80 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb. 1 



Fig. 8.— Disinfecting covers and bottoms. The whole super with the inside 

 fixtures and all is lowered into the vat of lye and corrosive sublimate, which 

 is thoroughly heated by steam. 



tleness and more pleasing color. They seem- 

 ed to be of a more industrious disposition, 

 and I had no doubt they would excel the 

 blacks as honey-gatherers; but I was sadly de- 

 ceived the first year. For some unaccount- 

 able reason they seemed possessed of the 

 swarming fever, and swarmed from May till 

 July, seeming to pay no attention to any 

 thing but preparing to swarm. At the same 

 time, the blacks were working steadily and 

 laying up a surplus, and neither of the black 

 colonies swarmed during the season. Two 

 of them filled the supers twice, which is 

 somewhat remarkable for this locality, for it 

 does not have many honey-plants, and some 

 seasons there is little or no honey secured. 

 The Italians would hardly enter the supers 

 at all; some colonies absolutely refused to 

 work in the supers, and just swarmed out as 

 soon as the lower story was full of bees, 

 which would be in a very short time, as they 

 seemed to be extraordinarily prolific. I know 

 that the season has very much to do with 

 swarming; but it seems reasonable to believe 

 that both would have been equally affected. 

 Most of what I have read on the subject says 

 that the Italians are not excessive swarmers; 

 but for some reason these certainly were, 

 and they were said to be of excellent stock, 

 being highly recommended by one of the 

 largest honey-producers in the country. I 

 am in hopes that the past was in some man- 

 ner an abnormal season, and that the next 

 will show better results. 



WHITEWOOD AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



This tree is usually called tulip-tree, or 

 whitewood, in the North; but in the South it 



is almost always called 

 "poplar." The wood is 

 very valuable for build- 

 ing and a great many 

 other purposes, and on 

 this account the trees 

 are becoming scarcer 

 every year. Only a few 

 years ago there were 

 enormous quantities of 

 these trees in most of 

 the southern ranges of 

 the Appalachian region 

 and the foothills of the 

 same region. Now there 

 are only a few inacces- 

 sible places in which 

 there are any consider- 

 able number of white- 

 wood-trees, and these 

 are growing scarcer year 

 after year. 



The whitewood blooms 

 usually about the middle 

 of May, and occasional- 

 ly, when there are late 

 frosts, the blossoms are 

 almost all killed. This 

 happened in the spring 

 of 1907. There is almost 

 always so much rain that 

 the bees do not have a 

 good chance to work on 



The blossoms are very 



whitewood blooms. 



large, and are almost exactly like a tulip- 

 blossom, and contain a large amount of hon- 

 ey. The honey is of a dark color, but of very 

 good quality, and brings as high a price here 

 as any kind. I could easily sell thousands of 

 pounds of it at a good price; but there is 

 never enough of it to supply the demand. 

 As the whitewood blooms early it is a great 

 help in brood-rearing, and the bees build up 

 very rapidly where there is even a small 

 number of trees, and are in good shape for 

 gathering basswood honey when the trees 

 bloom. If there had been forest reservations 

 estabhshed a few years ago the whitewood 

 and basswood would have been very valu- 

 able sources of honey. 

 Stonecoal, W. Va. 



THE ALEXANDER CURE 

 BROOD. 



FOR FOUL 



Another Testimonial as to the Soundness 

 of the Plan. 



BY PERCY ORTON. 



Dr. Miller's discovery, page 760, Dec. 15, 

 in treating black brood, is ancient history to 

 me, and should be to others if they had prac- 

 ticed what I wrote to you and was printed in 

 Gleanings, April 15, 1906, page 507. 



I knew how to rid combs of black brood 

 long hpfore Mr. E. W. Alexander reported 

 it; but I was afraid of the State inspector, as 

 two had been to my yard and told me to 

 shake the bfes on to new foundation and 



