712 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Nov. 7, 1901. 



ing thfi same aim in view, that we can hope to produce fixed 

 traits in our bees. And it would be well if we all tried, as 

 those who keep in the rear only retard the others that much. 

 That we can succeed, sooner or later, is evident, if we consider 

 what has been done in other lines. Compare the Norman 

 horse with the broncho or the Shetland pony; compare the 

 .Tersey with the short-horn cow; compare the Berkshire hog 

 with the wild boar; the Hantam chicken with theCochin-China 

 or with the game fowl; compare any of our domestic animals 

 with some different breed raised for a different purpose, or 

 with the original progenitor of the race whose match still 

 roams about the wild woods, and you will soon come to the 

 conclusion that we can, with domestication and artificial 

 selection, succeed in producing bees that will be far ahead of 

 our present stock; but let us remember that before we secure 

 fixed results, we will have many days of trial and many re- 

 turns to the original stock, for we are only at the initial stage 

 of bee-domestication. Hancock Co., 111. 



An Experience with Black Brood in New Yorli. 



BY P. W. ST.illLMAX. 



SOME time ago I promised to report my experiments on black 

 brood, the following being those of the past season. This 



is my third year with the disease. In the fall of 1900 I 

 moved two colonies of black bees (apparently clean and free 

 from any disease) from an infected apiary. Both were very 

 successfully wintered out-of-doors, and the fore part April, 

 1901, the packing was removed and an examination made. 

 Sealed brood in three combs was found in No. 1, and a few 

 cells were rotten; No. '2 was found to contain some sealed 

 brood also, but free from disease. The hives of the two colo- 

 nies were about eight feet apart, and painted in two different 

 colors to avoid any bees entering the wrong hive. Two weeks 

 later another examination was made, and No. 1 contained a 

 good many rotten larvie, while No. 2 was yet clean and breed- 

 ing rapidly at this time. No. 1 was taken from its stand and 

 all the bees shaken out; as an experiment, the bees were kept 

 in the cellar about six days and fed with boiled honey. While 

 this was going on, I cut from the combs of the same hive five 

 pieces of comb about six inches square, on an average, con- 

 taining neither honey nor pollen, and fastened these pieces of 

 comb in a new hive, contracted to about five frames, and then 

 turned the bees onto these combs, only to find about two weeks 

 later, the disease again in its first stage. 



I now took what few bees were left (perhaps two quarts 

 or more) and put them on starters of comb foundation, and 

 contracted to three frames, leaving them in the same hive, 

 just as it was, and using the same frames, and all was well. I 

 thus fed this small colony boiled honey every evening, and the 

 disease never appeared again. This was taking bees from their 

 winter iiuartens to treat them at once. Today (Aug. 19) the 

 swarm is a " dandy," and I have installed a famous Italian 

 queen as a safeguard for next year. 



No. 2 bred up to contain nearly six frames of brood, but 

 when I put the last outside comb, full of honey, in the center 

 of the hive, the whole thing was struck with the disease, and, 

 of course, had to be treated. The bees were shaken off the 

 combs in front of their hive, on a large newspaper, and as 

 soon as they crawled into the empty hive the newspaper was 

 burned. In all cases theshakijig was done at nightfall. The 

 colony was left to work at liberty for four days, and then, 

 without smoke, the hive containing bees (which contained no 

 frames) and what comb they had built, was quietly set on the 

 ground and a clean hive containing starters, a la McEvoy, was 

 placed on the old stand, and then the bees were suddenly 

 jarred out of the box and were left to enter the prepared hive 

 and go ahead. 



All was well for about seven weeks, when, from some 

 cause or other, the disease again began to appear. After a 

 few days the colony, which was strong, was again treated in 

 the same way, and today, after seven or eight weeks, all is 

 clean and good. The combs were cut out and destroyed, 

 brood, honey and all, and two tea-kettles of boiling water was 

 poured over the frames and hive, giving it, a thorough scald- 

 ing, and, on July IH, No. 3 (being also a treated colony that 

 a friend had given me, and which I had treated in the same 

 manner) cast a swarm. This swarm was hived on these 

 scalded frames, with starters, the same cover and bottom- 

 board being used, and today all four colonies are healthy 

 and populous, open for inspection to any one, as the season 

 was especially good for experiments. 



