American Hee Journal 



December, 1910. 



him a very great injury. By so report- 

 ing. I at once sent a sample to Dr. E. 

 F. Phillips, at Washington, D. C, who 

 very promptly notified me that I had a 

 typical case of American foul brood, 

 Vk-hich report put to rest the character 

 of the malady. 



It being understood that nothing 

 short of a removal of both the combs 

 and honey from the hive, and putting 

 the bees upon new comb foundation in 

 clean frames would effectually stamp 

 out the disease, this method was 

 adopted, and in a short time we got 

 rid of the pest. It is proper that I 

 should state further that in most cases 

 the bees were put on narrow strips of 

 comb foundation for two days, and 

 then on to full sheets of foundation. 



In the treatment of European or 

 black foul brood the destruction of 

 neither comb nor honey, it seems from 

 reports, is necessary. Simply remove 

 the queen and leave the colony queen- 

 less 23 or 24 days, then give them a 

 virgin queen; and some say at the 

 same time make the colony strong in 

 numbers. The cure is regarded as com- 

 plete. Thus it will be seen that there 

 is no-removal or destruction of either 

 combs or honey. 



But an amateur, or any bee-keeper 

 not familiar with either form of foul 

 brood, is quite likely to mistake the 



American for the European, or the 

 European for the American form, and 

 in case of success in stamping out the 

 disease, call it American foul brood 

 when it is the European form, and thus 

 unintentionally mislead many bee- 

 keepers. When a sample of the dis- 

 eased brood is sent to Dr. Phillips for 

 microscopic inspection, it would put 

 the bee-keeper on the right road to 

 success and avoid the publication of 

 misleading reports. To do this is no 

 hard task. Dr. Phillips will gladly send 

 boxes and mailing cards upon appli- 

 cation, and, moreover, it will cost no 

 postage to send samples. 



In conclusion I will say that in one 

 instance I put an infected colony on 

 comb foundation, and after some 21 

 days found the bees in excellent con- 

 dition, and feeling anxious to help 

 them, I gave them a comb from the in- 

 fected hive I had taken away from 

 them, it being, from all external ap- 

 pearances, free from anything of an 

 infectious nature ; it contained a few 

 cells of sealed honey and no unsealed 

 honey that I could discover; but the 

 experiment was a costly one, it being 

 only about two weeks after giving them 

 the comb referred to, until foul brood 

 showed up again, and it came from no 

 other source. So do not give such 

 combs to bees. 



Lyons, Kans. 



Canadian Beedom 



Conducted by J. L. BvER. Mount Joy. Ontario. Canada. 



Again the Long-Tongue Bees 



Dr. Miller, for a " boy" of your age. 

 don't you think that you should know 

 better than to try and stir up mischief 

 the way you have done on page 342 ? 

 Quite likely none of the sellers of the 

 queens that produce bees with tongues 

 long enough to impale a pumpkin, ever 

 saw that reckless statement of mine, 

 and now after all the prodding you 

 have given by way of encouraging 

 them to get after me, who can tell what 

 the end will be ? 



If correct, the Cyprians hold the 

 record as a race for tongue length, but 

 as they are correspondingly long and 

 active at their other extremity, they are 

 little advertised. However, that has 

 nothing to do with the statement you 

 criticize, as I have never had any Cyp- 

 rian blood in my yards, so far as I am 

 aware. 



As you are no doubt aware, the 

 writer is not as keen an admirer of the 

 Italian race, /« (o/n, as are some bee- 

 keepers, and this fact may, to some ex- 

 tent, explain the statement referred to, 

 which was, as usual with me, hurriedly 

 written without thinking just how it 

 sounded. Not so very long ago the 

 bee-papers were full of advertisers 

 who claimed to have the genuine arti- 

 cle, in so far as long tongues are con- 

 cerned, and if it was the real thing they 

 had, why the absence of said advertise- 

 ments now ? 



Now as to personal reasons for mak- 

 ing the assertion under discussion, I 



would say that queens were secured 

 from different breeders making claims 

 as to their stock having extra-long 

 tongues, and so far as I could tell by 

 close observation, not one of the 

 claims was verified. True, sometimes 

 these bees would be seen on red clover, 

 but on those occasions the other colo- 

 nies in the apiary would be represented 

 just as well. 



