1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



347 



I very much doubt whether an acre of 

 mellilot ever produced -500 lbs. of honey. 

 The statement you refer to was first made 

 by one who introduced the seed and had it 

 for sale, and it has been very extensively 

 copied by those having it for sale. We have 

 an acre of mellilot on our farm, and I am 

 going to make some experiments on it, but 

 it will be very hard to get at even approxi- 

 mate results, I am afraid. 



FOIL BROOD. 



^5P SHOULD advise any man who has become satis- 

 Jt([ fled that there is foul brood among his bees to 

 ' — ' destroy every one, get what wax can be got, 

 and start again. From my experience, I would not 

 bother with a swarm 5 minutes. I have tried sali- 

 cylic acid and borax and carbolic acid; have brim- 

 stoned and froze the combs; but all amounted to 

 nothing with mc. I have had all the experience that 

 I ever wish to have with it. If any body wants to 

 experiment, I could furnish them bees, as I know 

 where there were three different lots of bees that 

 were diseased one and two years ago. I cleaned 

 mine out last spring, and commenced with some 

 new bees. 



The diseased one3 mentioned are some 8 and 10 

 miles away owned by old fogies who do not believe 

 in these new notions. One man wanted to sell me 

 his bees. I was suspicious, and told him I thought 

 his bees were diseased, and described the comb to 

 him, if foul brood was present. The bees were in 

 old fashioned Langstroth hive3 or a modification of 

 them. In the first hive I opened, I found what I 

 supposed was there,— foul brood. That was enough; 

 they had been fighting, and had swarmed but little 

 all summer. There ought to be a law to shut such 

 fellows up. M. L. Spencer. 



Little Genesee, N. Y., Feb. 25, 1879. 



That foul brood is a terrible thing in an 

 apiary, I am well aware, friend S., and I 

 think it well to impress it upon the minds of 

 our ABC class, most emphatically ; but, al- 

 though I have never had any experience 

 with the disease myself, I am sure, from 

 what others say. it can be got rid of, and 

 without killing the bees too. See remarks 



in the ABC. 



^ ■>■ » 



EXTRA THICK COITIBS FOR THE EX- 

 TRACTOR, ETC. 



Si MADE some experiments with thick combs, but, 

 about that time I turned my attention exclu- 

 — ' sively to section honey, and, in fact, sold my 

 thick combs without extracting, for a dollar apiece. 

 I used all wood frames, 7 8 in., two being bradded to- 

 gether with a sheet of fdn. between them. When 

 filled, they were about 1& in. thick, and the honey 

 was most beautiful, pronounced, by my customers, 

 superior to sections. I found that brood would be 

 put in the lower edge, although they hung 2 in. 

 apart from center to center. "Hans" has tried 

 gradually spreading common brood combs in upper 

 story, to secure thick combs, and succeeds in get- 

 ting them even 2 inches thick, and finds no fault 

 with them except that they are apt to get broken 

 with only 7 8 in. of wood around them. Bees will, in 

 my opinion, refill and evaporate honey In a deep 

 cell, as easily as in any other. 



I rejoice with you in the success of Gleanings. 

 There is only one drawback; there is such a large 



company of us now that we don't seem to get so well 

 acquainted with each other, and I miss the letters 

 from Doolittle, Dadant, and others I might name, 

 who went off in a huff. Give us a cold blast attach- 

 ment to the old Simplicity smoker, and a telephone 

 with wire from bee yard to house or shop, that shall 

 warn us of swarms issuing. K. L. Joiner. 



Wyoming, Wis., Mar. 15, 1879. 



I am inclined to think you are right, friend 

 J., about the bees evaporating the honey as 

 well from thick combs, as from very thin 

 ones. Some of the most rapid storing I 

 have ever known was in those very thick 

 combs, and it seemed to me, the bees were 

 especially active, just because they were 

 proud of such pounds of honey. 



I know there are a great many of us now- 

 adays, but do you not think, friend J., there 

 is more wisdom in so many heads, even if a 

 great part of the heads are ABC scholars V 

 Perhaps, I have not managed well at all 

 times, but I have certainly tried to do what 

 was wisest and best for us all. 



T has been said, that a pipe and tobacco 

 is the poor man's solace and comfort. It 

 makes him forget his cares and tends to 

 make him satisfied with his lot in life, &c. 

 Our friend, Merrybanks, who has entrust- 

 ed the salewof his honey on commission to 

 one of the above mentioned individuals, 

 concludes, after a survey of the premises, 

 that he prefers a man for an agent, who does 

 not forget his "cares," and who is not satis- 

 fied with his "lot in life ;" especially, when 

 said "lot" comprises the existing "circum- 

 stances" shown in the window above, and 

 while his posessions seem so palpably taking 

 "wings to themselves" and flying away. 



