412 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



.ll 1,Y 1 



FOUL-BROOD SPORES MIXED WITH HON- 

 EY IN THE SAME CELLS. 



Why are Blacks Immune to Paralysis When It- 

 alians are Not? 



BY W. A. H. GILSTRAP. 



On p. 146, March 1,E. M. Gibson asks if any 

 one has seen honey and American foul 

 brood scale in the same cell. Perhaps not; 

 but it is there, however; or, to be more 

 exact, let us say the spores and honey are 

 mixed in the same cells. Six years ago I 

 had a hard fight with the disease under un- 

 favorable conditions. In my best yard, 

 while uncappmg h^»iey, the knife would 

 frequently cut through the roi)y stuff right 

 in the sealed honey. Had it been left it 

 \\ouid have changed to spoies and still have 

 been in the cells with the honey, although 

 not noticeable. The honey was put into 

 cans, and the next winter I ate some of it, 

 and, although it had been so rank in the 

 summer, no epicure could see, taste, or 

 smell any thing wrong with it. Some of 

 the honey was boiled five minutes under 

 steam pressure after being diluted one-half, 

 and fed to bees with the best of results; but 

 it requires so much care that I can not rec- 

 ommend the average bee-keeper either to 

 eat it or feed it back to bees. The combs 

 spoken of above were melted and the wax 

 sold. Some men would be almost sure to 

 scatter foul brood when melting the combs. 



Friend Gibson's experience is so different 

 from mine that I am much surprised. 

 While we both live in California, our condi- 

 tions may be no more alike than Ohio and 

 (icrmany. My bees did not hesitate to put 

 honey into infected cells in strictly whole- 

 sale order. 



Before I got entirely rid of the disease I 

 made some experiments which would have 

 been entirely out of the question at the first 

 general attack. I do not know how many 

 queens I caged from diseased colonies, and 

 introduced in the usual manner to healthy 

 stocks in the same yard, using ordinary 

 shipi)ing-cages; but in no case did I con- 

 taminate the healthy stocks by so doing. 

 How could it do so? The utmost care was 

 ■observed to have the feed healthy in the 

 <;age. 



A very convenient way to cure foul brood 

 is to transfer the diseased bees to healths- 

 combs of honey in early winter, when no 

 brood is being raised and the cure is com- 

 plete. If honey is daubed on the hive while 

 transferring, it is certainly not expensive to 

 ;scorch the hive a little; but I doubt if it is 

 often necessary. The honey, or nectar, 

 which is usually thrown out, is fresh and 

 healthy. Where bees are shaken into hives 

 of starters I have never found disinfection 

 necessary, even where considerable new \nm- 

 cy was shaken into the hive; but we can not 

 risk honey on the outside of the hive, as it 

 tnight make trouble with other bees. 



European foul brood is within 100 miles 

 of me now, or nearly so. It may never get 

 here, or it may reach me at any time; so to 



be on the safe side I must Italianize every 

 thing, so if it does reach us no great loss 

 need be feared. Even if the Italians should 

 be no more immune they are not a bad 

 l)roposition any way. I liave often won- 

 dered why Italians are more subject to i)a- 

 ralysis than any other bees I ever saw, and 

 yet so immune to European foul brood. 

 Some deny this; but I never noticed paral- 

 ysis where there was no Italian blood. The 

 paralysis means no disastrous loss as com- 

 pared with foul brood; but often a colony 

 is weakened in an aggravating manner. 

 Having tried so many strains of three-band- 

 ers I doubt if any of them are immune to 

 paralysis as are blacks, Cyprians^ and Car- 

 niolans. I have never tried tlie goldens. 

 Syrians (Holy Lands) are too cross to be 

 considered, while pure Carniolans" swarm 

 too much to be considered for out yards. 

 Carno-Italians are a splendid bee; but I feai 

 black brood, if it appears, would mean 

 speedy disaster with them. In other locali- 

 ties these conditions would probably be dif- 

 ferent. 

 Ceres, Cal., May 5. 



Queens Laying in Old Cell Cups ; do Bees Movr 

 Eggs in a Colony where there is a Queen? 



Dear Ernest: — I have run across something in the 

 bee line that is new to me, at least, although it may 

 be as old as bee-keeping itself. On the 10th. while 

 looking throvigh one of my hives I saw several old 

 cells, mock queen-cells, with thick walls, and built 

 on the edge of combs full of sealed brood. The cells 

 seemed to have been recently worked upon; and on 

 looking into them, what was my surprise to find an 

 egg, upright and in the proper place, in the center 

 of the bottom of the cell! At first I thought it was 

 evidence of a fertile worker: but. search as I would, 

 there was no other evidence. I think I found three 

 of those old cells, each far away from eggs or young 

 brood, yet with a properly placed egg in each. All 

 were destro.ved. To-day I again looked through the 

 same hive, and found four or five more old cells 

 that seemed to have been recently worked upon 

 yet very plainly showing the unmistakable thick 

 cui)like base of an old cell, and in each was the 

 proijerly placed egg as befoi'e. These were not near 

 young brood. On further investigation I found 

 several young queen-cells started on young brood 

 in the orthodox way. The queen was found some- 

 what shrunken, and the colony was evidently pre- 

 paring to swa. ;n. 



What I want to know is this: Will bees under the 

 swarming impulse take eggs from regular cells and 

 place them in ola queen-cells? That was what it 

 looked like to me. 1 do not think the queen laid 

 the eggs where I saw them. The queen is getting 

 old: and could it be that the bees were trying to 

 make sure of another (in case the old queen died 

 suddenly) by transferring eggs to those old cells 

 that their apian brains told them were for queen- 

 rearing ijurposes? I believe you proved that a 

 broodless and queenless colony would sometimes 

 steal eggs from which t raise a queen. 



Fori Ca.sey. Wash.. J \:..v 2. E. H. Sargent. 



[Kroni all the facts pri.scnted, it is evident that 

 the colony was preparing lo supersede its old or 

 failing queen, \\'hether ihe old queen was a i)arty 

 to this propaganda we can not say, but apparently 

 so. It is not uncommon to find eggs in these old 

 cell cu)>s when a colony is under the swarming or 

 supersedure imi)Ulse. In that case the queen will 

 lav in these little cups wherever slie happens to 

 lind them, even if they are remote from any up. 

 sealed larvte. While queenless be?s might take 

 eggs laid elsewhere in a hive and transler them to 

 t;ie cells in question, yet in this case, where a queen 

 was present, it is doubtful. One can usually tell 

 w lu-ther an egg has been dei)osited in a certain po- 

 f-ilion by a ciueen or whether placed there by woik- 

 er bees. Tliere is no doubt that bees do move eggs 

 under certain stress of circumstances. — Ei).] 



