

43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ELL, MARCH 5, 1903, 



No. 10. 



^ Editorial. ^ I 



Aid from the National (iovorniiient. 



— It is only the right thing that the general 

 government should aid bee-keepers in the way 

 of apicultural investigations to a much greater 

 extent. There is at present some prospect 

 of this. It you desire it, write at once to 

 Hon. Redfield Proctor, United States Senate, 

 Washington, 1). C and urge that in addition 

 to the amount appropriated for the depart- 

 ment of Entomology, an extra amount be 

 appropriated for apicultural investigations. 

 Mr. Proctor is Chairman of tha Committee on 

 Agriculture and Forestry. 



Snow and Sunshine is often a bad 

 combination in spring for bees wintering out- 

 doors. Especially is this the ease when the 

 snow is very soft. The bright sun entices the 

 bees out, and the dazzling snow seems in 

 some way to affect them so that they drop 

 into it, sinking deeper with each struggle, 

 and soon become so chilled that they never 

 rise again. The beginner is warned to com- 

 bat the effects of one or both. If the bees 

 are not in much need of a cleansing flight, 

 the easiest thing to do is to place before the 

 entrance of each hive a board to prevent the 

 sun from shining into the hive, unless it be 

 very early or late in the day. If it is thought 

 best that the bees should fly, then the snow 

 should be swept up for a considerable dis- 

 tance about the hives, or else something like 

 hav should be used to cover the snow. 



Swarming Prevention Better than 

 Control. — Notwithstanding the great advan- 

 tages of forced swarmingover natural swarm- 

 ing, there can be no disputing the point 

 raised by some that it is merely a matter of 

 controlling swarming so as to have it come at 

 the time when it suits the bee-keeper, leaving 

 the entire prevention of swarming a desiders- 

 tum. Among the many plans tried for pre- 

 vention of swarming, that of Samuel Sim- 

 mins attracted considerable attention at one 

 time in this country, but for some reason not 

 many made a success of it. The heart of the 

 plan depended upon the fact, supposed or real, 

 that so long as bees had room below the 

 brood-nest, and were occupied building there, 

 there could be no thought of swarming. Mr. 

 Simmins believes that the reason for the fail- 

 ures in this country was that the plans recom- 

 mended Ijy him were not correctly carried 

 out. 



Room for Ijuilding was to be given below 



the brood-nest, and as often as a fair start 

 was made there the combs were to be cut out 

 and moved above. In order to reduce to a 

 minimum the lalior of management, the Sim- 

 mins' Conqueror hive was devised. This con- 

 sists of an outer case in which the supers, as 

 also the brood-chamber, are received like so 

 many drawers in a bureau, there being room 

 for a super beneath the brood-chamber, so 

 that this lower super can be taken out and 

 moved above without at all disturbing the 

 brood-chamber. While this may be the most 

 convenient hive for the purpose, there is 

 nothing, as Mr. Simmins has pointed out, to 

 prevent trying the plan with other hives. 



Regarding the plan, and its comparison 

 with forced swarming, Mr. Simmins writes 

 in a private letter: 



But, after all, why swarm at all when under 

 "Prevention" as opposed to "Control"' 

 without increase ; My " Conqueror " hive 

 allows of starters Ucluic the colony when re- 

 quired; or, Ijetter still, when arranged for 

 comb honey, the super of sections is started 

 (with full sheets in sections) uinler the col- 

 ony; this super is placed above tJw ruhiuy 

 when the bees are crowding into it, bees and 

 all being placed between the colony and the 

 other super of sections already ai:)ove. The 

 one moved up is followed by another under, 

 and so on in rotation. 



" Thus, you are constantly getting the bees 

 to continue comb-building below, and all the 

 while deceiving them by carrying it above " — 

 thus, by starting building below and finishing 

 above, you take all the swarming fever out of 

 them — you keep more powerful colonies, and 

 secure higher results. 



I may say that only the " Conqueror " hive- 

 construction will allow this easy shifting of 

 supers. The principle has been adopted in 

 more or less perfect form (mostly imperfect) 

 by all British hive-ruakers since my system 

 has been developed. 



