1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



77 



Fig. 1.— Scholl's wholesale method of disinfecting by scorching hives, supers, bottoms, covers, etc. 



constant call or need for wax by the bees for 

 capping the brood and mixing with propolis 

 to cnink up cracks with, etc. At such times 

 bees will not draw on their stores sufficient- 

 ly to secrete wax; so to supply this want or 

 need for wax they will begin gnawing the 

 combs near the bottom next to the entrance 

 of their hives, and will continue this gnaw- 

 ing until brood-rearing ceases or until a hon- 

 ey-flow comes on; and the more prolific races 

 of bees, as above mentioned, will rear 

 more brood during a honey-dearth than ei- 

 ther Italian or black bees, and so, of course, 

 need more wax, and gnaw their combs 

 worse. It makes no difference at such a 

 time whether it is drone or worker comb — 

 it will be gnawed just the same. 



Then these combs will not be rebuilt again 

 until a honey-flow comes on and tne bees be- 

 gin to get crowded for room, and, of course, 

 at such times it is only natural for them to 

 build drone or store comb. I doubt whether 

 bees ever gnaw down either comb or comb 

 foundation with the full purpose in view of 

 rebuilding it with drone comb. 



We all Know that there are other causes 

 for bees gnawing their combs, such as moldy 

 moth-eaten combs, and combs where pollen 

 has caked and hardened in the cells, etc. 



Bees here in the South will swarm if well 

 supplied with honey at the swarming season, 

 whether new honey is coming in or not. I 

 have known them to swarm when no honey 

 whatever was being gathered. If hived on 

 foundation at such times they will draw out 

 a small patch in the center of a few sheets, 

 and the queen will start laying in the cells 

 drawn out. By this time the bees will have 

 used up all the wax scales they secreted be- 

 fore they left the parent hive, and they at 

 once start to gnaw the foundation to sup- 



[)ly the wax to cap the brood with, etc., and, 

 ater, a honey-flow comes on, they become 

 prosperous, and soon more room is needed, 

 and they will build store or drone comb in 

 the places where they had a short time be- 

 fore gnawed away the foundation. The api- 

 arist concludes, when he examines his bees 

 and sees this drone comb where he had put 



in full sheets of foundation a short time be- 

 fore, that the bees had gnawed down the 

 foundation for the purpose of building this 

 drone comb, when the truth was they had 

 no thought of building comb of any kind 

 when the gnawing was done. 

 Rescue, Tex. 



WHOLESALE DISINFECTION OF FOUL- 

 BROODY HIVES. 



When this Can be Done Quickly and 



Cheaply there is No Excuse for Not 



Doing it. 



BY LOUIS H. SCROLL. 



The controversy, both pro and con, on the 

 question of disinfecting foul-broody hives, 

 has been quite interesting to me; also the 

 stand taken by different ones, the editor in- 

 cluded. I want to try to put "the lid" on 

 this matter. My experience in foul-brood 

 work has given me a splendid opportunity 

 to observe some of the things alluded to in 

 many of the arguments. As some argue, it 

 may not be absolutely necessary to disinfect 

 hives, bottoms, covers, etc., from foul-broody 

 bees; but as long as we can not put is in the 

 place of may with absolute certainty, there 

 is left the question whether it would not be 

 best to disinfect our hives, etc.; and we 

 would rather err on the safe side. If there 

 is one chance in a hundred of the trouble re- 

 appearing when we do not disinfect, we run 

 the risk of subjecting all our bees to the 

 danger of destruction by this dreadful dis- 

 ease, and we can not afford it. 



I have always been a firm believer in dis- 

 infecting not only the hive-bodies, but bot- 

 toms, covers, supers, frames, yes, and every 

 thing that has come in contact with foul- 

 broody colonies or used in an apiary of such. 

 The result has been a thorough job, and the 

 cleaning-up of the trouble entirely; whereas 

 we know of cases where the disease has re- 

 appeared again and again in some apiaries 

 where treatment was given by others who 

 were not able to solve the problem as to why 



