14 



January, 1913. 



American Itae Journal 



the most destructive to bees; colonies 

 being wiped out in a very few days. 

 The spray falling on blooming clover 

 seems to act more slowly, some colo- 

 nies not dying until early fall. 



Surplus Combs of Pollen 



The average bee-keeper will put 

 away a generous number of well-filled 

 combs of honey for supplying colonies 

 that may become short of stores dur- 

 ing the spring months. But does the 

 average bee-keeper realize that pollen 

 is as necessary (if not more so in cer- 

 tain localities) as honey ? And why do 

 not bee-keepers store surplus combs 

 filled with pollen ? Partly because 

 they do not understand the conditions 

 which cause the bees to fill their combs 

 with pollen. 



At the present time I can think of 

 but two distinct conditions under 

 which the bees store combs of pollen. 

 A large colony rendered queenless will 

 do it for lack of brood to use it. 



Did you pver notice that a colony 

 operated for extracted honey, with 

 more chambers added above than the 

 bees can fill, will store great quantities 

 of pollen in the lower hive ? What we 

 need in this year of 191.3, is more thor- 

 ough experimental work along this 

 line. The bee-keeper who derives his 

 livelihood from the honey sold cannot 

 do experimental work as satisfactorily 

 as specially trained men. We must get 

 the spirit of progress, so evident 

 among farming operations, injected 

 into the ranks of the bee-keeping fra- 

 ternity. 



-«-•-• 



Disinfectant for Foul Brood— Inspection 



As the laws relative to inspection of bees, 

 etc.. say that the inspector or party handling 

 diseased material must disinfect clothing, 

 tools, etc.. what do you use ? What is the 

 method of using? 



What is your method of treating foul 

 brood ? 



What time of year is best for first inspec- 

 tion, second inspection, and is a third one 

 necessary in one season ? T. D. Saffel. 



Farmington. New Mexico. 



A weak solution of carbolic acid has 

 been used by many inspectors as a dis- 

 infectant. Its efficiency lies only in 

 the washing away of any honey that 

 may adhere to the hands, clothing, or 

 hive tools. The odor of carbolic acid 

 is disagreeable to bees and to people 

 alike, and that might keep the bees 

 from working on hive tools, etc., that 

 have been washed in this solution. The 

 best disinfectant is plenty of soap and 

 water for the hands and hive tools, not 

 forgetting to see that no spots of honey 

 on the clothing are missed by the soap 

 ?nd water. 



My treatment of foul brood is gov- 

 erned by conditions. I have used the 

 single shake upon starters, and the 

 double shake upon drawn comb with 

 success. I have not practiced saving 

 the brood as much as some do, because 

 of the danger of starting robbing. The 

 average small bee-keeper cannot be 

 trusted with the brood-saving process 

 at all. And many of the so-called 

 practical bee-men spread foul brood 

 among their own and their neighbors' 

 bees by the same process. 



Most colonies that were ordered 

 to be treated this past season have 

 been either shaken once or twice, the 



old combs burned, and the hives burned 

 out with coal oil. 



The first inspection can best be done 

 in April or May. This depends largely 

 upon local conditions and season. 

 There should be considerable brood in 

 the hive, say five or six combs, so that 

 if the disease is present it will have 

 shown up. After ten days to two 

 weeks a second inspection should 

 be made to see if directions for treat- 

 ment have been carried out. A third 

 inspection may be needed late in the 

 summer in a few cases, if there is a 

 large percentage of diseased colonies 

 in the locality. This will depend 

 greatly upon local conditions. 



You, as an inspector, will find that 

 the spread of the disease can be largely 

 prevented by visiting the apiaries in 

 the fall, winter, and spring for a super- 

 ficial inspection to determine whether 

 colonies weak or dead from the dis- 

 ease are exposed to robbers. The 

 combs need not be lifted or the clus- 

 ters of bees disturbed, but much good 

 may be done by caring for the disease 

 at this critical time, and before robbing 

 occurs. 



