June, 1912. 



American ~Bee Journal 



practical. It is of the utmost impor- 

 tance that no tainted honey be used in 

 the mailing of queens. 



By the way, we have a statement 

 from Mr. O. F. Fuller, of Blackstone, 

 Mass., saying that he has been making 

 candy for queen-cages without the use 

 of any honey whatever. If this method 

 is practical it ought to prevail. We 

 have for years made candy for winter 

 food without any honey, and it has 

 served the purpose well. 



Kasy Plau of Introduction 



Wesley Foster gives in the Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Review the following easy and 

 rapid plan for introducing a queen : 



" Going to the hive I wish to requeen I find 

 the old queen and kill her. then take two of 

 the combs with the most yount; bees, and 

 hatching bees on them, puttinti them at one 

 side of the hive, with the division-board be- 

 tween them and the main cluster of bees. If 

 there are no old bees on these combs to 

 speak of. I then run the new queen ri^ht in 

 on these combs of hatching bees. 



" So far I liave not lost one in 20 of the 

 queens, and in 48 hours 1 come around and 

 remove the division-board, readjusting the 

 brood-nest as I wish it to be. In many a hive 

 I just pull out a comb of bees and brood 

 after disposine of the old queen, and turn 

 my new queen loose on the comb before my 

 eyes. If the bees are quiet, and the queen 

 not nervous, everything will be all right, but 

 should anything unusual appear in the bees' 

 manner toward the queen. I resort to the 

 isolation of the queen on the combs of 

 hatching brood." 



Even though coming from so good 

 an authority as Wesley Foster, it is a 

 little difficult to believe that with such 

 an apparently reckless plan the losses 

 would not be greater than one in 20. 

 But the gain in time and trouble is so 

 great that the plan is well worth atrial. 



European Foul Brood Ver.su.s 

 Pickled Brood 



The correspondence in the May num- 

 ber concerning the above subject, is 

 causing considerable comment. Nu- 

 merous protests have been received 

 against the assertion of Mr. McEvoy, 

 that 90 percent of the so-called Eu- 

 ropean foul brood is nothing but 

 starved brood. We want to hear from 

 those who have had experience. There 

 are three points to determine by practi- 

 cal bee-keepers: 



1. Are the descriptions given of the 

 differentiation in appearance of the 

 two diseases correct ? If not, where is 

 the discrepancy ? 



2. Is European foul brood cured 

 generally by italianizing the colony ? 



3. Is pickled brood diseased or only 

 starved ? 



Messrs. Kildow and Pyles stopped 

 one day with the Editor upon their re- 

 turn from a tourof inspection in south- 

 ern Illinois. They will have something 

 to say, but are too busy at present. 

 They assert that European foul brood 

 is gaining ground. 



We received, at the last minute. Bul- 

 letin No. 157, from the Department of 

 Agriculture, on "The Cause of Euro- 

 pean Foul Brood," by Prof. G. F. White. 

 This distinguished bacteriologist af- 

 firms the discovery of a new bacillus, 

 "bacillus pluton," which he considers 

 as the "i)rimary exciting cause of a 

 brood disease." Incidentally he indi- 

 cates that he does not consider "pick- 

 led brood " as starved brood. He des- 



ignates it as "an apparently non-infec- 

 tious disorder, the exciting cause of 

 which is not vet known." 



On the other hand, Dr. E. F. Phillips 

 calls our attention to Bulletin No. 442, 

 of the Department of Agriculture, in 

 which he gives a description of all 

 brood diseases. His description of 

 pickled brood dififers but little of that 

 given in the May number. Here it is : 



"The most typical form kills the larva 

 when it has extended itself in the cell. It 

 usually lies on its back with the head 

 turned upward. The color varies, but is 

 frequently light yellow or brown, and the 

 head is often almost black. The body is 

 swollen, and the contents watery, and the 

 head may be quite hard. There is no ropi- 

 ness. In case the larv;e are sealed before 

 dying, the cappings are usually normal." 



The important point is to inform the 

 average apiarist of the description of 

 each of the diseases, so that there may 

 not be errors made and colonies treat- 

 ed by radical methods for a harmless 

 trouble. 



Information wanted! Give us both 

 facts and opinions. 



Wliat Kind of a Hive Does Mr. 

 Scholl U.se? 



On page 140, there seems to be some 

 misunderstanding about the kind of 

 hive friend Scholl uses. Let's see if 

 we can not straighten out the tangle. 

