January, 1913. 



American l^ee Journal 



28 



time the mass is gently pressed with a 

 flat stick or paddle. When most of the 

 wax seems to be out (and really is if 

 the water treatment is thorough), the 

 cloth is picked up by the four corners 

 and its contents dumped out, the cloth 

 replaced, and the process continued 

 with more from the kettle. The small 

 amount of wax left in the refuse from 

 the strainer is not worth the labor of 

 recovering. 



The larger the tub the more water 

 can be used, and therefore the better 

 the results. The kettle for melting the 

 wax should be- only so large as may be 

 conveniently handled and poured from. 

 And if the work is to be done in the 

 kitchen, cover the floor with several 

 thicknesses of newspaper and save 

 trouble from any stray drops of wax. 

 And itezYi- go out and leave the kettle 

 of wax on the stove. 



Refining the wax is merely a matter 

 of remelting it and pouring it through 

 finer and thicker cloth one or more 

 times. 



Providence, R. I. 



Can 



We Permanently Elimi- 

 nate Foul Brood? 



BY FRANK C. PELLETT, 

 /inva State Insfiector of Apiaries. 

 While the writer has not had a long 

 experience as an inspector, it has be- 

 come apparent that the elimination of 

 bee-diseases is no easy matter. If all 

 the people who keep bees were scien- 

 tific in their methods as are most of 

 the extensive bee keepers, it would not 

 be impossible. The practical bee- 

 keeper, however, needs no inspector 

 as far as he is personally concerned. 

 Usually he has one or more neighbors 

 who have a few colonies that must be 

 transferred before it is possible to look 

 into them. These same neighbors 

 would not know foul brood if they 

 saw it, and if they knew it was present 

 would make no effort to rid themselves 

 of the disease. 



When the disease once presents itself 

 in a localitj the only way to get rid of 

 it is to carefully examine every colony 

 of bees far and near. In Iowa every 

 eighth farmer keeps bees. This means 

 that nearly 30,000 farmers must be 

 looked after beside the thousands of 

 town's people who are also bee-keepers. 

 Foul brood is now known to be pres- 

 ent in 32 counties, or about one-third 

 of the State. In order to ensure a 

 clean up it would be necessary to in- 

 spect all the bees within a radius of 

 several miles of each diseased apiary. 

 Very probably the disease is present in 

 many localities where it is as yet un- 

 known, for I think it is safe to say that 

 not one bee-keeper in ten would recog- 

 nize it. 



Until we get different laws, we will 

 continue to clean up one locality after 

 another, only to have it break out 

 again from some new source of conta- 

 gion. Personally, I would advocate 

 the passage of a law by the federal con- 

 gress that would prohibit the shipment 

 of bees from one State to another 



Mr. Pellett"s Son Investigating. 



without a certificate of health signed 

 by some duly recognized State or gov- 

 ernment inspector. Then we s-hould 

 have State laws similar in intent re- 

 garding the transportation of bees 

 from one county to another. I have 

 read the statement from N. E. France, 

 that they have apparently accomplished 

 the result of getting the disease all but 

 stamped out of portions of Wisconsin 

 only to have it reappear from this 

 cause. 



In Iowa the bee inspection is in the 

 hands of a State Inspector whose office 

 is separate from that of the State Ento- 

 mologist. It seems to me that the 

 better way is to place the work under 

 the direction of the entomologist. In 

 most States deputies from his office 

 visit every county every year in con- 

 nection with nursery inspection. It 

 should be possible to secure men com- 

 petent to do the work of both nursery 

 and bee inspection. However, this 

 plan could hardly be expected to work 

 unless the State Entomologist had an 

 assistant in apiculture who should de- 

 vote his whole time to the develop- 

 ment of bee-culture and teaching this 

 subject during the school year. He 

 would be directly responsible for the 

 success of the inspection work, and 

 would do a considerable part of it him- 

 self. In localities where the disease is 

 present every colony of bees should be 

 looked after until the disease is eradi- 

 cated. This will require a lot of work, 

 and it will be easier, in my opinion, to 

 getasufficientincreaseof the appropria- 

 tion for the State Entomologist's office 

 to support this additional work than to 

 get a separate appropriation. 



The Iowa law, at present, provides 

 that not to exceed $1000, in any one 

 year, shall be expended in beeinspec- 

 tion. The amount is hopelessly in- 



sufficient to do the work needed where 

 there are 30,000 bee-keepers scattered 

 over .56,000 square miles of territory. 



The bee-keeping industry in Iowa is 

 of sufficient importance to justify an 

 assistant in apiculture at the State Ag- 

 ricultural College, and the develop- 

 ment of a school of bee-keeping to- 

 gether with regular short-course fea- 

 tures in this same line. It seems to me 

 that the bee-keepers of Iowa will find 

 this the line of least resistance. 



I would like to see the matter of 

 laws relating to interstate shipment of 

 bees, together with uniform inspection 

 laws taken up and thoroughly thrashed 

 out by the National Association at its 

 coming session. It should also be de- 

 termined whether it is not time to re- 

 quire bee-keepers shipping honey to 

 produce a certificate of inspection. Dr. 

 Phillips called attention some time ago 

 to the fact that disease is being widely 

 spread through interstate shipment of 

 honey from diseased apiaries. 



Atlantic, Iowa. 



Uniting Bees 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



In September American Bee Journal, 

 page 273, appears an article on uniting 

 bees in which I disclaimed the ability 

 to write all that could be said upon the 

 subject. That the article was not ex- 

 haustive is shown by the fact that a 

 Tennessee correspondent asks for 

 further light, mentioning specifically 

 five different points. . . 



First, the various methods of uniting, 

 and the general principles underlying 

 the same, I hardly know what I can 

 add to what I have already given, page 

 273. . , 



Second— What are the best times of 



130 °HT"sTg FOR LEWIS BEEWARE 



I for .InniKil CataloB which "ill tell 



who in your nearest DiNtrihuter. 



I. I.enls ronipany, «atertoMii. Wis. 