*-•-♦ 



Ttie Apiary, Par-Excellence 



The writer has visited a thousand 

 apiaries, and four come to his mind as 

 being worthy of admittance to the 

 model class. Without hesitation or 

 mental reservation, I will say that the 

 "Apiary Babberger " is the prize taker 

 of the four in the model class. 



Mr. Wm. Babberger, the creator of 

 this little /loney garden, is a German 

 artist-photographer. He has the artis- 

 tic temperament to the extent that he 

 is uncompromising in his denunciation 

 of low bee-culture ideals. He would 



say, as did Whistler, when a pot-boile 

 artist excused his cheap work by com 

 plaining, " Well, a man must live.' 

 Whistler replied, " Not necessarily." 



Mr. Babberger would say, "If you 

 cannot feed the artistic side of your 

 nature as well as your body by bee- 

 culture, better quit the bees." Pleasure 

 must flow from all he does, or he will 

 not do it long. Old world folks live a 

 richer, fuller life than do we hurried, 

 practical Americans. 



If you could have taken supper with 

 Mr.and Mrs. Babberger and "bilbschen," 

 as it was my pleasure not long ago, 

 you would have realized as I did the 

 beauty of just common things. The 

 delight in plants, and shrubs, and flow- 

 ers is one of Mr. Babberger's charac- 

 teristics. It is a little Dutch garden 

 that encloses his honey garden, and is 

 all that one could wish along this line. 



From 2.5 to 4.5 colonies make up the 

 apiary. One season he harvested 2300 

 4x5 sections from 25 colonies. Glass 

 panes are used for inner covers, and 

 Mr. Babberger likes them very much. 

 He says very few are broken, and they 

 require cleaning but once in two years. 



A goodly number of Canon City resi- 

 dents have become interested in bees 

 through admiring this little garden of 

 delight. All indoor workers can im- 

 agine the pleasure Mr. Babberger takes 

 in this opportunity for outdoor exer- 

 cise among his bees and in his garden. 



When Dr. Phillips was in Canon City 

 about a year ago, the Fremont county 

 bee-men met him in Mr. Babberger's 

 studio. Mr. Babberger had a pile of 

 his honey in the center of the studio, 

 and any one could see that he took as 

 much pride in the e.xcellency of his 

 honey as in the artistry of his photo- 

 graphs. 



Conducted by Louis H. Scholl. New Braunfels, Tex. 



Bur and Brace Combs 



There is a diversity of opinion re- 

 garding bur combs, some bee-keepers 

 claiming that they are of considerable 

 value in causing the bees to enter the 

 supers more readily. It is also argued 

 that they are valuable as ladders for the 

 bees while storing in the surplus boxes 

 above the brood-chamber. 



On the other hand, they are " a nui- 

 sance "in the minds of probably the 

 majority of progressive bee-keepers. 

 When frames are handled a great deal, 

 these brace-combs not only hold them 

 together and make them difficult to 

 handle, but result in smashing many a 

 valuable bee. On this account alone 

 bur or brace combs should not be tol- 

 erated. Another objection is that they 

 help to cut off the communication 

 from one story of the hive to another, 

 materially interfering with the storage 

 of honey in the supers, and crowding 

 the brood-nest with honey at the ex- 

 pense of the supers above. This is a 

 serious question since it not only con- 



cerns the loss of surplus in the supers, 

 but also that loss due to the weak con- 

 dition of the colonies as a consequence 

 of the queen being crowded out of egg- 

 laying room. This is of the utmost 

 importance where late flows may be 

 obtained, or with colonies going into 

 winter quarters underthese conditions. 

 Such colonies, although they have 

 packed their brood-nest full of honey, 

 are weak in bees, as a rule, and these 

 bees are old ones. 



This is contrary to our idea of the 

 conditions necessary for wintering 

 safely, and especially for building them 

 up promptly for early honey-flows. To 

 obtain the best results in this direction 

 there are none better than colonies 

 that have been able to rear a large 

 quantity of healthy brood late in the 

 fall. This insures a lot of young bees 

 that will live well into the following 

 season, when, really, bee-life is the 

 most valuable. Each bee in early 

 spring is worth several later on, as 

 they are most needed in early brood- 



