JULY 1, 1915 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



ITMAY STEAWS I Mare„go,.... 



Joseph J. Anderson tried keep- 

 ing colonies separate with newspa- 

 jier, and failed, p. 500. Newspa- 

 per is not intended to keep sepa- 

 rate permanently, but to unite, and 

 for that purpose is a great success, 

 as it no doubt was with him. 

 I've always said that bees would put no 

 honey in the super so long as there were 

 empty cells in the brood-chamber. I'll never 

 say it again. June 1 I found brood-cham- 

 ber after brood-chamber destitute and a 

 little honey in the super. But drawn combs 

 A\ere in the super. I suspect it's still true 

 with only foundation in super. 



A New Mexico correspondent last year 

 had 146 swarms fiom 200 colonies in 38 

 days, and asks what to do. Get all you can 

 from the books (Fifty Years among the 

 Bees is especially full on the subject), and 

 then study out what best suits your case. 

 If you dequeen a colony, and then in ten 

 days give it a young laying queen, it will 

 not sAA'arm. Or, take away its queen, and 

 at the same time drop in, without caging, a 

 virgin less than 24 hours old. 



Here it is the middle of June, clover 

 blooming abundantly, and bees on the point 

 of starvation. Rain, rain, rain, cold and 

 rain — don't know whether there's any hon- 

 ey in the clover; but from the way the bees 

 v.'ork the few spells they can fly I sus^Dect 

 there is. But the prospect for a crop is 

 not brilliant. [The same condition prevails 

 here at this writing, June 21. The bees are 

 going to the fields whenever it warms up 

 enough. We may yet get a crop of honey, 

 but it begins to look doubtful. Already the 

 farmers are beginning to cut their alsike, 

 which is our main stay; but fortunately 

 they cannot cut all the alsike along the 

 roadsides, nor are they going to cut down 

 our bassAvoods — at least not this year. So 

 we are waiting and hoping. This hope is 

 the stronger because experience has taught 

 us that sumeti/nes our main honey-flow in 

 the North comes after the first of July. 

 Rej)eated rains in June, such as we have 

 had this year, renders it not impossible to 

 have the bulk of the honey in that month. 

 —Ed.] 



'• De(juf:ening . . . may be sufficient ; 

 but it may be advisable to shake as well as 

 rerinoen ; and it may be necessary to shake 

 again until the disease begins to lose some 

 of its virulence," p. 480. That from the 

 man who got me to dequeen instead of 

 shake! I had experience with both shaking 



and dequeening, in cases where European 

 foul brood had not begun to lose its viru- 

 lence, and it would take proof to make me 

 believe that there is any case where it is 

 either necessary or advisable to shake once, 

 let alone twice. In American foul brood, 

 yes; but never in European foul brood. 

 Neither is it necessary always to requeen — 

 never, unless a better queen can be given. 

 Just stop brood-rearing for ten days or so. 

 The bees will do the rest, although it may 

 be necessary sometimes to repeat it. [It is 

 true that we persuaded you to dequeen and 

 requeen when European foul brood broke 

 out in your beeyard. We do not remember 

 whether we advised you not to shake or 

 not. From the investigations we made at 

 the time we were hopeful that requeening 

 alone might be sufficient ; and now you 

 think we are inconsistent even to intimate 

 that it may be necessary to shake as well 

 as requeen. The statement in question was 

 not a recommendation of ours, but a synop- 

 sis of a bulletin put out by Mr. Morley 

 Pettit. The statement in question was his 

 own and not ours, or, perhaps more exactly, 

 it was an inference from his statements. 



We are glad to know that dequeening and 

 requeening were sufficient in your case with- 

 out shaking. Shaking, and melting the 

 combs, involves a large amount of labor and 

 expense. While the wax secured will prac- 

 tically pay for new foundation, it does not 

 begin to cover the cost of labor in addition 

 nor the loss and interruption to the colony 

 if the operation be performed during the 

 honey-flow. Shaking to cure foul brood, 

 according to our experience, is alwaj^s a 

 setback to the colony, particularly in late 

 summer or early fall ; and as a general rule 

 such a colony will go into winter quarters 

 rather light, and will probably die before 

 spring. It could not well be othenvise, as 

 the loss of all the brood cuts the streng-th of 

 the colonj' in two, and the half remaining 

 are old bees that will die off rapidly. If, 

 therefore, dequeening and requeening would 

 suffice it would be a great boon to those 

 who are suffering from European foul 

 brood ; but according to reports from the 

 bulletin shaking as well as requeening may 

 be necessary. 



Elsewhere in this issue Mr. G. H. Kirk- 

 patrick has tried to cure American foul 

 brood, but has failed; but the evidence goes 

 to show that he has not kept away the 

 source of infection. Possibly some of those 

 who found shaking necessary in addition to 

 requeening are of this type. — Ed.] 