Please do not understand me as im- 

 plying that the claims of individual 

 measurements of tongues as given in 

 some cases were false, but I do believe 

 most firmly that anything out of the 

 ordinary was in the nature of a sport, 

 and that in few if any colonies was this 

 characteristic perpetuated. 



Perhaps the word "humbug " is not 

 refined enough for modern purposes, 

 and rather should the term " business 

 enterprise " be used, as we find the same 

 kind of advertising quite frequently in 

 other lines, for instance, when we are 

 told that certain syrups are " better 

 than honey for less money," etc. 



Just think for a moment what the 

 claims of the long-tongued bees mean, 

 anyway. One of the most essential 

 parts of the bee's anatomy, no doubt 

 of uniform size nearly all down through 

 the centuries, has in the course of 

 a few months by some marvellous, 

 mysterious methods, been lengthened 

 so that their proud owners could go 

 poking into pastures that have been 

 forbidden to their less fortunate prede- 

 cessors for ages past. Is not the mere 

 assumption of such a possibility ridicu- 



lous, when we consider the matter 

 seriously ? 



Now I have nothing personal in view, 

 in what I have said, but as it appears to 

 me, it does not seem possible that 

 much can be done in quite a few years, 

 let alone months, in changing the size 

 of one of the principal organs of the 

 honey-bee. With you, I think that if 

 the red clover honey is ever to be 

 secured by the bee-keeper to any ex- 

 tent, that the work will have to begin 

 at the clover end of the proposition. 



In looking over what I have written, 

 I note that I have not yet cleared up 

 the " race " question. So far as I can 

 recall, all the advertisers of long- 

 tongued stock had Italians to offer, 

 and as the best workers I have had on 

 red clover have, as a rule, been Carnio- 

 lans, this partial clearing of my skirts 

 will have to suffice. 



Many thanks, Doctor, for the kind 

 expressions made in regard to the 

 writer. My only regret is that I feel 

 entirely vmworthy of the compliments 

 given, yet I trust that the good opinion 

 of one whose friendship is so highly 

 valued may serve as an incentive to- 

 wards helping me to be more temperate 

 in all things, not excluding the slnle- 

 meiits that may be made when writing 

 for the bee-papers. 



Report of the Ontario Convention 



The Ontario Bee-Keepers' .-Associa- 

 tion held its annual meeting Nov. loth, 

 16th and 17th, according to schedule. 

 The meeting was fairly well attended, 

 but from the fact of there being single- 

 fare rates given from all points in On- 

 tario over the different railroads, the 

 wonder is that twice as many are not 

 in attendance at these meetings as is 

 usually the case. From the standpoint 

 of attendance, a regrettable feature was 

 the absence of the large deputation 

 from New York State that we expected 

 to have with us. Indeed, some of the 

 boys expressed themselves while at 

 -Albany as "coming sure," and when 

 they failed to " show up '' at our con- 

 vention, we were at a loss to know 

 what had happened — only Mr. Her- 

 shiser putting in an appearance, when 

 we looked for a dozen or more. (For 

 loss of a better reason, I surmised that 

 perhaps all the absentees were Repub- 

 licans, and being " snowed under," were 

 unable to extricate themselves in time 

 for the meeting! Then, again, the 

 thought came that may be they were 

 all Democrats, and as a result had 

 " celebrated" too much to be in shape 

 for traveling ! Not being at all familiar 

 with United States politics, I feel sure 

 that I will not be accused of carrying 

 political issues into this department; 

 and if wrong in either of my surmises, 

 I stand ready to be corrected.) 



Pres. Couse occupied the chair in 

 his usual genial manner, but as I was 

 not present at the first two sessions, I 

 am unable to say much about his open- 

 ing address. Some of the members 

 told me it was "all right," and knowing 

 Mr. Couse as well as I do, 1 believe 

 that all would concur in that view, even 

 before we have a chance to see the 

 printed report. 



Mr. Sibbald gave an address on the 

 subject, " .\ Year's Experience With 

 Clark's System of Queen-Rearing." 



