[American Bac Joarnal 



hasa me/ti\/i!/>/'e<iramt:l did not care to use 

 the words "melts down." I said, "sinks 

 down." But as this shows tliat we all agree, 

 onlv we have not used exactly tlie same 

 words in some parts of our descriptions. 

 I fully accept the descriptions sivcn by 

 France. Pyles. Dr. Miller, and Kildow. to 

 have this disease known by. and thank Mr. 

 Dadant very much for this. 



1 will now turn to the starved-brood de- 

 scriptions given out by these four great ex- 

 perts. I am verv much pleased to see that 

 we all stand exactly agreed on every point 

 but one. which is rarely seen. ^^ 



When brood-rearing is carried on in oft " 

 seasons, and in times of blights, and during 

 sudden checks in honey-tiows. the bees fail 

 to gather honey enough to keep the brood- 

 chamberssuppliedwith UNSEALED honey, 

 and during these periods of a skortaei ot 

 UNSEALED sloies, the bees don't uncap the 

 sealed honey fast enough to keep pace with 

 ,;// the brood that requires feeding, and the 

 result is the brood that is not fed enough has 

 to die. During these unfavorable conditions 

 black bees are the poorest feeders of their 

 brood of any breed, and Italians are the 

 very best. ^ , , 



" Slarvcd brood dies in tin- laler iliiecs of larval 

 life. Liter than European foul brood." In nearly 

 every case this will be found just as stated 

 above. . , , ,. 



" Doesnotlook yellow, hut h,i^ t:rovish streap. 

 In rare cases where much of the brood dies 

 from starvation, a little of it in the coil form 

 will be found with a littleof theyellow tinge 

 at first, which will soon turn to an ash 

 color if the bees dontdrag it out of the cells 

 —a thing they usually do with the smallest 

 dead brood of this kind. 



"Dies stretelied in the eells." Yes. and in 

 every case more or less starved brood will 

 be found like this, and some of it will have 

 the end turned up a little. 



" It may be lifted right out; has a /'ae-lihe 

 apl'earanee. with water at its Unoer end: turns 

 dark." Yes. this is very true in every case." 



" May be lifted right out when dry. ' Yes, 

 and when it dries down to a little crust the 

 bees clean it out of every cell. 



" May have puncturedor sunken cappings. 

 Yes, this is also very true. Brood that is not 

 led unite enough before it is capped to last it 

 until hatched, has to die. Later on the bees 

 puncture the capping on these cells of 

 starved brood, and after the brood dies 

 down the bees trim oft the punctured cap- 

 ping, and clean out the cells, and then they 

 are used again. ... 



By keeping pure Italian bees, and giving 

 them proper management, none of these 

 kinds of dead brood will be found among 

 them. Wm. McEvov. 



Woodburn. Out., Canada. 



Now let us go to the official descrip- 

 tion of black brood (European foul 

 brood) by Dr. Phillips; 



"This disease attacks larva earlier than 

 does American foul brood, and a compara- 

 tively smallpercentageof thediseased brood 

 is ever capped. The diseased larv:e which 

 are capped over have sunken and perforated 

 cappings. The larva.', when hrst attacked, 

 show a small yellow spot on the body near 

 the head, and move uneasily in the cell. 

 When death occurs they turn yellow, then 

 brown, and finally almost black " 



The balance of the description is 

 not necessary here, as it is only to 

 show the differentiation from American 

 foul brood, on the absence of "marked 

 ropiness," glue-pot smell, etc. 



Let me again quote McEvoy, and in 

 case any one thinks that 1 am giving 

 him too much prominence, let me say 

 that his competency has been acknowl- 

 edged by the official investigators who 

 quote him as "the veteran inspector of 

 Ontario." (Meeting of inspectors of 

 apiaries at San Antonio, page 85) : 



"Kriknd Dadant:— Pleascgivc itout that 

 I say that w percent of the so-called li-iiro 

 pean foul brood is only starved brood." 



Again, in reading over the foregoing 

 letters, we find that Dr. Miller takes 

 exception to McEvoy's assertion that 

 the introduction of Italian bees will 

 cure European foul brood, by saying 

 that his own Italian bees had it. Yet 

 we find the same opinion as expressed 



by McEvoy in the "Meeting of Inspec- 

 tors," page 6-4 : 



" It has been shown repeatedly that Italian 

 bees are less liable to disease than most of 

 the black bees." 



The introduction of a young Italian 

 queen in a diseased colony having Eu- 

 ropean foul brood forms the principal 

 part of the Alexander method, in addi- 

 tion to keeping the bees without brood 

 for a few day? until they have time to 

 cleanse the cells. 



I would have taken the pains of quot- 

 ing the Eastern authorities upon these 

 questions were it not that their views 

 are practically embodied in the Report 

 above mentioned. Besides, very few of 

 them make the difference plain between 

 pickled or starved brood, and European 

 foul brood. 



The purpose of this lengthy article is 

 to call the attention of our Western 

 producers to these conditions. I trust 

 every man who finds disease in his 

 apiary will investigate thoroughly and 

 report. There is nothing frightful 

 about the bee-diseases if we are fully 

 posted, know how to treat them, and 

 do it without delay. But we must be 

 able to diagnose them. It is as impor- 

 tant for an apiarist to know each of 

 these diseases apart as it is for a doctor 

 to know small-pox from the measles. 



