November, 1915. 



369 



American Hee Journal 



FIG. 3.— ANOTHER VIEW OF THE FLOOD DAMAGE 



found in this issue. This paper was 

 supplemented by an interesting dem- 

 onstration of honey plants. The Misses 

 Mitchell, of Keokuk, had brought to 

 the meeting an armful of flowers, 

 among which the following were named 

 and exhibited : 



flidens artstosa (tickseed, Spanish 

 needles), Polygonton pennsylvaniciim 

 (smartweed), P. hydropiper, P. fersi- 

 catia (lady's thumb, knotweed, hearts- 

 ease), P. orientalc, Solidago (golden- 

 rod), iron weed (J'eronia), boneset 

 (Ei/patorium), mint, asters, catnip, 

 Simpson honey plant {Scrotliularia), 

 all good honey yielders, and a number 

 of other flowers of indifferent utility 

 or good only for pollen. The entire 

 collection had been gathered from the 

 hills and valleys in the neighborhood 

 of Keokuk. 



On the questions of diseases it was 

 the unanimous verdict of the inspec- 

 tors present that the 30 States, more or 

 less, which now have inspection laws, 

 should unite under the direction of 

 the Department of Agriculture, in or- 

 der to have uniform and concerted 

 action for the protection of apiaries. 



The influence of queens upon Euro- 

 pean foulbrood was discussed and Mr. 

 France suggested that queen-breeders 

 should make entirely sure of the ab- 

 sence of that disease from their api- 

 aries, and that a clean bill of health 

 should be withheld for a year from 

 queen-rearing apiaries where any dis- 

 ease was found. 



More About Euroi>eau Foulbrood 



The theory that nurse bees feed to 

 larvae the juices of other larv;e that are 

 diseased is only a theory. I think it is 

 true, but I don't kiiozv. I do know, 

 however, that in cases of starvation, or 

 at any time when a larva is mashed, 

 the bees suck the larval juices, and it 



doesn't seem so very hard to believe 

 they may do the same thing with a dis- 

 eased larva before the disease has made 

 said juices at all putrid. 



I don't know that European foul- 

 brood is not communicated by the 

 queen. I do know that I have caged 

 the queen in a diseased colony some- 

 thing like 10 days, and in the great 

 majority of cases the disease was 

 cured. Surely in such cases the queen 

 did not convey the disease. 



Objection is made that cutting out 

 queen-cells will have evil results in the 

 character of the bees. I have followed 

 the practice nigh half a century, and 

 my bees are more vigorous than ever. 

 That doesn't appear as if cutting cells 

 was so very bad. 



Twenty-four days queenlessness with 

 certain feeding is given as effecting a 

 cure. But why that if 10 days queen- 

 lessness without any feeding will an- 

 swer ? 



I believe this : that a mild case of 

 European foulbrood — and I do not be- 

 lieve that a watchful beekeeper need 

 ever let a case go beyond the mild 

 stage — allowing the case to be in a 

 strong colony, will be cured nine times 

 out of ten by the mere caging of the 

 queen for 10 days. c. c. m. 



The reader will find three articles on 

 this subject in the present number. 

 Until our scientists can give us some 

 positive explanation of how the disease 

 is carried it is well to let our practic- 

 ing beekeepers tell how they succeed 

 in overcoming it. The apiary men- 

 tioned by M. G. Dadant in the April 

 number as having had 51 colonies suf- 

 fering from European foulbrood in 

 1914, had the disease again in 1915, but 

 nevertheless furnished a crop of honey 

 amounting to 11,000 pounds besides an 

 increase by division of 12 colonies on 

 a spring count of 79. c. p. d. 



The Scarifyiiifir ol' Sweet Clover 

 Seed 



IS Since it has been discovered that the 

 difficulty of germinating of sweet clover 

 seed, owing to its hard coat, may be 

 overcome by scarification, we have 

 found that a similar trouble exists with 

 the suUa (./Adysatttm coronai-iutn), so 

 useful as a honey plant in Italy- 

 private letter, Mr. Bertrand, the former 

 editor of "Revue Internationale," tells 

 us that the coating of the seed of sulla 

 is so hard that much of it does not 

 germinate before a year. In view of 

 this, a planter of Algeria tried immers- 

 ing the seed for five minutes in boiling 

 water and obtained great success. Mr. 

 Bertrand tried the method himself and 

 "practically all the seed germinated 

 within five or six days." 



In lieu of the method of scarifica- 

 tion, some of our best instructors in 

 the growing of sweet clover advise 

 soaking the seed in sulphuric acid for 

 20 minutes. As not every farmer has 

 sulphuric acid readily at hand, and as 

 this drug is quite dangerous to handle, 

 those who are unable to secure scarified 

 seed might try the boiling process. 



If we were living in superstitious 

 times, it would perhaps be asserted that 

 these plants were originated in Inferno, 

 since their seed withstands boiling. 



The process of scarification we are 

 told is in vogue in southern Italy for 

 the seed of sulla. But they call it 

 "decortication." 



Price ot Honey in Germany 



According to the July number of 

 " Die Bienenpflege," a pound glass of 

 honey is readily sold anywhere in Ger- 

 many for 35 cents. 



Cooking Kecii>e.s 



We must commend Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture for Oct. 1, a special magazine 

 number on the use of honey in cook- 

 ing. It is unusally interesting and is 

 offered in single copies at 5 cents each, 

 or 30 cents for 10. Our compliments 

 to Editor Root and his brother Huber. 



Phillips and Demuth on Winter- 

 ing 



Bulletin No 93 of the Bureau of 

 Entomology, which gave the experi- 

 ments on the "Temperature of the 

 Cluster in Winter," made by the two 

 officials above named, was published in 

 1914, and commented upon in our Jour- 

 nal, on page 188 of June of that year. 

 They now follow it up with another 

 bulletin, "Outdoor Wintering of Bees," 

 No. G95 of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, to be had from the Department in 

 the usual way. 



