JULY 1, 1915 



553 



Hesidg (D)f Gram from Differemit Fields 



The Backlot Buzzer 

 Ain't mvr.h to say under this picture other than 

 to juxt t-'l 'em swarm. 



Shipping Bees to British Columbia 



Arcoiiling to the terms of one of the classes of our 

 fo'i'.-brood act, all bees imported into British Co- 

 lumbia are quarantined for nine months at the point 

 of entry. Tlie transportation companies, to protect 

 themselvos from a lot of trouble, refuse to accept 

 bees for delivery in British Columbia. Shippers in 

 the United States and Eastern Canada will find it 

 wise to turn down all orders from this province. 



Queens in ca?es are admitted at present, but every 

 beekeeper has been advised to buy only from breed- 

 ers who can sliow a clean bill of health from an 

 in-spector. 



To-day British Columbia has fully one thousand 

 beekeepers, mostly beginners on a small scale; but 

 as the inspectors become acquainted with its immense 

 territorj' they be?in to believe that the province will 

 at no distant date march into the front rank as a 

 honey-prodiicer. Our government is guiding the 

 efforts of every one in the industry, and our progress 

 is very rapid. We cut down our importations of 

 honey last year by 58 per cent, and trebled our 

 home production. Our primeval forests are literally 

 full of honeybees in the settled districts, so there is 

 no excuse for anybody wanting to import from other 

 regions. 



The inspectors' job is to keep this huge area free 

 of foul brood. We have had four attacks in five 

 years, all traceable to imported bees. I am fighting 

 the last and most serious. It originated in the city 

 of Vancouver from imported queens, and was car- 

 ried to a couple of other points by unlucky purchas- 

 ers. T.afit fall I found American foul brood in 20 

 apiaries, affecting 45 colonies, all of whicli were 

 burned. 



We make no pretense of curing the disease in 

 British CoUiinbia. One diseased cell condemns the hive 

 to the flames. Now that I am in the fight I endea- 

 vor to trace the spread of the contagion, as all in- 

 formation is valuable. Here is one point I discover- 

 ed: In one apiary of five colonies I found one af- 

 fected. The nearest diseased colony, a strong one, 

 was fully two milps away. The aflfectod colony was 

 also very strong, having been a very large first 

 swarm. After some close questioning I found that 

 the hive-body had been bought from an infected api- 

 ary where it had been in use for a weak swarm just 

 three weeks. The frames were new with full sheets 

 of foundation. Advocates of the "shake" system 

 of cure will kindly take notice. 



As I see it, the essence of this plan is a pure 

 gamble. You despoil the bees of all their combs, 

 stores, and brood, and chance that about 99 per 

 cent of the germs are in the plunder. Then you 

 hope that the genns on the bees and hive will never 

 get an opportunity to enter the anatomy of a bee 

 baby. We in British Columbia are just as anxious 

 to wind up the career of the hundreth germ as the 

 oilier ninety and nine. One of our inspectors in one 

 apiary found that the spores must have lain dormant 

 three years before their opportunity arrived ; for the 

 hive, brought from an infected region in Oregon, had 

 been in British Columbia that length of time before 

 foul brood developed. 



F. DuND.\s Todd, Foul-brood Inspector. 



Victoria, B. C, Canada. 



A Simple Feeding Device 



I have nhvays been trying to devise some slow but 

 sure automatic way to feed for stimulation since Mr. 

 E. W. Alexander described his stimulative feeding 

 in his bottom-board feeders. I wanted something 

 that would feed very slowly but continuously nighf 

 nnd day, and something that could be used in oiit- 

 yards so it could be carried right along by only 

 going to look after them once in a week or two. 



This spring I broke the lining from the inside of 

 a Mason fruit-jar cover, punched a tiny hole from 

 inside in the center of the cover, and put on rubber 

 and cover to make the jar air-tight except the hole 

 punched. 



To prepare the hive for the feeder, remove the 

 cover: pick out the center of the cluster if the 

 weather is cool; replace the quilt, and spread on 

 top of quilt several thicknesses of newspaper. Now 

 punch a hole through the quilt and papers between 

 two frames right above the chister, about the size of 

 the end of one's finger; invert the jar, and set over 

 all the empty supers, and cover. You see there is 

 no space betM-een the feed and the cluster except the 

 thickne.ss of the jar cover, and all the feed is deliv- 

 ered automatically at that tiny point. 



A.11 :t costs is the cover, which lasts a lifetime, and 

 jars can be used for canning purposes if not in use. 

 The glass jar shows how much feed is in the feeder 

 at a glance. There is no rust, no rot, no leak to 

 this feeder. Try one feeder on your pet colony, and 

 see if these thoughts are not worth the cost of 

 Glkanings one year. 



Colo, Iowa. D. E. Lhommedieu. 



Dampening Sections 



I take as many sections in my hand as I can hold 

 tight; hold them under a small stream of water; wet 

 them on both sides just where to be bent. A gallon 

 tin can full of water with a nail-hole near the bottom 

 will do. 



Acequia, Idaho. Mrs. I. B. TiTUS. 



