March, 1913. 



American ^ae Jonrnal 



the frames, some were very porous, 

 open scrim (" burlap," 1 think is the 

 American term), some less porous, two 

 or three layers of stout paper, enam- 

 eled cloth, and several times absolutely 

 hermetically sealed the hive. In all 

 these cases, while the entrance re- 

 mained the same, there was practically 

 no difference in temperature within 

 the hive. Quoting from one of my 

 notes made at the time, and mentioned 

 in Gleanings: "The most notable fea- 

 tures are, (1), that the temperature at 

 the top, just under the mat, was always 

 lower than that, 3 inches below; (2), 

 that the lower thermometer (near the 

 bottom-board on one side) was highest 

 until the sun set ; and (3 ), that when the 

 external temperature fell there was 

 always a fall inside the hive." 



The difference in the temperature be- 

 tween the upper and middle parts of 

 the hive ranged from 3 to li degrees, 

 and on one occasion 8 degrees. The 

 two thermometers, one on each side of 

 the entrance, and projecting inside the 

 hive, always indicated a difference of 

 several degrees. This fact, in conjunc- 

 tion with the results of each phase of 

 our experiments, pointed unmistakably 

 to the conclusion that the bees under 

 all conditions carry out their own ven- 

 tilation, and that the vitiated air is 

 driven out of one side of the entrance, 

 while fresh air is drawn in at the other. 

 Mr. Macdonald speaks of the car- 

 bonic acid gas given off by the bees, 

 and also of moisture within the hive, 

 both of which must be gotten rid of, 

 with which I quite agree. It would, 

 however, be interesting to learn how 

 our friend arrives at the conclusion 

 that ■' it may be taken as correct that 

 the consumption by the bees of 24 

 ounces of honey will produce no less 

 than 18 ounces of water!" 



It seems a most extraordinary state- 

 ment to say that a given quantity of 

 honey will produce 75 percent of water 

 when consumed by bees. When first 

 gathered, nectar rarely contains more 

 than 2-5 percent of moisture, and usually 

 much less ; and as I presume it is the 

 more ripened article the bees consume 

 as a rule, more than .50 percent has to 

 be accounted for, and this amount we 

 could hardly expect to be supplied by 

 the conversion of the other constitu- 

 ents of honey. 



Both water and carbonic acid gas are 

 heavier than the atmosphere, though 

 both up to a certain point are sus- 

 pended in it. Carbonic acid gas is 

 more than half as heavy again as ordi- 

 nary air, and the average amount in 

 the air is three-tenths of one percent, 

 varying a little in different situations. 

 If the proportion of this gas is greater 

 within the hive, its tendency will be to 

 fall to the lower part, and the same 

 with the moisture; hence, I take it. the 

 reason why the bees find it necessary 

 to ventilate downwards, and through 

 the entrances, rather than upward. 



Another experience, mentioned in 

 Gleanings, is very convincing to me. 

 In my early days of bee-keeping, 40 

 years ago, when porous mats and con- 

 tracted entrances in winter were ad- 

 vocated, I, of course, followed the gen- 



eral rule, and as a result had plenty of 

 moldy combs to deal with in spring 

 when first opening up the hives, and 

 also mild cases of dysentery through 

 soured food. Later on, I concluded 

 that the need of some better system of 

 ventilation was the cause of the trouble, 

 but it was not until the experiments 

 mentioned were carried out that I be- 

 came thoroughly convinced that the 

 general idea of upward ventilation 

 was wrong — I have never had a moldy 

 comb since. 



To facilitate perfect \entilation as 

 indicated and carried out by the bees, 

 a liberal entrance must always be pro- 

 vided both in summer and winter, and 

 this I have advocated and adopted my- 

 self ever since with perfect satisfaction. 



Auckland, New Zealand. 



European Foul Brood 



M 



BY ELGEXE B.VKER. 



|Y EXPERIENCE with this dis- 

 ease has not made me a con- 

 vert to the generally accepted 

 theory that Italian bees, and 

 especially golden Italians, were 

 most immune. 



In the spring of 1911, my apiary, 

 located near Duarte (views of which 

 accompany this article), contained ii4 

 colonies. Ten had golden Italian 

 queens, three leather colored, and one 

 an Albino ; all from a prominent east- 

 ern breeder the previous autumn. 

 Those in the remaining colonies were 

 decendantsof Italian queens purchased 

 at different times in the East, few of 

 them being purely mated. 



Until two years ago European foul 

 brood was unknown in southern Cali- 

 fornia. Although a subscriber to all 

 three bee journals for years, I always 

 skipped the articles on foul brood, and 

 consequently very readily diagnosed 

 the disease as chilled brood. It was 

 not until a neighboring bee-keeper. 



Mr. Blair, sent a frame to Washington 

 and received the assurance that it was 

 the genuine European foul brood, that 

 I knew what was the matter. 



It was then late in the season, and in 

 the meantime I had lost nearly half of 

 my colonies. I at once sent for our 

 inspector, Mr. George De Sellem, and 

 he found all the remaining colonies 

 affected. He later found the disease 

 in every apiary he visited in my vicin- 

 ity. Strange to say, the golden Italians 

 had been the first to succumb, then 

 the leather colored, and as far as I 

 could judge there were only two colo- 

 nies left that had pure Italian queens 

 and they were badly diseased. 



While Mr. De Sellem is an expert 

 with American foul brood, at that time 

 he had had practically no experience 

 with European, and was undecided 

 whether to treat them at once or leave 

 them until spring. We finally decided 

 to treat some of them at once by the 

 Alexander plan, and he helped me find 

 and kill the queens in 24 of them, which 

 I later requeened with Carniolans pur- 

 chased from Mr. B. B. Hogaboom. 

 Twenty-one queens were successfully 

 introduced, and all the colonies had 

 plenty of stores for the winter. 



When I examined the bees last 

 spring I found every colony having a 

 Carniolan queen in fine condition and 

 perfectly healthy, and all of them have 

 remained so. Every other colony was 

 badly diseased, and only 32 colonies 

 left, all told. 



In the same yard were about 60 colo- 

 nies, owned by IMr. Bliss, from whom I 

 leased the ground. They were all 

 more or less diseased the previous sea- 

 son, and had not been treated at all. 

 He requested me to care for them, as 

 he was too busy. I found nearly half 

 of them dead, and the combs destroyed 

 by moth worms. By uniting I formed 

 20 pretty fair colonies, which, in con- 

 nection with my own. I treated at the 

 beginning of the flow by placing the 



Part of W. S. Lee's Aimary at Santa Ana. Calif. 



I C\A/IC UIUCC Are Built Like Furniture ,' 

 LLfflO n I f Co Are Perfect in All Respects j 



Send for Anniinl Catnlog T»hich irill tell 

 «»ii \Yho i.s your nearest Distributer. 

 ;. n. Lewis Conipnnj. Watertown. Wis. 



