826 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



"stump" or mother colony close beside it. A week later, re- 

 move the mother colony to a new place. The plan will allow 

 some possibility of mixed swarms, for occasionally a swarm 

 instead of returning to its own hive will return to another 

 hive where there is commotion from a returning swarm. 



5. Perhaps there is no better way than to rear Italian 

 queens from your full-bloods, but it may be less trouble for 

 j'ou to do another way. See that your Italian colonies are 

 strongest, so as to have them swarm first, giving them brood, 

 if necessary, from the black colonies, to strengthen them. 

 When an Italian colony swarms, put the swarm on the old 

 stand, and set the old hive in place of one of your strongest 

 black colonies, setting the black colony in a new place. The 

 field-bees from the black colony will join the Italian, which, 

 thus reinforced, will send out a good swarm 8 or 10 days 

 later. Proceed with this swarm just as you did before, and 

 put the old hive in place of another black colony. Repeat 

 the process as long as swarms are sent out. That will give 

 you a number of colonies with Italian queens, and when the [ 

 swarming is over you can introduce Italian queens in place of 

 the black queens that are left. 



Does Rotten Brood Develop Into Foul Brood? 



1. After a very successful season in 1903 I closed in the 

 fall with 30 strong; colonies. About 10 colonies died last win- 

 ter, in all probability from the severe cold. It was a late 

 spring here, so very few swarms came out, and in our haste to 

 use the old combs we divided several of the strong colonies 

 and introduced new queens, using five or six old combs to 

 a hive. None of our divided new colonies did well. The bees 

 would not work on the old combs at all, and we are wonder- 

 ing if it is a case of foul brood. There is no odor to speak 

 of about the combs. If it is foul brood would it not have 



spread through our entire apiary this summer? The strong 

 colonies that we did not interfere with did well the past 

 summer. I picked some of the cells open with a toothpick 

 and in one case it seemed to string out a little. 



2. The question seems to be, does rotten brood develop 

 into foul brood, under any circumstances ? Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. The fact that the bees did not work on the 

 old combs does not prove that there was any foul brood pres- 

 ent. Give a foul-broody comb to a strong, healthy colony, and 

 it will use it, although it will become diseased thereby. Neither 

 would it necessarily spread through the entire apiary. It 

 might, and it might not, depending somewhat upon the season 

 and the strength of the different colonies. If the season was 

 good and the infected colonies fairly strong, there might be 

 no robbing; and it is through robbing chiefly that the disease 

 spreads. 



The fact that the artificially-made colonies did not do as 

 well as the others is no proof of itself that foul brood was 

 present. It is easily possible that they did not have as fair 

 a show, and were too weak to do well. 



The only bad symptom in the case is that stringing out of 

 the brood. That looks bad — very bad — although it is not a 

 certainty that your bees have foul brood. There is nothing 

 to do now ; the thing to do is to be sharply on the lookout next 

 year. In the meantime it will pay you well to inform your- 

 self thoroughly about the infectious diseases of bees. Get 

 Dr. Howard's pamphlet on foul brood, and study up all you 

 can find on the subject in back numbers of the bee-papers. 



2. Foul brood is caused by the growth of a microscopical 

 plant, bacillus alvei, and your bees can no more have foul 

 brood without this plant or its seeds (spores), than you can 

 have a field of corn without having the seed of corn first put 

 in the ground. Chilled brood may to some extent favor the 

 growth of the microbe, but chilled brood alone can not start 

 the disease. 



§ 5end for Our 1904 Catalog and Price-List. X 



I ourHI^V^ES and SEOTIOIsTS § 



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^ (Ve will allow jou a cash discount of 5 percent on orders sent in during November. a 



I PAGE & LYON MFG. CO., New London,Wis. us.a | 



Late Pollen-Gathering. 



On Nov. 20 I saw my bees bringing 

 in poUeu from dandelion bloom. Who 

 can beat that for Iowa ? Bees did no 

 good in Iowa, or, rather, Cedar County 

 the past season. N. Stainingkr. 



Cedar Co., Iowa, Nov. 22. 



No Surplus Fall Honey. 



There is no surplus fall honey of any 

 account this year. My bees are in 

 good shape for winter, all packed on 

 the summer stands. Young bees were 

 flying last week. I hope they will win- 

 ter well. I never lose any except by 

 smothering or queenlessness. 



D. C. McLeod. 



Christian Co., 111., Nov. 28. 



Temperatupe fop Bottling Honey. 



There was a great deal said at the 

 St. Louis convention about putting up 

 ■extracted honey, some seeming to 



think 125 degrees about right. I ex- 

 perimented some last year, and my 

 honey put up at 125 degrees candied in 

 the winter, while honey put up at ISO 

 degrees kept perfectly. I have 1000 

 pounds now, put up last June, as clear 



$ I A. 80 For 



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GEO. H. STAHL, Qulncy 



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Please mention the Be; J ournal. 36A26t 