I should indeed be glad to know that you 

 also have made a success of it. The only 

 thing is, will t/iju get the hang of the convii 

 construction and management ? Many have 

 not, hence failures. Samuel Simmins. 



Treatment of Foul Brood. — Much has 

 been said about I'liul brood and its treatment, 

 and there are probably some who have read 

 little or nothing of the kind, thinking that it 

 is a subject that does not concern them, their 

 bees being entirely healthy. It would be very 

 much better to read all that is written on the 

 subject, even if one never expects to see a 

 caseof foul brood. Then one would be free 

 from needless anxiety upon the appearance 

 of some trouble in no way connected with foul 

 brood, and in case of an attack would be ready 

 for prompt action. 



At the Ontaricj convention, as reported in 

 the Canadian Hci- .Journal, that eminently 

 practical man, Inspector McEvoy, gave the 

 following, all of which will be useful reading 

 for beginners, and part of it may be new to 

 63me of the veterans: 



For the treatment of it, the Ijees must be 

 thoroughly cleansed of the old honey that 

 they took from the old hive. There are times 

 when you should shake them ou to full sheets 

 of foundation and make a cure, but it is too 

 risky, for while you might cure nine-tenths 

 of the bee-yard, if it worked out in the other 

 one-tenth it would only go on and destroy all 

 you had done. 



If it is in the honey season, shake the bees 

 down on little starters, taking all the comb 

 out. Shake them into the empty hive and 

 give them half an inch of comb foundation 

 starters, and do the work in the evening, v If 

 the flow should stop or slacken through rains 

 or unsuitable weather, apply the feeders at 

 once and start a flow in that way, and they 

 will draw out these little pieces of foundation. 

 If you allow the little they brought from the 

 old comb to be stored in the new, that will 

 cause trouble; takeaway, therefore, the built- 

 out starters and give them sheets of founda- 

 tion, and when this foundation is worked out 

 it is forever gone in every case; this will 

 cure every colony it is found in. 



It is one thing to cure the bees, but you 

 may cure with a great loss, that is. you may 

 destroy all the healthy brood, also. Leave 

 about a quarter of the bees (after you shake 

 them down) on one set of combs; take the 

 combs from this, that and the other, enough 

 to make two stories, and leave it about 10 or 

 12 days, and most of the brood will hatch out ; 

 after about 10 days in the honey season shake 

 them down and put them through this treat- 

 ment again, and give them a queen or queen- 

 cell. In going through the bee-yard put a 

 cross upon those hiVes; it one is very bad 

 put three crosses; if middling, two, and soon. 



Don't do this work in the morning or mid- 

 dle of the day, because if you shake the bees 

 out, and do it in the middle of the day, they 

 will become restless, and some will swarm out 

 and mix in with what you have already 

 treated. 



After the honey season is passed, and you 

 find a few have it, even if it isonly a few cells, 

 don't think that it will ever cure itself, be- 

 cause as long as a comb lasts it will remain. 

 Those few that are there let alone, but take 

 the others that are sound and JEeed them 

 sugar syrup until you get a lot of nice sealed 

 combs, feed them down till they are sealed 

 solid. In an evening in October go to the dis- 

 eased colonies, lift the combs out, shake the 

 bees back and give them five or six combs of 

 these sealed stores. The honey they took out 

 of the infected combs they have to keep, as 

 they ha%'t noplace to put it; the queen has 

 stopped laying, the cold weather is coming 

 on, and it will be digested and taken out of 

 the way. .Just as good a cure as in June or 

 July. 



Never attempt to cure any in fruit-bloom — 

 it is too risky— because the weather might 

 change suddenly, and the How stop coming 

 in, and you will meet with quite a lot of 

 starving larviv; they will consume the un- 

 sealed stores, and they won't uncap the stores 

 they have iiuick enough to feed the amount 

 of brood. It is not proper to do it then ; wait 

 until June. 



In these weak colonies you have two or 

 three crosses on, take two or three — or what-, 

 ever it may require to make a good swarm — 

 cleanse that and cure it. These others that 

 have plenty of fine brood, tier the brood up 

 from the others, and you will make up what 

 you lost; you will gain it in the new. 