Hamilton, III. 



Joint Session of New York 

 Bee-Keepers 



The Jefferson and St. Lawrence 

 Counties, New York, Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociations met in joint meeting at Wat- 

 ertown, N. Y., Feb. 1 and 2, 1912. A 

 very interesting program was carried 

 out, with some able speakers from 

 abroad. Our associations are increas- 

 ing in membership very rapidly. The 

 Jefferson County Assocation now num- 

 bers 42 members, and hopes to report 

 50 members for 1912. 



The election of officers took place 

 the second day. The officers of the 

 Jefferson County Association are: 

 President, A. A. French, of Black River ; 

 vice-president, F. H. Loucks, of Low- 

 ville; and secretary-treasurer, Hudson 

 Shaver, of Perch River. 



Officers of the St. Lawrence County 

 Association are: President, F. C. 

 Hutchins, of Massena Springs; vice- 

 president, C. Otto Enders, of Oswe- 

 gatchie; and secretary-treasurer, Ra- 

 cine Thompson, of Depeyster. 



Delegates to the State convention at 

 Rochester are these: Elton D. Shaver, 

 of Depawville, and G. B. Rickett, of 

 Rosiere. Alternate, Hudson Shaver 

 and F. H. Loucks. 



Hudson Shaver, Sec. 



Dr. Miller*s 



Answers^ 



Send Questions either to the office of the .American Bee Journal or direct to 



l)K. C. C. Mii.i.er. Makengo. III. 



He does NtJ'r answer bee-keeping questions by mail. 



Untested and Tested Queen— Swarms 



1. What is the difference between an un- 

 tested queen and a tested one ? 



2. When I am in the woods in the spring I 

 can hear bees roaring. Is there a bee-tree 

 close by ? 



3. How far will a swarm go off to a tree ? 



Texas. 



Answers.— I. It a man sends you a queen 

 as soon as it begins to lay. or any time be- 

 fore young bees from its eggs have emerged 

 from their cells, that's an untested queen. 

 If he sends you one which has been laying 

 long enough so that he can tell by its worker 

 progeny that it is purely mated with a drone 

 of its own kind, that's a tested queen. .\n 

 untested queen may have commenced to lay. 

 or she may have been laying any time up to 

 21 days. A tested queen has been laying 2i 

 days, or longer. 



J. I suppose you mean is there a bee-tree 

 or a hollow tree with a colony of bees in it 

 close by. Not very likely. You will not hear 

 the bees in a tree unless you put your ear 

 close against the tree, and the bees tiying 

 back and forth to their home in a tree do not 

 make as much noise as they do when work- 

 ing on the Howers of a tree, such as bass- 

 wood. But you may hear just as much noise 

 in a tree where there aie no blossoms, if 

 there is honey-dew there. 



1. Nothing detinile about it. They may go 

 a few rods or a few miles. They are likely 

 to go to the nearest place where they can 

 Hnd suitable lodging. 



Storing Hives Full of Empty Combs 



Last winter was a hard winter on bees 

 that wore left outside. We had ii colonies; 

 lost all but 6. We would like lo have you 

 tell which is the best way to put the old 

 hives away, to use them when we get more 

 bees— cut the old combs out or leave them 

 in -j Illinois. 



Answer.— The nicest thine is to let the 



bees take care of combs that are not in use. 

 Put a story filled with the combs under a 

 strong colony, so that the bees shall pass 

 through these combs in going out and in, and 

 you may be sure they will be cleaned up and 

 kept in fine condition. In a tew days a sec- 

 ond storytul may be given on top of the first 

 one. "Then a third one may be set on the 

 stand, the colony on that, and over the col- 

 ony the 2 stories that were first given. After 

 a day or two a fourth may be put between 

 the colony and the lower story. That gives 

 you now a pile 5 stories high, with the colony 

 in the middle. With 6 colonies you can have 

 6 such piles; but even at that it would leave 

 14 stories of combs unprovided for. 



So you must resort to other measures. If 

 your combs have been kept in a cool cellar, 

 the larvre of the bee-moth will be rather 

 slow about developing. But you may as well 

 kill them, and the best thing lo kill both 

 eggs and larvce is bisulfitie of carbon, or car- 

 bon disulfide, which is all the same. You 

 can probably get it at your druggist's in a 

 pint can. In a cellar is a good iilace to treat 

 your combs, piled 4. 5. or (j high. Make a 

 thin dough of Hour and water, just thick 

 enough so it will not run. and with this plas- 

 ter all joints, so as to have everything as 

 nearly air-tight as possible. 0\\ top of the 

 pile set a saucer into which you will pour 2 

 or 3 tablespoonfuls of the liquid. Over this 

 set an empty hive-body with a cover plas- 

 tered to it. Be careful not to breathe it. and 

 be sure not to have a light near, or you may 

 have an explosion. Then if you will keep 

 your combs where they will not get moldy 

 they will be all right until needed again. 



Bee-Paralysis 



1 have a colony of bees which developed 

 bee-paralysis about the first of April. The 

 colony is \ery badly affected. It is a 3-band- 

 ed Italian colony with a queen one year old. 

 It was wintered out-of-doors in a single- 

 walled hive, with winter-case and packing 

 of newspapers. The colony seemeil to be 



