280 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



In our issue for Mar. 15 I spoke of the fact 

 that there had been all the way from 9 to 

 20 inches of rain in California, depending- 

 on the locality, or at least enough to insure 

 a honey crop in that State that produces 

 annuallj-^ from 200 up to 500 cars of honey — 

 that is, when it produces any honey at all. 

 If there is to be a fair crop of honey on our 

 western coast, it is important that bee- 

 keepers in the East, who have honey to sell, 

 should find a market as soon as possible 

 for any left-over crop they may have. To 

 hold back the truth will do almost as much 

 damage as to try to carry the other im- 

 pression that there was no honey, and that 

 prices ought to advance. 



The inevitable law of supply and demand 

 is bound to control, to a great extent, prices, 

 providing we can plaster up the mouths of 

 certain buyers who have an "ax to grind," 

 that is, those who are anxious to depress 

 prices in order that they may buy low. 

 The exact and unvarnished truth should be 

 placed before bee-keepers. 



Suppose, for example, that we tried to 

 give the impression that a nine-inch rain 

 would not amount to much in California, 

 and that bee-keepers need be in no hurry 

 to dispose of their held-over crop. The re- 

 sult would be that they might hang on to 

 the honey while it was dropping day by 

 day, instead of letting it go at the then 

 ruling prices. 



HOW TO KEEP FOUL BROOD OUT OF AN API- 

 ARY WHEN THE DISEASE EXISTS ALL 

 AROUND, AND AT THE SAME 

 TIME PRODUCE FANCY 

 COMB HONEY. 



The following letter will speak for itself: 



Friend E. R. ^oo/.— What do you think of the plan 

 of combating foul brood as given in the January 

 Review, shaking off the bees in an empty hive, thus 

 making a new swarm, and destroying the old combs 

 after the brood hatches? Would not the plan have to 

 be modified somewhat to work well here, where the 

 honey- flows are so short and uncertain ? 



Oberlin, O., Mar. 10. ,Chalon Fowls. 



As our readers may not possibly be fa- 

 miliar with the item on page 23 of the Bee- 

 keeper's Review, I have thought best to re- 

 produce the editorial from the Rocky Moun- 

 tain Bee Journal which the Review copies. 

 It is as follows : 



While foul brood wiped out many of the original 

 apiarists of the State, it is not considered a serious 

 menace by the inielligent " new blood " that has suc- 

 ceeded them. In the 'locality" broadly included in 

 the term Colorado (probably just as applicable to the 

 entire Rocky Mountain region) the character of the 

 honey-flow is such as to permit a system of manage- 

 ment for comb honey that practically renders the 

 apiary immune to the disease. J 



Some of our largest and best comb-honey produceis 

 have for years made a specialty of producing fancy 

 honey. It is a well-known fact that section honey 

 produced over new brood-combs will be cleaner and 

 whiter than that produced over combs that are one 

 year old, or older. In most localities there would be a 

 big loss in having new brood-combs built every year. 

 To one who has never tried it, such would seem to be 

 the case in Colorado ; but those who are practicing it 

 a.s.sert that there is not only not any loss in the num- 

 ber of pounds of surplus honey produced, but an actu- 

 al gain in the superior grading quality of the honey 

 secured and the yield of wax from the old combs. 



To secure new brood-combs each season and not les- 

 sen the crop of surplus honey, at the opening of the 



honey-flow each colony is shaken into a new hive 

 containing only foundation starters in the frames, but 

 full sheets of foundation in the sections with a queen- 

 excluding zinc between the first super and the brood- 

 chamber. The bees will prefer the full sheets of 

 foundation to the starters, and begin to work vigor- 

 ously in the sections, building comb in the brood- 

 chamber only just fast enough to accommodate the 

 maternal capacity of the queen. By the close of our 

 long honey season the brood-chamber will be filled, 

 and the best possible work will have been secured in 

 the sections. 



To make a success of this .system, colonies must be 

 .strong and the work must be done at exactly the right 

 time It may be said further in its favor that it effec- 

 tually solves the problem of swarming. 



The apiarist who practices this system may laugh at 

 foul brood. It will matter little to him if his bees get 

 a chance now and then to rob a dead colony in some 

 obscure back yard that the bee-inspector's vigilant 

 eye has missed. He will shake them off the infected 

 combs about the time the disease would begin to show, 

 and that would settle it for that sea.son. 



In the light of the latest and best knowledge of the 

 subject, foul brood has lost its terror to the man who 

 reads, thinks, and investigates. Its cure is simple 

 and certain, and even comparative immunity from it 

 may be had by following this system of building new 

 brood-combs every sea.son. 



Now, then, we are in position to answer 

 Mr. Fowl's question. The plan proposed 

 by the editor of the Rocky Mountain Bee 

 Journal is eminently practical, especially 

 in the Rocky Mountain regions, where there 

 is a great abundance of alfalfa. Whether 

 one could afford in the East to melt up good 

 combs every season is an open question. 

 But I do know this: That our friend H. R. 

 Boardman, of East Townsend, Ohio, one of 

 the most progressive bee-keepers in the 

 United States, has practiced a plan quite 

 similar to it for years ; and the last conver- 

 sation I had with him was to the effect that 

 he considered the plan profitable in the pro- 

 duction of comb honey. His plan, however, 

 is to cut the combs out, leaving only a nar- 

 row margin as a sort of comb-guide to build 

 over again. 



In the summer of 1886 foul brood broke 

 out in our apiary, and the disease hung to 

 us with more or less virulence for two sea- 

 sons. At the end of the third year we had 

 gotten it under control, but for four or five 

 years there would be here and there a col- 

 ony that showed symptoms of the old mala- 

 dy. In every case we traced the infection 

 to some old combs which we supposed were 

 all right. 



In later years we have made it a practice 

 to melt up all old combs and use nothing 

 but those that were comparatively new. 

 Since that time all vestiges of the disease 

 have disappeared. So far I believe the 

 plan recommended by the editor of the 

 Rocky Moufitain Bee Journal is the only 

 way by which an apiary can be entirely 

 cleaned of the last trace of the infection. I 

 have talked with those who have had foul 

 brood in their apiaries ; and, while they 

 could get it under control, they could never 

 be quite sure that they did not have a colo- 

 ny in the yard that had the disease. 



In view of the grave problems presented 

 by foul brood in certain localities, and in 

 view of the possibility — yes, even probabil- 

 ity — that combs can be profitably cut out 

 once in two or three years, it may be well 

 for bee-keepers in disease-infested localities 



