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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



of dpatli is iiosli'i-t or «tarvatio-n. It is a case of 

 what we call " iiej:lertcd brood." The bees evidently 

 know that this brood is good for nothing, become dis- 

 couraged, lie down on the job with the result that 

 there may be a stinking mess in a short time. — Ed]. 



Importance of Italian Blood in the Cure of 

 European Foul Brood. 



Mr Roof: — Kejilyini; to yours in reference to 

 editorial on page 480, I may say that the instructions 

 for the cure of European foul brood given in the 

 Ontario Bulletin, 213, on " Bee Diseases," may be 

 outlined as follows: 



7''ir.sf.— The same treatment already described for 

 American foul brood is effectual if applied to the 

 whole apiary at one?, hut the cure is peDnanent only 

 when pure-bred Italian queens are introduced to all 

 black or hybrid stock. 



f!ecnrid:--lt the colony is strong, and only then, 

 another treatment may be employed. Remove the 

 nueen, then in ten days introduce a vigorous young 

 Italian queen, and by the time she gets well estab- 

 lished the disease will be cleaned up. If the disease 

 returns in an Italan colony to such an extent that, 

 say, half the brood is dead, removing the queen for 

 iive days before introducing a new one works well, 

 as it gives the bees a chance to clean up the combs 

 before the new queen has a chance to lay. If more 

 than half the brood is dead, the colony should be 

 treated by the McEvoy method. 



The experience of some of our most careful men 

 is that, if a beekeeper has his apiary Italianized be- 

 fore the disease reaches him. and if he is Jookmg into 

 his brood-cham.bers every week during the season, he 

 need never destroy a single comb. The great trouble 

 is that the vast majority of beekeepers, even the more 

 extensive ones, are like the viTiter of the letter from 

 svhith I am takitr.c the following extract: 



"Dear Sir: — I am really afraid that my bees are 

 affected with that dread disease European foul brood. 

 The first I noticed was about ten days ago. In look- 

 ing them over T noticed two or three colonies that 

 did not look right. Colonies that were healthy then 

 are afifected novv. If you could send me some good 

 man who could tell me if I really had the disease, so 

 that I could start to Italianize at once, you would 

 greatly oblige. I have about 250 colonies, the 

 majority hybrids, about 25 pure." 



The point that I wish to make is that this man 

 has been reading our bulletins regularly, in which 

 we have sent the most vigorously worded warnings 

 against danger of continuing the use of black bees. 

 He has been told that European foul brood was in 

 his vicinity. la spite of that fact he is not willing 

 even yet, when he feels quite sure the disease is in 

 his apiary, to order queens and Italianize his apiary 

 until we go to the expense of sending a man there 

 to show him and tell him what he already knows. On 

 the other hand, we have successful extensive bee- 

 keepers who have been treating a tew cases each 

 year for the last three years, and have never melted 

 a single comb for the purpose of curing European 

 foul brood. I trust that this will also answer Dr. 

 Miller's question i'! your Juiy Is; issue. 



G'.ielph, Can., July 8, 1915. Morley Pp:ttit. 

 [Quite in line with this is a letter written to our 

 State Inspector jT. E. Shaw at Columbus, by \V. C. 

 Eastman.] 



Mr. A. E. fi'iir,'} : — Replying to your inquiry re- 

 garding European foul brood that appeared in my 

 yard last season I am pleased to i eport that I have 

 the yard almost entirely cleaned up. 



A year ago I liaJ over 100 colonies of bees, mostly 

 blacks, a large percentage of which showed more or 

 less European foul brood, some of them .-o bad (hat 

 I could not save them. 



Acting on the advice of those having had experi- 

 ence I decided to try rcqueening with best Italian 



stock as a cure; and as I was determined to do or 

 die T ordered queens for every one not containing a 

 pure Italian queen, and succeeded in introducing 

 nearly all of them. The new queens were introduced 

 as soon as the old one was removed, and the cure 

 seemed to liegin at once, as the Italian brood seemed 

 to he almost immune. 



All comlis were saved and used as if no disease 

 existed and more trouble was expected; but this 

 spring only three colonies showed the disease, and 

 tv'o of them were blacks that did not accept Italian 

 queens. The other is an Italian colony that prob- 

 ably had some very bad combs. The blacks were re- 

 queeried; and one of them being left queenless for 

 about two weeks showed very little disease, and the 

 others are fast coming my way. 



On combs that were fairly rotten last year I have 

 now the strongest colonies I ever owned, many of 

 them covering 30 L. frames with two supers added. 

 Perhaps not all Italian bees are as immune as these. 



No colonies were lost after re-queening, and over 

 90 queens were accepted. 



Rock Creek, O., June 21. W. C. Eastman. 



Bees on Dogwood. 



In the past fortnight, when clover-time has been 

 an actual honey-famine because clover had no nec- 

 tar and locusts had no bloom, I have seen my bees 

 working for honey on the cornel, otherwise called 

 dogwood. There are different species of Cornns, 

 blossoming at somewhat different dates, several of 

 them fairly common, both wild (most of them near 

 water), and in ornamental shrubbery (where they 

 seem to thrive, water or no water). I cannot see 

 that they have much nectar or any place in the 

 flower where they could put it ; but they seem to be 

 some resotirce in a time of stress like this. These 

 true dogwoods are no more relation to the " poison 

 dogwood" than a horse-cheftnut is to a chestnut, or 

 a bee-martin (kingbird) to a real martin such as 

 lives in martin-houses. I have heard authentic- 

 sounding stories of people being poisoned by the 

 " flowering dogwood," a true dogwood flowering in 

 May, but I never fairly believed them. 



IJallard Vale, Mass. Stevkn T. Bvingtox. 



Cold Weather in the Midst of the Honey-flow. 



Cduditions and weather hero are about the same 

 as in other western states. It was cold and windy 

 up to June 15 ; then for two weeks we had a good 

 flow; but it has again turned cold and cloudy, clear- 

 ing at night, with light frosts in the morning. But 

 in spite of the cold the flow continues good. Alfalfa 

 is in full bloom, and very fragrant. I have never 

 before experienced such a cold spell coming in the 

 midst of the honey-flow without the flow being check- 

 ed. Nevada seems to be an exception. 



Reno, Nev., July 6. M. W. Harvky. 



Good Eecord for an Old Queen. 



Tliree years ago I started as a novice with one 

 colony and the A B C of Bee Culture. I in- 

 creased this one colony to four, and that winter 

 bought three colonies that were starving from lack 

 of stores. 



In 1913 I increased my seven colonies to four- 

 teen, and got 900 ])ounds of comb honey. This 

 took the blue rililion at the mid-winter fair. 



In 1914 I increased to thirty-three colonies and 

 took off 11,000 pounds of comb honey, not count- 

 ing the fall honey-flow. How is this for a queen 

 four years old? 



Kissimmee. Fla. B. E. ROBINSON. 



