1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



751 



Notes from Canada 



By R. F. HOLTERMANN 



THE RENEW AIj OF COMBS. 



In the Leipziger Bienen-Zeitung for No- 

 vember, 1910, J. M. Roth, under the head- 

 ing "In the Light of Practice and Experi- 

 ence," condemns a recommendation by Dr. 

 Zander, that combs should be replaced in 

 the brood-chamber every two years. Dr. 

 Zander's object in part is to prevent the 

 spread of foul brood and other diseases of 

 bees. There is no doubt that changing 

 all the combs in the brood -chambers 

 every two years, and rendering the old 

 ones into wax, would be a pretty effectual 

 way of preventing foul brood from getting 

 much of a foothold in a district. However, 

 I am afraid this practice would just as ef- 

 fectually bar profits in bee-keeping, .Just 

 think of melting up 100, 1000, or 5000 combs 

 because of the possibiliiy of foul brood! 

 -^ 



THE ORIGINATOR OF THE FLOUR PLAN FOR 

 INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



On page 548, Sept. 1, 1 alluded to Mr. Jos. 

 Gray as a British bee-keeper who originated 

 the flour plan of introducing queens. Mr. 

 D. M. MacDonald, in the British Bee Jour- 

 nal, takes exception to this statement of 

 mine, and, referring to Mr. Gray, says, "If 

 he did, I never heard of it until now% and I 

 most decidedly place the discovery of the 

 successful application of flour as a bee- 

 quieter to the credit of a Scotchman — not 

 the writer." All I can say is that Mr. Gray 

 noticed my reference to him and made no 

 objection to it. Mr. MacDonald, however, 

 appears to know what he is talking about, 

 and in the future I will make no effort to 

 give any one the credit of being an origina- 

 tor for fear of making mistakes. 



CARNIOLAN BEES. 



Mr. Ralph Benton, in the November issue 

 of the Bee-keepers" Ixevieiv, has the follow- 

 ing to say in regard lo Carniolans: " It was 

 with interest that we learned of a colony of 

 Carniolans, of the best stock obtainable in 

 this country, that withstood the black brood 

 when Italians on every hand were infected 

 and reinfected; and, more than this, the 

 colony in question supplied to weak colonies 

 about it some twenty frames of brood dur- 

 ing the spring months. It must not be 

 construed that we base our estimate on the 

 resistance of Carniolans entirely upon this 

 single colony. . . . Our real estimate of 

 Carniolan bees has been arrived at through 

 experiments with a large number of queens 

 sent to the infected region; and, as we have 

 said, they take their place beside the Ital- 

 ians as resistant stock, and one more good 

 trait is to be identified with this irresistible 

 and excellent variety of bees for the com- 

 mercial bee-keeper." I think it is well that 

 Mr. Benton mentioned "commercial bee- 



keeper," for I doubt if it is wise for one who 

 does not pay very close attention to bees to 

 bother with Carniolans. It is also unwise 

 for any one who has not mastered the pre- 

 vention of swarming to keep Carniolans; 

 but for any one who knows how to control 

 the swarming impulse, which is very strong 

 in these bees, I know of no strain which is 

 their equal. 



ARE CARNIOLANS BLACK? 



Mr. D. M. MacDonald, referring to me, 

 says, "By the way, I looked on this Canuck 

 as a very accurate writer on bees until late- 

 ly, when, in reasoning against my claims 

 for blacks, he grouped Carniolans with this 

 variety." I suppose it is wrong to call a 

 cow black if she has a white foot, or a house 

 a red brick house when in its construction 

 wood, mortar, nails, glass, etc., are used. 

 In the same sense, Italians are not yellow 

 nor Carniolans black, for these latter are 

 black bees with silver or yellow bands. If 

 we get down to fine points, is there such a 

 thing as a black bee at all? 



I believe we are far too careless about the 

 use of language, and, although I am con- 

 sidered too particular when I hold writers 

 to the words they use, I shall not try to dis- 

 courage the few like Mr. MacDonald, who 

 believe that a language should "state what 

 it states." 



MAL-NUTRITION VS. LACK OF ELIMINATION. 



Our friend W. Z. Hutchinson, after spend- 

 ing some time in a hospita', has discovered 

 that his trouble was not what he wrote me 

 months ago, lack of elimination, but mal- 

 nutrition. Editor Root and I could have 

 told him this long ago, for we both knew, aft- 

 er being taught by Dr. .1. M. Lewis, Rose 

 Building, Cleveland, O., that, if the body is 

 properly nourished, the elimination will 

 soon take care of itself, and that a great 

 many troubles, as catarrh, indigestion, nerv- 

 ous troubles, etc, exist because the body 

 is not properly nourished and built up. In 

 the majority of systems of treatment an ef- 

 fort is made to overcome the effect rather 

 than to remove the cause, and fresh attacks 

 of the old troubles are only hanging over 

 the patients' heads, to fall at any moment. 

 Dr. Lewis strikes at the cause, and the ef- 

 fect disappear* like magic. 



I wish that Dr. Lewis might make obser- 

 vations on the effect of bee-stings as a cure 

 for rheumatism. With his method of mak- 

 ing a diagnosis the effect could be very 

 closely followed. Could not Dr. Lewis be 

 induced to make a scientific investigation 

 along this line? Rheumatism may mani- 

 fest itself in some particular part of the 

 body after being in a latent condition in the 

 blood for a long time. Certain local treat- 

 ment may bring into activity the organiza- 

 tion for eliminating the impurities in that 

 part of the body, and vet that remedy may 

 have no effect upon the system generally. 

 Then the disease, unless something else ef- 

 fects a cure, may manifest itself elsewhere 

 when conditions for such are favorable. 



