JSOVEMBER, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



667 



spirea lot of honey? Or is there some other 

 harm done? [After being nearly suffocated, 

 how can a queen be as good as before? Any 

 man placed almost at the point of death is 

 seldom as well afterwards. — Editor.] 

 * * * 



The treatment of European foul brood in 

 British Columbia, we are told on page 614, 

 was formerly to "wipe out the colony and 

 hive by fire," and has now been modified, 

 the treatment being in part: "First day — 

 kill queen; * * * 21st day or later — 

 introduce new Italian queen; * * * all 

 combs badly affected with disease should be 

 removed from the hive and burnt." I won- 

 der if our genial friend, F. Dundas Todd, 

 couldn 't be induced to do a little more modi- 

 fying. Eleven days or more might be cut 

 from that ''21st day," and I don't believe 

 the treatment would be less effective in one 

 case in a hundred. Just how badly should a 

 comb be affected before being burnt? If 

 a comb slightly affected may be saved, 

 would not exactly the same treatment and 

 the same trouble save the worst affected? 



That case reported by J. B. Douglas, page 

 555, in which the bees began drawing out 

 full sheets of foundation in the super at the 

 bottom, is interesting. Mr. Douglas asks 

 whether shallow supers might be better, evi- 

 dently thinking that the height of the super 

 is a factor in the case. It is entirely possi- 

 ble he may be right. The rule is that bees 

 build from the top downward. But I have 

 known exceptions to that rule. By some 

 means I once left a full-depth hive-body 

 over a brood-chamber without filling the 

 hive-body with frames. The bees began 

 building on top of the top bars, working up- 

 ward. Where the comb rested on the top 

 bars it was an inch or so in thickness, com- 

 ing to a thin edge at the top, just the re- 

 verse of their usual proceeding. I think I 

 hear some one say, "But the bees ought to 

 have known that such combs would be un- 

 stable, and that before they reached the 

 top of the super they would tumble over." 

 Well, the bees provided against that, and in 

 a very wise manner. They built the combs 

 in circles, my recollection being that the 

 circles were from 4 to 6 inches in diameter. 

 Such combs might easily be two feet high or 

 more without danger of falling over. Like- 

 ly, if the super had been shallow enough, the 

 bees would have begun at the top. Also, 

 they would have begun at the top, if a very 

 small piece of drawn comb had been at the 

 top in one of the frames. It may be men- 

 tioned in passing that the weaker the colo- 

 ny, the mbre likely to begin at bottom in- 

 stead of at top. 



I wish, Mr. Editor, you hadn 't settled so 

 far away from Marengo. I'd like a chance 

 for a long talk with you about some of the 

 things discussed on pages 602 and 603. May- 

 be we could get together. The point of 

 greatest divergence is perhaps the one about 



the purity of air in cellar. You agree with 

 me "most emphatically on the importance 

 of having plenty of fresh air when the tem- 

 perature goes above 50." Below that you 

 don't seem to think it makes so much dif- 

 ference. It seems to me of the greatest im- 

 portance to have the air pure, even if the 

 mercury should go down to 32 degrees. I 

 confess to a good stock of ignorance on the 

 whole subject; but at least one may ask 

 questions. Is it not true that the more air 

 bees use, the more important it is that that 

 air be pure? If they are entirely dormant, 

 not using any air, can it make any difference 

 whether the air be pure or not? Do they not 

 use air in proportion to their activity? If 

 there is the least activity with 57 degrees 

 in the brood-nest, will they not at that point 

 use the least amount of air, and will that 

 not be the point at which purity of air is of 

 least importance? .You say, "When the 

 mercury goes above 60 then it is that the 

 bees require a great deal of air." Well, 

 now, suppose the mercury goes so much be- 

 low the proper point that the activity of the 

 bees is the same as at 60; will the bees not 

 use just as much air as at 60, and will not 

 the importance of its purity at that point be 

 the same as at 60? Mind you, I'm not dead 

 sure it is so, but just groping around after 

 the truth, and I'll be glad to know what 

 you think about it. 



As to temperature of cellar. You say 

 "Better keep the temperature down to 45 if 

 possible." That was the orthodox tempera- 

 ture 40 or 50 years ago, and remained so 

 until Dr. Phillips upset traditions by his 

 experiments. Do you think Dr. Phillips 

 will stand for 45 degrees? I know it is held 

 that the cellar temperature should be lower 

 than the best temperature for the brood- 

 nest, but what reason is there for such be- 

 lief? Are the bees necessarily obliged to 

 keep up a certain amount of activity, with- 

 out reference to temperature? If not, does 

 it not seem that the nearer 57 is the tem- 

 perature of the cellar the easier it is for 

 the bees to keep the brood-nest at that 

 point? Do you really think it easier to 

 keep the brood-nest at 57 in a 45-degree cel- 

 lar than in a 50-degree cellar? If the bees 

 are utterly inactive, will not the tempera- 

 ture of the brood-nest be automatically that 

 of the surrounding air in the cellar? Or is 

 there a necessary activitv, as before men- 

 tioned? 



You "believe it is rather dangerous to 

 give it out to the general public to shoot 

 up the temperature ' occasionally. ' ' ' That 's 

 a leaf taken from my own experience of 

 many years with a too-cold cellar; and please 

 note that I advised it only with such a cel- 

 lar. When the bees became uneasy (I sus- 

 pect the uneasiness was caused by the bad 

 air as well as by the cold), I warmed the 

 cellar to 60 or so. This only seemed to make 

 the bees much noisier, but that noise soon 

 subsided, and when the cellar fell to its 

 former temperature they were very quiet. 

 The result seemed always good. 



