OCTOBER 15. 1915 



meets again, and will then request that our 

 subscribers pour in a mass of lettei-s to the 

 committee, explaining: why this peculiar 

 clesisrnation on the part of the railroad com- 

 panies is doing harm to our industi-y. A 

 systematic, united, and concerted action on 

 the part of all parties interested will bring 

 about results. 



There is another reason why the term 

 " bee comb " should be eliminated. Real 

 honey-comb would be more expensive and 

 much more fragile — that is, more subject 

 to damage than comb foundation. If the 

 railroad companies have an idea that the 

 article is exactly what it purports to be, as 

 shown by the name " bee comb," and they 

 probably do. they would charge a higher 

 rate of freight. From an economic stand- 

 point beekeepers and manufacturei's alike 

 should seek to get another form of billing 

 that will help us to get a lower rate of 

 freight. It is excessive as it is. 



Granulation of Honey Hastened by a 

 Wide Variation in Temperature 



We quite agi'ee with Mr. Holtermann in 

 what he says on this subject, p. 799, last 

 issue. Some years ago, during very cold 

 vreather, we conducted a series of experi- 

 ments in this matter. The winter was very 

 severe, and for over six weeks the tempera- 

 lure ranged around zero outdooi^s, much of 

 the time below. 



We placed some liquid honey in a build- 

 ing where there was no artificial heat. This 

 was left undisturbed during the entire win- 

 ter, but it did not granulate till toward 

 spring. "We also placed some of this same 

 lot of honej' under conditions of varying 

 temperature. Part of the time the mercury 

 went down below zero and part of the time 

 up to SO F. We tried to have as much 

 variation as possible with low dips, every 

 now and then to below zero. In the course 

 of ten days cloudiness appeared, and in a 

 month's time granulation was complete. 



Another lot of this same honey we kept 

 in a uniform temperature of 70 to 80, but 

 it did not granulate the whole winter nor 

 next spring. The following spring, when 

 the weather began to warm up, the honey 

 that had been long subjected to a zero 

 temperature for six weeks granulated; but 

 the same honey that was kept in a warm 

 room remained liquid. 



These experiments, repeated at other 

 time5 with the same result, go to show that 

 cold is more conducive to granulation than 

 n warm atmosphere, and that a variable 

 temperature is far more potent than either. 



Comb honey, unless it is verj- well ripen- 



833 



ed, should not be put in a cold room ex- 

 cept temporarily, just before placing it on 

 tile table. In a zero cold or even a freezing 

 cold comb honey cannot be handled without 

 danger of brealcage and leakage. Our comb 

 honey, tons and tons of it, is always stored 

 in a temperature of between 75 and 80, 

 kept warm by means of steam heat or with 

 a gas-stove when steam is not available. 

 We would not, for a good many dollars, 

 allow the temperature of the comb honey 

 in our storage-room to drop to a freezing 

 temperature for more than a short time. 



Comb or extracted honey put in an ordi- 

 nary ice-box or refrigerator for a few hours 

 before eating is always improved; but at 

 all other times it should be kept away from 

 a cold atmosphere — particularly one that is 

 changeable. 



A Case of Chilled Brood in October 



A EEEKEEPEi; in this county, some twelve 

 miles from us, and eight miles from our 

 nearest bees, came to our office one day. and 

 said that something was awfully wrong 

 among his bees. Most of them had carried 

 young dead brood — lots of it — out in front 

 of the entrances. The brood was white— 

 that is to say, not discolored, nor anything 

 like foul brood. He wished us to drive 

 down and see what it Avas. 



Knowing he had foul brood a year or so 

 ago. we suspected this had something to do 

 with it. We drove down in our machine, 

 and examination showed quite a lot of 

 young brood in the imago state in front of 

 some of the entrances, that had been hauled 

 out of the cells by the bees. Apparently 

 the brood advanced to the stage just before 

 the wings were formed, and then died. We 

 went through several of his hives, and 

 found that in every case where white dead 

 brood was in front of the entrances the 

 colony was too weak to keep the brood-nest 

 warm. In at least four cases the colony 

 had been reduced by American foul brood, 

 and in several others the owner had put on 

 upper stories of wet extracting-corabs which 

 he said he placed there temporarily for the 

 bees t'o clean up. Shortly after this came 

 a cold spell with a light freeze. This last- 

 ed for several days. 



Colonies having brood-nests twice their 

 normal size, or colonies reduced by Ameri- 

 can foul brood, had e\idently contracted 

 their clusters so that some of the sealed 

 brood, at least, had chilled and died. This 

 the bees removed, with results as stated. 



A^e told our friend that he must get 

 busy and clean up his American foul brood, 

 or he would have fiomething worse on his 



