864 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



and his travels through the country generally. 

 An arrjingement was made wlier<by he will 

 write a st rics of articles under the appropriate 

 title of ■■ Ridg< J (lie INIui-ii.gs," for he furnieily 

 occupi d the very ridgipule of the cnntimnt. 

 He will show us later on his " prairie schooner," 

 the hive lie lias been u>ing. and lh< n till some 

 of the drawbacks in the alfalfa Held-. The 

 alfalfa localities have been bocmed too high, he 

 says, and there is another ^ide to the story. 



would not be so significant were it not that all 

 bee k( cpi rs like INlr. Doolittle, who have had 

 any experience with foul brood, corroborate it. 

 If Clieshire had not been so severe in his criti- 

 cisms of the statements of others his own errors 

 would not appear so glaring. 



THE ABSUHDTTY OF SOMK OF MR. CHK=inKE"S 



STATtJJKKTS ON THK SrUJtCT OF FOUL 



UliOOI). 



An excellent article (u the subject of curing 

 foul brood, by Mr. G. M. Uooliltle. appears in 

 the November issue ( f the Anioiani Dec keep- 

 er; and what he says legarding the accnriicy 

 of Ftank Cliesliire's statements on the sulijpct 

 of fciil brood aciord w iih D^y expeiience exact- 

 ly. L ]Mr. Clieshire in hi.>- w( rk, " Bees and Bee- 

 keeping." us( d this language: '"The popular 

 idea that honev is the .means bv which foul 

 trood is carritd from hive to hive, and that 

 mainly through robbing, is as far in error as 

 thationly ca-ually, can honey convey it from 

 colony to colony." Mr. D.. commeniing on 

 this, says it is so directly at variance with what 

 Is; said by Mr. Qiiinby. Jones, and his own ex- 

 perience, that it seems strange to him that any 

 of our apiarists could indorse it. I don't be- 

 lieve any of our a[)iarists do indorse it, friend 

 D.cl remember seeing the statement at the 

 time when Mr. Cheshire's work came out, and 

 our own experii nee convii.ced nie that on this 

 subject, at least, he had very Utile practical ex- 

 perience. It should be remembered that h<^ con- 

 demned most severely certain statements by 

 Prof. Cook and other leading bee keepers as 

 erroneous, and so inaccurate as to be unworthy of 

 further notice. As time goes on, the statement 

 of Mr. Cheshire, as given in the above quota- 

 tion, will be proven to be more and more a glar- 

 ing error, and mischievous, because some, ac- 

 cepting it as fact, will be cai'eless with honey 

 coming from foul-broody hives. Dooliltle goes 

 on to show how, by his own experience, honey 

 is the clikf means of conveying the infection 

 (which it surely i>), and then draws attention 

 to another ridiculous statement where Cheshire 

 says, "There is not one single idea about this 

 disease which is not incorrect, except that it 

 is contagious. Time, I am convinced, will ful- 

 ly prove that the old bees almost invariably are 

 the channels of infection." d. J 

 [ It is not wise to be very positive about any 

 thing in beekeeping; but there is one thing I 

 think I do know; and that is. that old bees are 

 •not "almost invariably the channels of infec- 

 tion." We cured something like .50 colonies"ijy 

 putting all the bees, including the old bees, on 

 foundation in clean hives. In ?iot o?ic cdse so 

 treated did the disease everj-eappear; yet this 



CliEAM COLORED SF.CTIONS AND SHIPPING- 

 CASKS. 



In our previous issue I spoke of. and I believe 

 I showed the desirability of, using cream color- 

 ed sections rather than white, even at the same 

 price. It not unfreqiiently happens that the 

 section* are whiter than the combs. It is not 

 the sections that the bee-keeoers desire to sell, 

 and show up to advantage, but the combs 

 which they contain. For a similar reason, 

 shipping cases should be made of the darker 

 shades of basswood. One little realizes the dif- 

 ference in favor of the darker woods until he 

 compares the same set of combs in a snow- 

 while shipping case and one of cream-colored 

 basswood. This snow-white dress for sections 

 and shipping cases has been a foolish fad, and 

 the sooner it dies out the better it will be for 

 the producer. 



The fruit-growers have their peaches and 

 grapes put up in baskets covered with mosqiiito- 

 netiing of a higher color than the fruit; for in- 

 stance, peaches will be covered with a very 

 bright colored pink mosquito - netting. The 

 effect of this netting is to give the peaches a 

 color and bloom that they do not possess. Now, 

 I am not advocating that bee keepers should 

 try to make their combs look whiter than they 

 j'eally are, but I do advocate that they use 

 tl\o-e sections that will give their combs the 

 ful I value of ihe\r color; in other woids, make 

 them white by comparison. 



By "cream color"! do not mean the dark 

 second quality of sections, but those that are a 

 shade darker than the so-called "show-white" 

 —just dark enough so that the white combs do 

 not suffer by contrast. 



Since the foregoing was written, the follow- 

 ing has come to hand, bearing on the same 

 question, but taking the "other side." 



ANENT "SNOW-WHITE SECTIONS, AND THE EFFECT 

 OF CONTKAST,' A.ND WINThKI>G. 



E n. Roof ;— If your iirgument on page 8'6 is valid, 

 wly is it not bitter to I'liint the sections lilaclt ? 

 The conti-a^t \vouL<l l)e sironaer, and any ciisap 

 material could 1)6 iiiilized fi.r ^ eriions. You wcjuitln't 

 liave I o scour 1 he coimi ij for while poplar, i oi- soit 

 your basbwo 'd- lumber. Uut do you really think 

 any section that \\ as e\er in: de was a' y too hand- 

 some ft)r white clover, basswood. or alfilfa lioney, 



OI even for buekwln at h y ? The comb and cap- 



pinjisof the latier are just, as white iis snow, and 

 iis appearance is enhameil by a beautiful sort.ion 

 just as iriily as aii\ oIiit kini of hoiie\ . ] never 

 saw any tlisL I'lass sei'i ion li >wy, <'Oinmereiall> con- 

 sidered, that wasn't in first class seci ions. Did you? 



But bow about ih;it Danzeiibakor si el ion honey 

 sliown at the Michig-an S'aie Fair, whi-h yon told 

 nie abiiut ? ^Va'^n't I hat put un in white sections ? I 

 belii ve you are joking on paii.e S2ii 



] cellared 5« c .lonies of l)ees November 13. It took 

 self and hiied man about two hours. \oii may talk 

 all you please about chati' hives and outdoor winter- 



