JANUARY 15, 1915 



81 



to be something for the consumer, is it not? In 

 tliis particular case it would look as though these 

 law -makers had handed us another chestnut. 



Sinillilanil. la. B. A. Aldrich. 



Massachusetts Meeting 



The recently on;aiiized Massachusetts Society of 

 Beekeepers held its monthly meeting on Saturday, 

 Dec. 19, at 28 School St., Boston. The speaker 

 was Hon. George P. French, of the Federal Depart- 

 ment of .Vgriculture, Washington, D. C, who spoke 

 on tlie profits Massachusetts has in honey produc- 

 tion. Tile speaker brought out how the beekeepers 

 could bring Massachusetts to the front line as a 

 honey-producing section. 



Ten new names were added to the membership 

 list. The next meeting will be held in January at 

 tlie call of the secretary. 



Rutland, Mass., Dec. 23. P. D. Hanson, Sec. 



Treating Foul Brood in the Winter 



We havo two colonics of bees that wc think have 

 foul brood. They cannot be treated now. What 

 can we do to save the bees over winter? 



Massillon, Ohio. F. G. Kaufman. 



I The only thing that you can do is to see to it 

 that they have plenty of stores to carry them 

 through, and that they are comfortably packed. 

 Treatment should be given as soon as settled warm 

 weather sets in. If they were bad with foul brood 

 last fall it is very probable that the}' will die out 

 before spring. Care should be exercised that the 

 honey be not robbed out by healthy colonies during 

 the first flving davs. — Ed.] 



Queens above Excluder 



Having noticed of late that several writers for 

 bee-journals have been discussing the raising of 

 queens above an excluder, without arriving at a 

 settled opinion as to the advisability of doing so, I 

 venture to offer my opinion. 



.V young queen can be reared and fertilized in 

 the second story above the excluder in a strong 

 lolony. But, don't do it. It does not pay for the 

 trouble. There are too many frames and bees to 

 hunt over: and if by any means you fail to find it 

 at the right time it will take twenty to thirty 

 pounds of honey out of the crop — enough to buy 

 two or three queens without the trouble. I some- 

 times put a frame of young brood in such a colony, 

 but take care of the queen-cells before the young 

 queens emerge. 



La Valle, Wis., Dec. 9. W. L. Roberts. 



Push-in-Comb Plan of Introducing Com- 

 mended 



Responding to the invitation, page 923, Dec. 1, 

 I wish to add uiy mite in favor of the push-in-the- 

 < o:nli-< a'ii' plan of introducing queens. I have prac- 

 ticed this plan this year, and every year for the 

 last eighteen years. I always recommend this plan 

 to my customers when they ask me for an infallible 

 metho;l of introduction, and I have yet to know or 

 hear of a single failure where this method was used. 



I always recommend to my customers that they 

 leave the hive severely alone for a whole week after 

 introducing the queen this way, to give her a chance 

 to get to laying before the bees are disturbed again, 

 as any queen is liable to be balled if disturbed 

 before she gets to laying. I also recommend that 

 the cage be so placed as to include some honey, 

 some hatching bees, and some empty cells for the 

 queen to begin laying in. I do not care whether 

 there are any larvie enclosed or not. 



The only objection I see to sending out instruc- 

 tions to use the push-inthe-comb-cage plan, besides 



the objection you mention, is thot it is more trouble 

 to make the cages than the average beekeeper will 

 take. Sometimes we have orders for 25, 50, or 

 100 queens. It would be quite a little trouble to 

 make up so many cages; and often the beeman has 

 not the wire cloth handy to make them. Perhaps 

 it is fifteen or twenty miles to the nearest store 

 where the wire cloth can be obtained. In that case 

 the man may be without any information as to how 

 to introduce. Shall we send the wire cloth with the 

 queens ? 



I have tried the smoke method of introduction. 

 I'sually it works. Soihetimes it does not, and I 

 don't see why. 



Mathis, Texas. H. D. MuREY. 



Would See Farmers Keep Bees 



In reference to the experiences of J. S. Miles, 

 page 946, Dec. 1, I will say that I see the matter 

 altogether differently. First, the farmer has a right 

 to try his hand at beekeeping, whether for success 

 or failure, and he creates a demand for bee-supplies 

 as well as for honey. For example, last week I sold 

 five gallons of honey to a Mr. Owens to feed his bees, 

 as he had had an off year. Now, Mr. Owens never 

 would have bought five gallons of honey had he not 

 been in the business. The past two years Mr. Owens 

 got considerable honey and sold some to his neigh- 

 bors, who this year also came to me. He has worked 

 up a market by educating the people to know that 

 honey is pure as well as very healthful, and he had 

 told his neighbors that my honey was pure, and sent 

 them to me. I have sold him the bees and the hive 

 at a small profit. The honey that was gathered 

 would have gone to waste. 



Give the farmer a little reading on bees, and tell 

 him by all means to get the good bee-books for in- 

 formation. Give him one about hives and show 

 him how to use foundation, and how to put up 

 honey. Only by attempting the work blindly can 

 real disaster and discouragement result. 



Palmetto, Fla. C. H. Clute. 



Wires Preferred to Splints 



p. S. P-eaves, page 942, Dec. 1, describes the 

 trouble just as it is here. My bees began to die in 

 the latter part of August. I would find 50 to 150 

 dead bees, mostly young but perfect, on the alight- 

 ing-board every morning. At first only one hive was 

 affected; later, others. We had very dry weather 

 here through July and August, and more honey-dew 

 was stored than I ever saw before. Other beekeepers 

 here had the same trouble. It cannot be poison nor 

 any thing gathered; for, if so, all the colonies would 

 be similarly affected. Do you not think so? About 

 one-third of my colonies had the trouble. Nothing 

 that I could find upon examination caused the dy- 

 ing, some having little honey and some plenty. 



I have tried the Miller splints to my (dis) satisfac- 

 tion. Hereafter I shall stick to wiring full sheets. 

 I tried, the i)ast summer, a few frames without 

 grooves or comb-guides or wedges. 



I placed the top wire M inch below the top-bar ; 

 and when fastening foundation I pulled the wire 

 lower Vi or V2 inch in the center, the second wire 

 the same (as described in instructions sent with 

 foundation). This forces the foundation up against 

 I he top-bar, and in every instance the bees fastened 

 it nicely. These frames were put in between built- 

 out combs. Next season I will try with swarms. 



Asheville, N. C, Dec. 14. O. Bromfield. 



More about that Mysterious Trouble 



In reply to P. S. Reaves, Princeton, W. Va., page 

 942, Dec. 1, I will say I have the same trouble he 

 has. I have 26 colonies of bees, and went through 

 them two weeks ago and found honey enough for 



