\pril, I'Jia. 



American l^ee Journal 



•.:. for bees are not in llic lialiit of going 

 ulicre there is nothing for them to get 

 I In the other hand, where there are no 

 'lees there is pretty certain to be more 

 r less a failure of the crop. In the 

 .ist number of Gleanings one of the Ca- 

 nadian officials is reported as saying that 

 he believes the benefit obtained from bees 

 U in the way of fertilizing blossoms amounts 

 to live times as much as the honey they 

 gather. 



Glad you have struck upon a spray 

 that does not injure bees. Perhaps it is 

 the new dilute lime and sulphur solution, 

 which, it is claimed, does no harm to 

 bees, because the smell of the sulphur is 

 so disagreeable that the bees will not 

 touch it. 



Bahlia Flowers and Bees 



In his Hharrnaceutishc Praxis. Dr. Hager 

 states that " dahlia flowers are poisonous to 

 bees." .Vol. i. page 718). Kindly tell me if 

 his statement is true. Soith America. 



Answer.— I don't know. It's the first time 

 I've ever seen such a statement. Can any 

 of our readers tell anything about it? The 

 fact is that I have never noticed bees work- 

 ing on the flowers of the dahlia. But nearly 

 all that I have seen are double flowers, and 

 botanically such flowers are a sort of mons- 

 trosity, on which bees do not work as they 

 do on the single varieties. 



Curing European Foul Brood 



Last tall I found European foul brood in 

 my ar iary. I destroyed 4 colonies, but I am 

 afraid I will find plenty of it in the spring, so 

 I ask you to put me on the right track to get 

 rid of it. I have about 45 colonies. 



Kentucky. 



Answer.— 'You have made the mistake 

 made by so many, of skipping in your read 

 ing the things written about foul brood until 

 the enemy is upon you. It's ever so much 

 better to be prepared in advance for the at- 

 tack. The first question is whether the dis- 

 ease is. as you say. European foul brood, or 

 whether it is something else. Fortunately 

 vou have a good friend at 'Washington. 

 Write to Dr. E. F. Phillips. Agricultural De- 

 partment, Washington. D. C. and he will 

 send you fuller information than I can give 

 you in this department, and he will also send 

 you a box in which you can mail to him a 

 sample of the diseased brood, which he will 

 have analyzed, and then he will tell you 

 what is the disease, and what to do. Not 

 only will all this cost you nothing, but he 

 will also send you a frank, so that the pos- 

 tage on your sample will cost you nothing. 



Baldridge Treatment for European Foul Brood 



I see by a report in the .American Bee 

 Journal that your bees swarmed out when 

 treated by the McEvoy treatment for Euro- 

 pean foul brood. So did mine— 15 out of 20 

 when using that treatment for American 

 foul brood. The Baldridge treatment is a 

 success every time when used correctly. 

 Have you the Baldridge treatment for Eu- 

 ropean foul brood ? We have not the Euro- 

 pean variety yet. I hope to be ready when 

 it does come. There is plenty of the Ameri- 

 can variety, however. When you have an 

 opportunity try the Baldridge treatment and 

 report, if not too much trouble. 



California. 



Answer.— No. I have not tried the Bald- 

 ridge treatment, and I hope I may not have 

 American foul brood enter my locality so as 

 to give me a chance to try it. Neither do I 

 expect ever to have the European variety so 

 severe as not to yield readily to the de- 

 queening method without having to remove 

 the combs either by the McEvoy or the 

 Baldridge treatment. 



Sylviac Method of Bee-Keeping 



I have some notion of oncaKing in bee-keep- 

 ing, and would like to know all about the 

 best methods, profitableness, etc. 1 would 

 like best the Sylviac method, as giving least 

 trouble. It is to be tioped that more than 12 

 to 21 cents a pound can be obtained for 

 honey. Maryland. 



Answer.— To tell all about the best meth- 



ods of bee-keeping would be going outside 

 tlie scope of this department, but it is never- 

 theless within its scope to advise you as to 

 your course. Your first move is to get one 

 of the excellent books of instruction upon 

 bee-keeping. As you are a German, perhaps 

 you might like best the German edition of 

 Root's "ABCandXYZ of Bee Culture." 

 (Send order to the American Bee Journal 

 oftice. The price is S2 00.) 



The Sylviac method is not, to my knowl- 

 edge, used by any one in this country. 



In Germany you are accustomed to high 

 prices, and 12 to 24 cents seems a low price 

 for honey. I am afraid you will be disap- 

 pointed in expecting more. But the differ- 

 ence in results in other respects is such that 

 in spite of lower prices here I think you 

 will find bee-keeping more profitable than in 

 Germany. 



Bees Wintered Nicely 



My bees have wintered nicely in spite 

 of the hard w-inter. The prospects are 

 good for a fine honey stason. 



Morgan, Ky.. Mar. 8. J. P. Moore. 



