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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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[The foregoing is a fair sample of the many 

 Indorsements we have received for those arti- 

 cles of travel from the Rambler. He will con- 

 tinue to write as fortm^rly. The Echoes will 

 appear as usual, and then there will be another 

 department conducted by bim soon.— Ed. J 



BEE -PARALYSIS IS TRANSMITTED HY QUEEN; 

 BLACKS NOT PROOF AGAINST IT. 



Among my 47 colonies I have about 4 that 

 show symptoms of paralysis. One of the four 

 is a colony built up from a nucleus purchased 

 from Mrs. Atchley last spring T placed the 

 hive 30 yards from the apiary, in the hope that 

 it would not contract the disease; but, sure 

 enough, they got it— probably through robbing. 

 This is another proof of the contagious charac- 

 ter of the malady. 



I note the conclusion at Atlanta as to the 

 disease not being transmitted through the 

 •queen. This is a mistake. It got into my 

 brother's apiary through a queen which I gave 

 him. There is another popular error. The 

 blacks have it just like the Italians. 



I know that there are queen- breeders who 

 have bee-paralysis in their apiaries. It would 

 be to the interest of such to disseminate the 

 idea that queens do not communicate the in- 

 fection. It is to be hoped that no such notion 

 would influence any one. It is an indisputable 

 fact that an infected queen will infect a colony, 

 from which the disease may spread to a whole 

 apiary. I have seen the whole process. 



Columbia, Miss., Dec. 26. T. S. Ford. 



[Mr. Ford has probably had more experience 

 with bee-paralysis than any other man in the 

 country. I insert this at this time because it 

 refutes some late popular notions.— Ed.] 



little or no knowledge as to cleansing wax, its 

 purity, or its proper manipulation; and it 

 would not have been surprising if some had 

 been made that the bees would not accept. I 

 tested a few pounds at different times, made by 

 such, and it did not at all compare with that 

 sent out by those who understood the business 

 almost perfectly. I never attempted to make 

 foundation, as I thought it much better to buy 

 of reliable parties who knew how to make a 

 No. 1 article, and I think I have been well 

 repaid for doing so, rather than attempt it my- 

 self. Foundation should at all times be kept in 

 the dark, as light injures its value. I have 

 kept it three or four years as good as new. 

 Milledgevirie, 111., Dec. 14. F. A. Snell. 



MORE PROOF SHOWING THAT OLD FOUNDATION 

 IS AS GOOD AS NEW. 



Mr. Editor:—Since you wish further infor- 

 mation from bee-keepers who have used old 

 and new comb foundation, I will add my ex- 

 perience. I procured my first foundation from 

 John Long, who first placed it on the market. 

 I purchased one pound of him at a cost of one 

 dollar. This was bleached white, and was 

 hard and brittle, but looked nice; but on trial 

 it proved useless, or worse than that, as the 

 bees tore it down and removed it from the hive, 

 building new comb in its place. After this, 

 foundation was next made from wax unbleach- 

 ed, and it proved a grand success. During all 

 these years I have used it as made, with good 

 results, and have had at the close of each sea- 

 son more or less to carry over in the honey- 

 boxes and brood-frames undrawn, or as I placed 

 it in the boxes or brood frames. 1 have stored 

 the cases so that the light could not strike on 

 the foundation, and it has at all times been 

 readily accepted by the bees — as much so as 

 that recently from the mill or press. As the 

 older bee-keepers well know, many bought 

 mills and made their own foundation, with 



THE SITUATION IN CUBA SO FAR AS HONEY IS 

 CONCERNED. 



The war, which broke out in this island, last 

 February, has made bee culture or honey-rais- 

 ing next to impossible in our country places; 

 so, after getting ready to work I was compelled 

 to give up my intention, and must wait to see 

 what all this will coine to. The honey crop on 

 the island will be small indeed, not only be- 

 cause the bees are not duly cared for, but be- 

 cause honey is used freely by the contending 

 parties to sweeten their existence. 



Al'^ides Betancourt. 



Puerto Principe, Cuba. 



BURNING OR WATER-SOAKING WAX. 



I have been trying to refine wax in a barrel 

 with steam from a high-pressure boiler, one- 

 fourth full of water. I never dreamed that you 

 could burn wax that way with the cover light- 

 ly on the baiTel. I have wasted the most of 

 my wax, beautiful uncaopings among it, too. 

 When I found out my mistake I hunted my 

 ABC for something warning us against burn- 

 ing with steam, but could not find any thing 

 about burning except putting wax itself on a 

 bare fire. It may be mentioned; but if not, a 

 word of warning to those who don't know any 

 better than I did might save worry and ex- 

 pense. It jnay not be from burning; but the 

 wax is spoiled at any rate. John Allen. 



Newboro, Oamaru, N. Z. 



[While it is true you can burn wax with direct 

 steam, or live steam, you can hardly do so by 

 sending that steam into water and transmit- 

 ting the heat indirectly from the water to the 

 wax. Wax will never burn when over water, 

 because it can never get hotter than the boil- 

 ing-point. The trouble with your wax is prob- 

 ably not burning, as you suppose, but water- 

 soaking the wax. Wiiile in this condition it is 

 quite spongy, and appears as if it had been 

 ground up into meal. When a handful of it is 

 grabbed up it can be pressed together, and the 

 water can be squeezed out as from a sponge. 

 The only way of restoring such wax is to sub- 

 ject it to a dry heat, where the water can pass 

 off. The solar wax-extractors are the best 

 means of rendering such wax back to its cake 

 form. Trays of such wax nlaced in the stove 

 oven will also dry it out. — Ed. J 



