330 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



July 



HOW THE BEES LIVED IN THE ARK. 



My inquisitiveness leads me to seek for a little 

 more light pertaining- to the honey bee. We read of 

 different races of bees; where and when did they 

 originate? If at or before the six hundredth year of 

 Noah's life, how were they taken care of at the 

 forty-day flood? We find in Genesis, - 



And they went in unto Noah into the ark, tw> and two of all 

 flesh, wherein is the breath of life. 



\111l they thai went in, wenl in male and female of all flesh, 

 as God had commanded mm: and the Lord shut him in.—GEN. 

 vii.15,16. 



According to this, queen and drone were the only 

 ones saved of all different races of bees. I think it 

 would be beneficial to importers to hunt this up. 

 Please answer through Gleanings or by letter. 



Goshen, Ind., May 30, 1880. Amos P. Blosser. 



I should be very glad indeed to give you 

 the desired information, if I could, friend 

 B.; but, if I am correct, this is one of a 

 large number of questions that seem beyond 

 the scope of human research. Some commen- 

 tators take the ground, I believe, that the 

 flood did not cover the whole globe, thus 

 making it easy to account for the survival of 

 not only the animal but the vegetable king- 

 dom ; but, if you care for my individual 

 opinion, I should prefer to take the Bible as 

 it reads, and as God did not deem it necessa- 

 ry to go into details, I am content to accept 

 the statements without seeing just how it 

 was done, until such time as he may see fit 

 to reveal it to the earnest students of his 

 word and works. Perhaps he took a nu- 

 cleus, such as we get from Italy, and if there 

 were different races of be^s at the time, why 

 not a nucleus of each variety? You know, 

 friend B., we can easily prepare bees to 

 stand 40 days. 



another trouble with smokers. 



The goods you sent me last were very satisfactory, 

 but I have some trouble with my smoker. I have 

 very carefully studied your directions for using it, 

 but 1 sometimes forget it and leave it outdoors, 

 and, having no wife to help me remember to bring 

 it in, it annoys me very much; for when I look for 

 it in the place where it should be, I don't find it. I 

 think, friend Root, I would get along splendidly, if I 

 only had a good, kind wife to assist in these matters. 



May 3, 18S0. E. H. M. 



If you mean, friend M., by the word "as- 

 sist," that you are going to assist the future 

 Mrs. M., I entirely agree with you ; but if 

 she (poor woman) is to do all the assisting, I 

 fear I shall have some misgivings as to the 

 result of the partnership. You know "He 

 who loseth his life," etc., and, if I am cor- 

 rect, this rule holds especially good in mar- 

 ried life. 



ALL IS WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 



Mr. Boot:— I received sections and separators 

 a few da3'S ago. I tell you I had a time puttingthem 

 up. First, I doubled them up just as they had a 

 mind to go, and I could not get 8 of them in a frame. 

 Then, when I got them shaped right, 1 fixed up a 

 story of them with sides where top and bottom 

 ought to be. But I finally got them all right, and as 

 we are having a good flow of honey, the bees went 

 to work in them like good fellows. We are not hav- 

 ing many swarms this year. Everybody that has 

 seen my sections says they are the nicest things out 

 for honey. One of my neighbors who has danced to 

 the tune of $10.00 for one patent hive was at my 



shop, and he wants me to fit up 5 Simplicities and 

 transfer his bees into them. Now, Mr. Root, if 1 am 

 the biggest dunce in the class, just let it come out 

 in Gleanings, and I will take the cap, and wear it 

 until I quit making such blunders. J. L. Bugg. 

 Fredonia, Ky„ May 28, 1880. 



BUYING PATENTS, ETC. 



I received my goods all right, and was soon busy 

 at work. You must forgive me for my hurrying 

 and sputtering so much, and I will try to do better 

 next time. I want to build up a good trade for your 

 hives here. A gentleman came4 miles to-day to sec 

 those hives, and then he wanted to buy some of 

 them; so you see I shall have to send another order 

 soon, for there is another man about 7 miles away, 

 who has sent word that he is coming, and must have 

 some of those hives. You see my bees will be house- 

 less, if 1 do not jump around, for the people have 

 been pretty well "Mitchelled" around here, and have 

 lost. One neighbor lost all he had, and Mitchell's 

 agent talks of giving him another swarm to start 

 with. Another Mitchell man near by lost all but one 

 out of nearly 40 swarms; but the agent is not dead; 

 he is hard at work on the people, blowing life into 

 the dead bees, and death into the live oms. Oh, they 

 were terribly put out with me last year, because I 

 would not buy the right to use their hive. They 

 told me my bees would all die in the way I was 

 doing. Z. D. StJohn. 



Gustavus, Ohio, May 31, 1880. 



FOUL BROOD, AN IMPROVED METHOD OF USING SAL- 

 ICYLIC ACID. 



Dear Novice: — As it might be of great importance 

 to some of our fellow bee-keepers to know a very 

 simple way of curing foul brood, we will give Herr 

 E. Hilbert's improved method of curing the disease, 

 but will say a few words about Herr Hilbcrt first, 

 so as to make the readers somewhat acquainted with 

 him, and the circumstances under which he made 

 the discovery. 



Herr Hilbert's residence is to be found in Macic- 

 jewo, Prussia; he is farming on a large scale, and 

 keeps a good sized apiary for the profits as well as 

 for his amusement. His position allows him to de- 

 vote a portion of his farm land to honey producing 

 plants. Especially the Chinese oil radish (Raphanus 

 Chinen&fa oleiferus), he raises to a great extent. In 

 1875, he sowed 60 acres. Six years ago, Herr Hilbert 

 found his apiary of 60 swarms badly afflicted with 

 foul brood, and, as there was no remedy known 

 then, he had to find one or lose his bees. It happen- 

 ed then, that Professor Leukart, in Leipzig, dis- 

 covered the salicylic acid, and Hilbert, seeking for 

 an antiseptic remedy, experimented with it on his 

 bees. He succeeded in curing them, but the manner 

 of treating the afflicted colonies, to effect the cure, 

 was very troublesome and almost impracticable in a 

 large apiary. Wishing to bring more light on the 

 subject, and to help his fellow bee-keepers all he 

 could, he kept on experimenting, and finally found 

 that the fumes of the salicylic acid had the same ef- 

 fect, as the acid dissolved in water; therefore he 

 constructed an aparatus, with which to evaporate 

 the acid by means of an alcohol lamp with a small 

 wick. We have sent for a sketch of the little ma- 

 chine, but have not yet received it. 



The operation is simply this: An upper story of a 

 hive is taken, in which the machine is placed, with 

 the lamp lighted. The acid is now turned on (one 

 sixtieth part of an ounce;, and the hive set over it 



