420 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



.It LY 1 



TSB" 







':■:::■ i 



YELLOW SWEET CLOVER, 80 WX IN NOVEMBER, AND 



JUNE. 



IN FILL BLOOM THE FOLLOWING 



lines for about six years; but I sliall take 

 the matter u]) again this year if I find any 

 foul brood of conseiiuence, ha\ ing this 

 s|)riiif]; been a])])ointe(l inspector of apiaries 

 for Stanislaus (_"o. 



K. M. Gibson, page 14(i, throws out a chal- 

 lenge that I wish to call hinx on. He says, 

 '■ I have never been able to hnd honey and 

 scale in the same cell. Mas any one?" 



Yes, I have, and in many hives. I have 

 found on brood-combs that were tilled with 

 honey, and nicely sealed over, many cells 

 that would look a trille darker and more 

 sunken, usually, than those around them; 

 and on examination would find the foul 

 Ijrood in the bottom of the cells unmolested 

 except f(»r tlie honey filled in on it. These 

 cells of infected brood contained the rotten 

 mass in all stages from roi)y to dried-down 

 product. 



1 can name several i)ersons, seven or eight, 

 that have observed this same thing often in 

 this county. 



Ceres, Cal. 



[Some five or six years ago quite a number 

 of our corresi)ondents were enthusiastic over 

 this method of disinfecting combs alTected 

 by American and l<]urojiean foul brood. The 

 earlier rei)orts seemed to indicate this plan 

 of fumigation as here outlined was effective. 

 But later reports showed that the general 

 scheme was loo unreliable, and that combs 

 badly infected could be disinfected by means 

 of formaldehyde or formalin, only in a clos- 



ed chamber under the most favorable con- 

 ditions — conditions that the average bee- 

 keejjer, either from lack of knowledge or 

 lack of i)roper facilities would be vmable to 

 ai)ply. In the second place, if this kind of 

 treatment for disinfection of comb were 

 sanctioned by the bee-journals, many inex- 

 ])erienced persons would make the attempt 

 to disinfect them, and the result would be 

 that their bees would l)e reinfected, because 

 nine peojile out of ten would only nuike a 

 failure of the plan. Kxj)erience has shown 

 that, where such combs contained a little 

 honey, no amount of fumigation in a closed 

 l)ox would kill the microbes covered by the 

 honey. It was also shown that sealed brood, 

 brooci that had died from disease, could not 

 always be reached through the caiii)ings. 

 Failure to kill the microbes in a single cell 

 of a comb woidd mean, of course, reinfec- 

 tion, probably, to any colony to which such 

 combs might be given. 



( ieneral rei)orts show t hat drug treat ments 

 in nearly all cases are an absolute failure. 

 The sooner bee-keepers let them alone the 

 sooner they will get brood tliseases under 

 control. — ElD.] 



^—^ • ♦ 



CHITTAM AN IMPORTANT HONEY-PLANT. 



BY P. W. NICOLLE. 



During the past year I have noticed some 

 discussion regarding chittam (Cascara na- 

 grada). As chittam is our chief source of 



