558 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15. 



doubt them all. Surely you have never care- 

 fully read Cheshire, Vol. II., pages 547-549, 

 where it is proved to a demonstration, by dis- 

 section and microscopic examination of queens, 

 that the bacilli have been found both in the 

 ovary and in the egg. In one case, when a 

 half-developed egg was crushed flat, nine ba- 

 cilli were quickly counted. I pray and beseech 

 you not to take anymore queens out of foul- 

 broody colonies for the purpose of introducing 

 them to healthy ones. If we are to get rid of 

 this terrible scourge we must run no risks, but, 

 in all cases, "make assurance doubly sure." 

 Guelph, Ont., July 3. 



[If Mr. McEvoy recommends treating colonies 

 during the height of the honey-flow, of course 

 this would make an expense depending upon 

 whether the season was good or not. But my 

 experience has shown that foul brood is much 

 more apt to break out before or after the honey- 

 , flow. It is when bees eat their stores clear 

 down that they get to where the diseased germs 

 are. So I think we may say that in most cases, 

 at least, treatment will be administered when 

 there is no honey-flow. But suppose we do 

 treat at this time. As seasons have been uncer- 

 tain of late. $5.00 would he a very large esti- 

 mate of the actual loss. I think, therefore, we 

 should, in the great majority of cases, throw 

 out the ^5.00. 1 only suggested furnishing a 

 new hive; but the one diseased can be boiled 

 just as well as not. If this is accomplished dur- 

 ing odd hours, the estimate you give could not 

 run much above .§1.50 or $3.00. So the founda- 

 tion plan is not so very expensive, after all. 

 And we must assume that the treatment by 

 medication must cost something in the way of 

 the drug in the first place ; medicating the syr- 

 up ; feeding, and the cost of the syrup itself. 

 Practically, then, there would be no very great 

 difference. 



With regard to the phenol, I personally tried 

 it diluted 500, 10(30, 750, and, in fact, all sorts of 

 dilutions; and in nearly every case it would 

 apparently check the disease, but not in a 

 single case do I remember that it cured it en- 

 tirely. Ml, t?ie lon<j run; and when we were fuss- 

 ing with phenol, foul brood in the mean while 

 got pretty well scattered over our yard. The 

 economy of the foundation plan rests in the 

 fact that it is an absolute cure; and if every 

 colony is treated at once, before the disease 

 gets a start, the ex.ppnse can not be very great. 

 And still again, my own experience with phenol 

 was corroborated by that of a number of cor- 

 respondents from Australia at the time; later 

 on by Prof. Cook and many others. 



I feel quite sure that in your own case you 

 will find the phenol is only a temporary relief, 

 and not a cure. But I thoroughly appreciate 

 the point you make — that, if we can avoid the 

 expense of foundation, waste of brood, and 

 general interruption to the colony, by any 

 method of medication, we should hail it with 

 delight; and notwithstanding all the reports 

 that I remember to have read seem to be 

 against the phenol, I am still open to conviction. 



My advice to owners of large apiaries was 

 meant to be a suggestion, because they can 

 well afford foundation and frames for a couple 

 of hives, free of charge, rather than run the 

 least risk of the disease being transmitted to 

 their own yard. In other words, we can well 

 afford to take a stitch in time, even though 

 that little stitch costs a little something, in 

 order to save nine stitches later on. 



With regard to the disease in the ovary of the 

 queen: I would not deny that Cheshire found 



spores in the ovaries of queens; * but certainly 

 we never had a case that was transmitted that 

 way when we were experimenting along that 

 line; but of course I would not carry the im- 

 pression that it is wise to make a practice of 

 taking queens out of diseased colonies and put- 

 ling them into healthy ones. I would always 

 take the safer course. It is not wise to drive too 

 near the brink, even though we feel perfectly 

 sure that we can drive within an inch or two of 

 that brink and not run off.— Ed.] 



CALIFORNIA ECHOES. 



By Rambler. 



One person has found honey a dear article in 

 Riverside, Cal. He stole sixty sections from an 

 apiary, was caught in the act, and the justice 

 put the price of honey right up to $1.00 per sec- 

 tion, $60.00, or sixty days in jail. The thief is 

 in jail. 



When uncapping honey for extracting, fasten 

 a whetstone to the place where you wipe your 

 knife. In wiping over the stone, the knife is 

 kept to a keen edge. I am indebted to Mr. 

 Schaeffle, of Calaveras Co., for a part of this 

 idea. [Good. Paste this in your hat (head). — 

 Ed.] 



If I have ever said any thing reflecting at all 

 upon the nectar-giving qualities of white sage, 

 I will now take it all back. This year my ob- 

 servation has been where mountains are cov- 

 ered with it, and the bees have gathered tons of 

 the most beautiful honey ever deposited upon 

 the tongues of mortals. White sage is fully 

 equal, if not superior, to either black or purple 

 sage. 



I suppose our Eastern friends desire to be kept 

 posted on the length, breadth, and thickness of 

 our honey-yield. It continues discouraging to 

 us. Wild buckwheat, upon which so many de- 

 pend for the last yield of the season, seems to be 

 withering. It has the appearance of insect- 

 work in the stalk, sapping the life from it. 

 Again I reiterate the remark that our yield will 

 not appoach that of 1893. 



M. H. Mendleson, of Ventura, does nothing in 

 the management of bees In a small way. He 

 moves his bees to the bean-fields, and his wag- 

 on for moving them will carry 100 colonies. 

 With this rig it takes but a short time to sur- 

 prise the blossoms of a new field with a great 

 force of busy workers. Bro. M. puts the yield 

 of Southern California at half a crop, and ad- 

 vises bee-keepers to hold their honey for 5X to 

 6 cts. per pound. 



*I am one of those wlio, thoug-h recognizing' 

 Cheshire's great work, do not believe that he was 

 infallible in all things. You remember how severe- 

 ly he criticised his cotemporaries for the mistakes 

 they had made. Later developments have shown 

 that he was quite as capable of such sins as they. 

 The man who pulls motes out of his brother's eye is 

 pretty apt to have some tolerably big ones in his 

 own. Hence, while I do not deny his statement 

 here, I can't quite swallow it when real practice 

 seems to be at variance with what he saw or 

 thought he saw in the microscope.— Ed. 