It has been a wet season, and not of the best for honey. 

 My colonies, four in number, are now headed as follows: No. 

 1, a queen from Kentucky; No. 2, one of a California stock; 

 No. 8, a daughter from the Kentucky queen, and No. J:, a 



Carniolan. By this I mean to keep them free from disease 

 next year, and increase my colonies. It takes Italian bees to 

 fight black brood. Black ones are " no good." 



Albany Co., N. Y. 



\ Questions and Answers. 



DR. O. O. MILLER, Marengo, 111, 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Millet 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor. 1 



Wintering Bees on the Summer Stands. 



I wish to ask about wintering bees on the summer stands. 

 I have the " Langstroth on the Honey-Bee," but 1 can't find 

 much about wintering bees on the summer stands in it. I am 

 going to winter two colonies on the summer stands; they are 

 eight feet apart and have plenty of stores; they are in eight- 

 frame dovetailed hives and I have wintered them in the cellar 

 two winters. How must I pack them and when? The winter 

 here is usually cold, sometimes 30-^ below zero. Last year I 

 put the bees into the cellar Nov. 26, and took them out Apr. 2. 



The hives face south. What shall I pack with? 



Minnesota. 



Answer — You must have overlooked what is said in 

 Langstroth. beginning at page 326, and especially pages 336 

 to 344. If you have always been successful in cellar-winter- 

 ing, it is doubtful that you can do better outdoors. The pack- 

 ing should be done early enough so that they will not suffer 

 from any very severe freezing. Langstroth recommends for 

 packing material, chaff, straw, forest leaves, woolen rags, and 

 corkdust. The last is probably the best, but it is not always 

 easy to be obtained. Planer-shavings are quite popular, and 

 are not generally difficult to get. 



Introducing Qiueens. 



A queen 1 ordered some weeks ago arrived in good condi- 

 tion. I introduced her according to directions, the colony be- 

 ing queenless one day. After 24 hours the bees had done 

 nothing to the cage, the weather being rather cold; so I pulled 

 off the card at the end. The following day, it being still 

 colder, the queen was still in the cage, and almost frozen. I 

 then took her out and dropped her among the bees. A few 

 days ago I examined the hive but found no queen, eggs, nor 

 unsealed brood. Was I at fault in my way of introducing, or 

 how do you account for the disappearance of the queen? 



Oregon. 



Answer — Were you entirely certain about the disappear- 

 ance of the queen? Many a time has an experienced bee- 

 keeper looked in vain a long time without finding a queen, 

 especially a queen that is not actively engaged in laying. Of 

 course, you may now be sure, some weeks later, for if present 

 she would be laying. Dropping an almost frozen queen among 

 the bees was hardly the wisest thing. From what you say it 

 would appear that the queen was more or less separate from 

 the bees, otherwise she would not have been chilled. The re- 

 sult probably would have been different if you had put the 

 cage right in the cluster of bees so that there would be no 

 question as to warmth, and then at their leisure the bees 

 would have liberated the queen. 



Baked Sweet Potatoes for Bees— Finding Black Queens. 



1. Are baked sweet potatoes good , bee- food? They are 

 almost entirely sugar and starch, and the bees eat great holes 

 in them. 



2. Is there any way of finding the queen in a colony of 

 black bees besides shaking them all off the combs in front of 

 the hive protected with a queen-excluder? I have hunted 

 mine over a hundred times and never could find one. 



3. Why are queens dearer In the spring than in the fall? 



Louisiana. 

 Answers — 1. I don't know. D I should suppose they might 

 answer a very good purpose if consumed while bees are 

 actively flying, but they might be bad for winter stores. 



