m 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1)eC'. 



ordered of Mr. Root, and shipped to any part of 

 the United States "in knock down " by freight 

 cheaper than they can be made in any locality, 

 except by special machinery, and in quantity. My 

 remembrance is, that they cost about twenty 

 cents. Mr. Root, I presume, calls them " Terry's 

 bushel boxes," not because Mr. Terry invented 

 them, for I think he did not, but because by his 

 writings he brought them into general notice and 

 use; a real benefit to farmers. My impression is, 

 that Mr. Terry suggested certain improvements in 

 their construction. Both men have done a good 

 thing, I think, in bringing them into more general 

 use. They are the handiest things on the farm. 

 With our low-platform '• Michigan wagon." which I 

 will some time describe, with its strong 7 by 16 plat- 

 form, we can load 60 or even 100 bushels in a few 

 moments after they are picked up over the field, 

 and store them in the cellar or car without shovel- 

 ing or any handling, except to empty the boxes. 



I will add . that the bushel boxes, as used 

 by friend Terry when I visited his place, 

 were of very much heavier lumber, and 

 made without the galvanized-iron binding 

 which we have added to it. The first that I 

 made were put into practical use out in the 

 fields, picking up stones ; and it occurred to 

 me they would be very much more durable 

 and more serviceable by this iron binding, 

 and at the same time they could be made 

 lighter, because thinner lumber would ans- 

 wer when bound with iron. I now remem- 

 ber that I spent quite a little thought and 

 study on the matter, and concluded that an 

 implement, to be used over and over again, 

 as we used these boxes, needs to be made 

 with a good deal of care and pains ; and in 

 view of this, friend Chamberlain's kind 

 words were very acceptable when my eye 

 ran on to tltem in looking over one of my 

 agricultural papers — the Country (rcntleman. 

 A great part of my evenings are spent with 

 these agricultural papers ; and I have learn- 

 ed to feel toward them as if they were old 

 and tried and much-esteemed personal 

 friends. 



FOUL BROOD AT THE HOME OF THE 

 HONEY-BEES. 



SUGGESTIONS FROM ONE OF OUK ENGLISH COU- 

 RESPONDENTS. 



T J30 not suppose I shall ever meet you; but nev- 

 j^ ertheless my thoughts are often with you in 

 ^k your good work; and you also have my sincere 

 sympathy in your time of trial and fighting 

 with the plague. Though until recently you 

 had never even seen foul brood, you now appear to 

 be having a hard time of it. Foul brood is very 

 infectious, as I well know, but usually there is no 

 reason why so many colonies should become dis- 

 eased in any apiary when only two or three are 

 foul in the first instance. Your own experience 

 appears to denote that your bees have access to 

 diseased hives in the possession of your neighbors, 

 or have had the chance to get at honey containing 

 germs of the disease, that you may have purchas- 

 ed; or else, what is still more probable, the rea- 

 son that the complaint breaks out in so many dif- 

 ferent colonies is, that your operations in connec- 

 tion with the whole apiary are not conducted by a 

 single operator who knows exactly what he is 

 about, and the nature of the disease he has to con- 

 tend with. 



Had some one responsible apiarist, such as your- 

 Self, or Ernest, for instnncc, the ontiro control of 

 all manipulations from the time of tlio first out- 



break, I have no doubt that ere now that caution, 

 so absolutely necessary to be practiced, would have 

 become the watchword, and many already diseased 

 stocks would never have become so. With several 

 hands about, each carrying out some manipula- 

 tion, it is utterly impossible to prevent the spread 

 of the disease, unless the master-mind is ever pres- 

 ent to see that every precaution is taken. Having 

 foul brood in an apiary, cA^ery colony alike must be 

 suspected until it is certain the pest is quite cleai-ed 

 away. Every time, whether opening a suspected, 

 or what is thought to be a clean hive, the hands 

 must be disinfected as well as the articles used, 

 before another hive is touched. Thus only can one 

 ever hope to eradicate the plague from his apiary, 

 whether he adopt the phenol or starvation cure, or 

 any other; once keep the disease from spreading to 

 other hives, and a speedy cure is certain. Besides 

 handling hives and frames indiscriminately, I have 

 never known the disease to be spread, except by- 

 robbing, and this can be avoided by the careful 

 apiarist. 



Some twelve years ago, I completely cured my 

 own apiary by the starvation plan, and never de- 

 stroyed any bees, except the wretched remnant of 

 a colony found to have been robbed in the first in- 

 stance, and before I knew what I had got on hand. 

 No colony renovated by starving, and then given 

 clean hives, and made to build new combs, ever 

 had the disease again, and so presently I had all 

 clean stocks once more. Where one has a large 

 j apiary, and great risks at stake, this will ever be 

 I found the most satisfactory plan — molting down 

 all combs, scalding and disinfecting the hives. 

 The frames should be burned out of the way, as 

 they are not worth cleaning. Single-walled hives 

 are far more easily disinfected than those with 

 I double walls, and probably for this reason I shall 

 i never again use any but simple hives. 

 j As a preventive, I would use Mr. Cheshire's reme- 

 I dy in food, given to every colony both spring and 

 autumn; but as yet 1 prefer the total-renovation 

 process as above, giving an immediate and certain 

 cure, causing much less anxiety, and no further 

 manipulations. The most economic plan must al- 

 ways be that which puts a job out of hand at once, 

 as labor is no inconsiderable item whei-e a large 

 apiary has to be attended to. That phenol will 

 cure, as well as act as a preventive, 1 am satisfied; 

 but if I were troubled badly with foul brood again 

 I should not feel justified in keeping it on hand 

 long enouiih to cure by that means, leaving out of 

 the question the many manipulations to be carried 

 out meanwhile. 



During my extensive experience with the disease 

 twelve years since, as I have said, I not only did 

 not destroy the bees when of any use, but I also 

 saved the brood that would hatch. A certain colo- 

 ny (or colonies) had their queen removed; when the 

 next lot, slightly diseased, was found, a new (starv- 

 ed) swarm was made with its queen, and given a 

 fresh start, while the hive of brood, combs, and 

 remaining bees, were placed with or above the 

 queenless lot. As fast as the brood which would, 

 had hatched out, the emptied combs were removed 

 and destroyed; and so the process was continued 

 until in the end only these " hospitals" remained 

 to be starved out and their combs destroyed. In 

 many cases the combs were cleared of every parti- 

 cle of diseased matter; and such was also the case 

 where queens were removed from strong colonies, 