Bees Seem to be Wintering Well 



My bees are wintering well, to all ap- 

 pearances, although they may require 

 careful attention and feeding when re- 

 moved from the cellar. 



If I find that sweet clover makes de- 

 sirable cattle pasturage, I shall sow a 

 good deal of it, and thus ward off such 

 conditions as we had last season, due to 

 a scarcity of bee-pasturage. 



Geo. F. Webster. 



Sioux Falls, S. D., March 11. 



Long Winter for Bees 



I came home the Saturday after the 

 Wisconsin convention (Feb. 24), and the 

 thermometer has been below zero every 

 night since then. I hardly know as yet 

 how my bees w'ill come out. There are 

 more dead bees than I ever had before, 

 and then, again, I have a good many 

 colonies that hang below the bottom- 

 bars. I winter with the bottom-boards 

 off. The temperature in the cellar has 

 not been below 42 degrees, or above 49 

 degrees, this winter. AH the stores the 

 bees have are from fall flowers. There 

 are very little signs of dysentery, as yet. 



Robbins, Wis., Mar. 4. G. C. Chase. 



Valued Rainfall in California 



We have just had one of the most 

 valued rainfalls in the history of the 

 State; that is to say, it saved the coun- 

 try from destruction for lack of rain. 

 Everything was just on the edge, and 

 could not stand much longer, especially 

 grain crops which were yellow in many 

 places. Sage began to grow rapidly dur- 

 ing the dry spell, and no doubt there 

 would not be enough honey for the bees 

 for next winter had no change come so 

 suddenly for the better. A good crop of 

 honey is fairly certain now. 



W. F. H.\CKM.\NN. 



Salinas, Calif,., Mar. 6. 



Paint for Painting Hives 



(May I be permitted to supplement Dr. 

 Miller's recent answer to an inquiry 

 about painting hives by saying, use no 

 turpentine in any paint for bee-hives. 

 Use "raw" Unseed oil only, and as little 

 of liquid drier as will cause the surface 

 to dry in 4 to 6 hours on a warm, dry 

 day. 



The best way is to purchase the ma- 

 terials and mix the paint in quantity as 

 needed. There is no economy in buying 

 small quantities, or cheap quality. I have 

 no respect for ready-mixed paints. White 

 lead can be preserved after the keg is 



opened, by covering with the raw oil and 

 a close-fitting top. .Also hang (not stand) 

 the brush in the raw oil to cover the 

 bristles — that is, if we don't wash it right 

 away. 



I have found it best to leave the alight- 

 ing-board bare of paint. If painted, the 

 rain and the dew collect in drops and 

 puddles, which either keeps the bees in 

 the house when they might otherwise go 

 out safely, or if they attempt to pass they 

 get on their backs in the water and many 

 perish. If the wood is unpainted no pud- 

 dles form, the water runs off, and the 

 bees are not affected. 



New Jersey. Bee-Keeper. 



Slight Rainfall So Far 



The rainfall has been so slight that the 

 bee-keepers are very doubtful of securing 

 any honey at all. This applies to the 

 State in general, but the southern por- 

 tion has had less rain than the central or 

 upper part, but we are promised plenty 

 by the weather-man. so we .ire all hoping 

 and praying for the much-needed and 

 ever-refreshing rains. The snow on some 

 of the mountains so far this season has 

 been only 24 inches, and other years they 

 have had as much as 100 inches. 



J. C. Frohliger. 



Berkeley. Calif., March i. 



Some Bee-Keeping Experience 



We had the heaviest honey-flow I ever 

 experienced, last spring. In the middle 

 of July the long, hot drouth set in, and 

 during Spanish-needle time it rained so 

 much I had to do a little feeding. I se- 

 cured 1000 pounds of section honey, and 

 sold it at laj-a cents a pound: I extracted 

 200 pounds which sells here at 10 cents 

 a pound. The finest white clover honey 

 I ever saw — went like hot cakes to my 

 home trade. 



I winter my 31 colonies on the summer 

 stands in 8-frame dove-tailed hives, with 

 shavings on top. It is hard in this local- 

 ity to keep the Italian bees as all the 

 neighborhood has black bees. Quite a 

 number of bees are still kept in bo.x-hives 

 here. I have handled bees for nearly 

 20 years. I started with nail-kegs and 

 cracker-boxes, and got the bees out of 

 trees. The more I handle them the bet- 

 ter I like them. Experience does the 

 business, and the American Bee Journal I 

 would not do without. I hope to have a 

 big honey crop next summer. 



By the way, a good friend of mine 

 from Sedalia, Mo., Dick Lankenaw, a 

 bee-keeper who has nearly 50 colonies of 

 Italians, and takes the American Bee 

 Journal, visited me the last day of the 

 old year. He has quite an experience 

 with bees, and made himself a 4-frame 

 extractor as he is a good blacksmith. He 

 secured 1000 pounds of honey in all, ex- 

 tracted and section, in 191 1. He told 

 me of an experience he would not soon 

 forget, and is worth reporting. He and 