 You wonder, friend Scholl, that any 

 one should think you advocate a shal- 

 low hive, and say that you "have been 

 advocating for more than 1.5 years a 

 deeper hive than the Langstroth." May 

 be ; but I think one reading that article 

 on page 47, the one to which I referred 

 in what you call my attempted " swat," 

 would be excused for thinking that you 

 use shallow hives. 



The first sentence tells us that you 

 are answering inquiries about " shallow, 

 divisible brood-chamber hives." That 

 hardly sounds like deep hives. Then 

 a little farther along you say, " Presum- 

 ing that the readers know that we use 



the lO-frayne hive frames 5^8 



inches deep." Neither does a 10-frame 

 hive with frames hy% deep sound like a 

 deep hive. Looking hastily through 

 the rest of the article, I don't see any 

 place in it where you mention using a 

 deep hive. 



But that only goes to show that it 

 isn't always easy to use the English 

 language so as to be properly under- 

 stood. I'm sure it's so in my case ; 

 but then you have the advantage over 

 me, for when you can not make your- 

 self understood in English you can say 

 it in German. I wish I could. 



To come right down to it, I didn't 

 suppose you did use a shallow hive — 

 except sometimes. I supposed you used 

 a hive of two stories, each story con- 

 taining 10 shallow frames, except that 

 sometimes you used only a single story, 

 and if I am correct in thinking that 

 sometimes you used only a single story, 

 then at such times you do use a shallow 

 hive, don't you '^. But mostly you use 

 a hive deeper than the Langstroth. 



But honest, now, Louis, do you really 

 think I deserve to be swatted for ac- 

 cusing you of claiming that the depth 

 of a hire should be 3:'4 inches shal- 

 lower than the Langstroth. Please 

 look again at page 102, and you will 

 see that I said you wanted the f'yume to 



be 3^4' inches shallower than the Lang- 

 stroth. 



Well, now that we're friends again, 

 what is really the hive you use ? Should 

 it be called a "deep 20-frame hive," or 

 what ? 



Anyhow, I wish you a big crop of 

 honey in your hives, whatever the 

 name. C. C. M. 



Variation in Sections 



One of the things not always taken 

 into consideration is the variation in 

 the weight of sections due to differ- 

 ences in seasons and honey-flows — 

 perhaps one might also say to differ- 

 ences in localities. Every now and 

 again some one is possessed with the 

 idea that a size of section should be 

 adopted, that, when filled, should weigh 

 exactly a pound. Such a thing is an 

 utter impossibility. Suppose such a 

 section tentatively adopted, and used 

 in a given apiary for the year's crop. 

 If the harvest starts with a good flow, 

 and the first sections taken oft' comply 

 with requirements as to weight, it by 

 no means follows that those taken off 

 near the close of the flow will have the 

 same weight. These latter, even if ap- 

 parently well filled and finished, may 

 average an ounce or more less in 

 weight than their predecessors. 



We may, however, have sections of 

 such size that the average of the en- 

 tire season shall be just right as to 

 weight. Let this happen in an un- 

 usually good season with a heavy flow, 

 and let the next season be a poor one 

 with light and intermittent flows. It 

 will be found in this poorer season that 

 the average will be materially less than 

 in the previous good year, the differ- 

 ence being more than an ounce per 

 section. 



Even in the same year, and in the 

 same apiary, the sections from one col- 

 ony may be lighter than the sections 

 from another colony, perhaps because 

 one colony is weaker than the other; 

 possibly because of a difference in the 

 bees aside from the matter of strength. 

 The management of the bee-keeper 

 may make a difference. If he keeps 

 one colony crowded for room, and 

 gives another abundance of empty sec- 

 tions, both colonies being of equal 

 strength, he may count on sections of 

 materially heavier weight from the 

 crowded colony. Some races of bees 

 fill the sections better than other races. 



Altogether this matter of variation 

 in the weight of sections is of serious 

 importance, and it must be reckoned 

 with. 



Holding' Intere.st iu Coiiventiouis 



Speaking on this subject, the editor 

 of the Bee-Keepers' Review says: 



" Personally. I find that the regular con- 

 ventions, where the mass of bee-keepers at- 

 tend .should be devoted mainly to discuss- 

 ing currrent topics of bee-keeping These 

 should be selected with a view to bringing 

 out discussions from all present, and must 

 be questions they are all interested in. The 

 business, on the other hand, can be best 

 done by delegates, which session bhould be 

 held apart from the others so that they will 

 not interfere with the regular program. 

 Byer is right in believing that too much 

 business can be injected into a regular bee- 

 keepers' convention. " 



It does seem too bad to have the 

 time of all the members taken up with 

 a matter of business that can just as 



