May, 19ia 



Am(»rican Hee Journal 



with the ease you can yours, I would 

 enjoy bee-keeping better than I do 

 now." So much for the different 

 frames. 



Handling and Smoking Bees. 



Mr. Doolittle's article on this subject, 

 beginning on page 81, cavers the 

 ground so completely that I hardly see 

 a chance, as tlie old saying goes, to get 

 in a word edgewise. To the beginner 

 I wish to emphasize this point : 



It is not so much the quantity of 

 smoke we use or need, as the right 

 time and the right place, when and 

 where smoke should be supplied. I 

 dislike to see my bees, or anybody 

 else's bees, tortured with a deluge of 

 smoke unless it is strictly necessary. 

 A little puff across the hive (not into 

 the hive), when they begin to travel 

 towards the top of the frames is gen- 

 erally sufficient to keep the upper hand 

 of them; it is the bee that takes wing 

 from the top of the opened hive that 

 causes trouble. 



Killing the annoying tormentors is 

 all right, but I seldom pay any atten- 

 tion to their uncalled-for pleasantries ; 

 they generally leave after they find 

 that they can't scare anybody. But to 

 be on the safe side, I always keep a few 

 paddles (separators) scattered through 

 the vard, to use in case of emergency, 

 as I\ir. Doolittle sets forth in his arti- 

 cle. I even go one step farther : Some- 

 times, when they get too numerous and 

 persistent trying to do mischief, I coax 

 them into the honey-house for safe 

 keeping, or dispatch them. This is 

 easily done, by backing slowly towards 

 the building and teasing them on the 

 way to still greater fury ; they follow 

 me through the carefully-opened 

 screen-door, unaware of the trap that 

 is set for them. Once inside, and the 

 door closed, they are my game, and if 

 the catch has been reasonably success- 

 ful, it may end the trouble for the rest 

 of the dav. 



La Salle, N. Y. 



Diseased Cells in Foul Brood 



A'/'i/./ bfjorc Ihc mecluii: I'l .l/'i.iry /i/sfifttfrs ,// 

 Amherst, Mass. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



Suppose a half-dozen or more foul- 

 brood inspectors assembled together. 

 Now, without any previous discussion 

 of the matter, let a slip of paper be 

 handed to each, and on the slip let 

 tliere be written : 



1. Largest percent of cells diseased 

 with foul brood that would allow the 

 case to be called very mild. 



2. Smallest percent that would allow 

 the case to be called very bad. 



I would like to have, then, the privi- 

 lege of examining those slips. I ven- 

 ture the guess that they would not be 

 monotonously alike. 



Then let an actual case of foul brood 

 be inspected, and let each write on a 

 slip his estimate as to the percent of 

 diseased cells present. I venture again 

 the guess that they would not be mo- 

 notonously alike. 



It is just possible that I am all wrong 

 in my guessing, and that nearly all our 

 inspectors have made an actual count 

 in a number of cases. If they have, it 

 would be a good thing to publish the 



figures, for definite knowledge is a 

 thing to be desired. If they have not, 

 the counting is easily done. 



Take a diseased comb, and on it 

 mark off with the point of a knife a 

 rectangle of any size, say about 4 inches 

 square. It is not hard to follow a row 

 of cells and count the diseased ones, 

 but there is some danger of losing 

 one's place in going from one row to 

 another. To avoid that, stick a pin 

 into the first cell of the first row you 

 begin counting. Then as you go on 

 move the pin each time to the first cell 

 of the next row. Now suppose you 

 have 23 rows of 20 cells each, or 400 

 cells in all, and that you find 121 cells 

 diseased. Divide 121 by 400, and you 



ber of individuals, it will make inter 

 esting reading for the bee-papers. 

 Marengo, 111. 



The Entrances of Bee-Hives 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



■' I have been makinti some hives for my 

 increase in bees this summer, making them 

 and the supers with no provision for an en- 

 trance save tlie main entrance, which is 

 given by way of the bottom-board. In this 

 way the hives and supers can be inter- 

 changeable, or piled and tiered at will with- 

 out danger of bees getting in to carry tlie 

 honey off when stored right in the apiary, 

 save as they are set on a bottom-board. 

 When thus set there is an entrance the 

 whole width of the hive unless contracted 



Catnip (A'V/., A;,, ;/<7/-A;i. Leaves and Flowers.— See page 137.) 



have 203 thousandths, or a little more 

 than 20 percent as the desired answer. 



I may remark that however it may be 

 ill American foul brood, in European 

 it is rather necessary to pick open with 

 a pin each sealed cell as you go, other- 

 wise some sealed cells will t)e passed 

 as healthy when they are really dis- 

 eased. 



In connection with this matter it 

 would be interesting to know in each 

 case the exact proportion of diseased 

 cells that are sealed and unsealed. 

 That would be easily obtained by count- 

 ing first the unsealed cells and after- 

 ward the sealed cells, the latter to be 

 torn open as they are counted. 



If we can have actual figures given in 

 a number of diflferent cases by a num- 



by eiuranceblocks. I had supposed this 

 was the better way to make hives until an 

 old bee-keeper came along a few days ago. 

 telling me that it was necessary to have an 

 entrance into the supers, so that during the 

 surplus season the bees with their loads 

 of honey would not have to travel so far, 

 crowding up through the combs and bees 

 below, and in this way lose much of valuable 

 time. This thing has worried me. and I pre- 

 siune it does others. Therefore, will you be 

 kind enough to tell us something on these 

 matters through the columns of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. "—Correspondent. 



This reminds me of something I 

 heard an apiarist say many years ago 

 at a bee-convention. He said, "The 

 hive that might be best for the bees, 

 and the one that might be the best for 

 their keeper, may not be one and the 

 same thing." We apiarists build hives 

 for our convenience, and not the co 



