have seen no 

 need for the use of bottom starters in 

 sections. If the upper starter is to lack 

 half an inch of reaching the bottom bar, 

 then a bottom starter may be necessary 

 in order to have the comb well attached 

 to the bottom bar, but if it comes down to 

 within one- eighth of an inch of the bot- 

 tom, it is well nigh impossible to say, by 

 looking at the section after it is filled, 

 which side up it grew. This has been my 

 experience with thousands and thousands 

 of sections, covering years of experience. 

 The assertion is made that if the founda- 

 tion is allowed to come down so near the 

 bottom it will sag and buckle from strik- 

 ing the bottom-bar. If one-eighth of an 

 inch is allowed at the bottom, no trouble 

 from this source will arise. Suppose the 

 foundation should stretch enough to 

 strike the bottom- bar, and bend a little 

 out of true, that is no sure sign that the 

 finished comb will be bulged. The cells 

 upon one side may be a little deeper than 

 upon the other, that is, the midrib may 

 not be in the center of the comb through- 

 out its entire length, but the comb will 

 not be bulged even if separators are not 

 used, while, if they are used, it could not 

 occur. 



I wish that some of those who think 

 they must use bottom starters would try 

 a few sections filled with foundations as I 

 have instructed. 



MORE EXTENDED TESTS ARE NEEDED 

 WITH FORMALIN. 



N. E. France, State Inspector of 

 Apiaries for Wisconsin, in a communica- 

 tion just received, says th.it he has just 

 returned from a 280-mile trip to the 

 northern part of the State where he want 

 to examine 300 combs that had been 

 fumigated, July 27, with formalin gis, to 

 kill the germs of foul brood, and then 

 bees put upon them. Every comb con- 

 tained foul brood. He says that the gas 

 does not penetrate the cappings nor the 

 honey, nor kill bees just ready to hatch, 

 but still protected by the cappings. 



I see by Gleanings that some failures 

 with formalin have been reported. Let 

 us not be too hasty in throwing it aside 

 I have recently been talking with Mr. C. 

 A Huff, and he says that with freshly ex- 

 tracted combs, taken from foid broody 

 colonies, he has been successful in de- 

 stroying the germs with formalin gas, 

 but he has little faith in its effacacy where 

 the cells are sealed, or where the scales 

 have dried down hard. If we can fumi- 

 gate the extracting combs and be able to 

 use them it will be something. Of course, 

 I don't know the particulars in regard to 

 the combs that Mr. France writes about, 

 and it would be interesting if he could 

 give them. Bro. France, were they 

 freshly extracted, or were they old and 

 dry? Another thing, how were they 

 fumigated, and how long? 



Since the foiegoing was put in type, I 

 find the following in the Rocky Mountain 

 Bee Journal: 



Last spring the editor of the Journal 

 fumigated a set of foul broody combs 

 with formalin gas. Foul brood was pres- 

 ent in all of its stages, except the dried 

 scales. They were placed on a healthy 

 colony, the bees cleaned out the foul mat- 

 ter and raised perfectly healthy brood. 



««jr" ••,«^*m«^ 



A FEW WORDS ABOUT PYROGR.\PHY. 



It is truly wonderful that, in the rush- 

 ing throng of a crowded city, among the 

 thousands and thousands that hurry and 

 skurry hither and thither, two friends 



