THE BEE-KEEPEKS REVIEW 



281 



enough so that it would be noticed. 

 No, it was not because so many bees 

 gained entrance and fought over them, 

 as I opened some of the piles once in 

 awhile, and took a look. There was 

 no great crowd of bees on an^' of the 

 combs, no fighting and crowding, but, 

 so long as the comb is soft and tender, 

 and has a sweet taste, they are in- 

 clined to gnaw awaj' at it to some ex- 

 tent. There was no robbing at the 

 apiary, and the bees quieted down in 

 a day or two. 



Will I ever repeat the operation ? 

 Well, I don't know. So far as myself, 

 the colouies and the comb^ are con- 



cerned, I have little fault to find — the 

 most I care about it is the alarm and 

 annoyance among the neighbors. If 

 the apiary were isolated, as is tiie case 

 with some of those up north, I would 

 see no great objection to the plan. ( )f 

 course, no hi.'Cb could be opened at 

 such a time, and probably not for sev- 

 eral days afterwards, but I don't ex- 

 pect to open another hide here again 

 this year. Where there is a honey 

 house near the bees, as there ought to 

 be, I think it would be preferable to 

 set the combs on the hives, and let the 

 bees clean them up quietly, decently 

 and in order. 



EXTRACTED DEPARTMENT. 



DANGER IN QUEEN-CAGE CANDY. 



Foul Brood is Sometimes Spread by the 



Honey In the Candy in Queen 



Cages. 



The Review has several times ca'led 

 attention to the possibilit3' of fou! brood 

 being spread through the candy used 

 in queen cages. I suppose there are 

 ver3' few men who would knowingly 

 send out queens in cages provisioned 

 with candy made with honey contain- 

 ing the germs of foul brood — I should 

 hate to think any man would do it, 

 but it has been done, although it may 

 have been done unknowingly. When I 

 last met Mr. France he recounted an 

 experience where he found foul brood 

 in each alternate hive in a row of a 

 a dozen colonies, and the owner was 

 most positive in his assertions that 

 there was no possible way in which 

 foul brood could have been brought 

 into this yard — that is, to his knowl- 

 edge. Foul brood inspectors inherit, 

 or soon acquire, the hiibit of poking 

 around and finding a great many 

 things that escape the ordinary ob- 



servtr, and it was not long before Mr. 

 France ran across half a dozen queen 

 cages. "Hello!" he says. "What have 

 you got here ?" "Wh}' t'.iey are queen 

 cages in which I bought some queens." 

 "In which colonies did 3'ou introduce 

 them ?" Then there was somescratch- 

 i ig of the head, but it was finally 

 admitted that it was in those very 

 hives where foul brood was found. 

 ' 'Did you let the bees eat out the candj' 

 to release the que.n?" "Yes," was 

 the reply. That settled it as to wher.^ 

 the foul brood came from. 



The only safet3' is in removing the 

 queen in the house, and de^troj'i ng the 

 cage and bees, putting the ciueen into 

 a new, clean cage. 



On this point Gleanings has some 

 excellent advice. It says: — 



In selecting an extracteil huney to 

 use for rr.aking a queen-cage candy, it 

 is very important that the source of 

 that honey be kno\^n. If unknown it 

 should be thoroughly ooiled to disin- 

 fect it foni any possible ^.^erms of black 

 or foul brood. One boiling will lot be 

 sufficient Boil it one hour ano let it 

 stand two or three days hiuI tlien boil 

 again another hour. This is better 

 than boiling ».iree hours all at one 

 time. 



