THJa BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



263 



the germ, l)ut will eveu supply it with one 

 esseutial to its existeuco, viz. moisture: and 

 that the only reliable preveutive is to keep 

 the hives prefectly dry at all times. Of 

 course, this is all theory, a part of which is 

 directly contradicted by the experience of 

 some who have tried the ordinary germi- 

 cides; but the other part tiiids snpport in a 

 fact which Mr. Mclntyre of California, 

 mentioned in the Review a few years ago, 

 that apiaries in shady situations were more 

 apt to be affected than others. The in- 

 spector of this country has j.lso told me that 

 he has found more foul broody colonies in 

 sh'^ded locations than in exposed ones. 

 Mere location, however, has by no means 

 been a " reliable preventive. " 



Further support of the theory that dryness 

 is effectual against foul brood is given by 

 Herr Martin, who strewed chloride of lime 

 on the bottom-boards of his hives. The dis- 

 ease disappeared after some weeks. He has 

 been using the remedy for two years 

 ( whether because the foul brood broke out 

 again, or as a preventive, he does not say ), 

 and his bees are now healthy and strong. 

 Twice last year he produced foul brood and 

 cured it again, to be sure of the matter. 

 Some care is needed to avoid driving the 

 bees out of the hives. Not more than a tea- 

 spoonful should be used at a time, and the 

 bottom-board should be separated from the 

 frames by a distance of at least three inches. 

 He swept off the chloride of lime, and made 

 a fresh application, every eight days. As 

 this is an external application, while the ly- 

 sol cure is internal, it might hasten matters 

 to employ both at once, if each will have 

 been proved to be effectual. 



Young queens, says K. Beyen, who has 

 closely observed the matter, very seldom fail 

 to find their own hives, no matter how they 

 are placed. The true reason for having 

 hives some distance apart is to prevent the 

 workers of neighboring hives from acting as 

 guards when they should not, at each other's 

 entrances instead of their own. If one such 

 bee attacks a queen which has come to the 

 right place, the others are excited, and her 

 fate is sealed. Hives may be placed close 

 together if some arrangement is made to 

 prevent neighboring bees from running 

 back and forth. This accords with Graven- 

 horst, and would explain Mr Langdon's 

 poor success in getting (jueena mated in the 

 house apiary. 



Apropos of the fact that the bees of an 

 after-swarm are more considerate of their 

 virgin queen than those of the old colony,he 

 relates a curious experience. A queen of an 

 after swarm, on returning, was attacked by 

 one of the bees at the entrance. The others 

 became greatly excited, but instead of ball- 

 ing the queen, as was to be expected, they 

 fell on the attacking bee and killed it, and 

 accompained the queen into the hive with 

 the customary marks of respect. 



The apifuge mentioned in the July issue 

 should be full strength when used in the 

 smoker. 



L, Apicultube. — L. Fonrcassie, secretary 

 of one of the French associations, says in 

 describing an exposition : "I notice some 

 tumblers [ of honey J of an extraordinary 

 whiteness, but it was certainly taken from 

 picked frames, newly sealed. It is not a 

 honey of commerce; the proprietors could 

 certainly not show more vessels of the qual- 

 ity than those which were displayed. That 

 is one of the errors of the exposition." 

 This summer I produced three cans of extra 

 white ho ney by getting the very first honey 

 stored, before any sunflowers were in bloom, 

 in shallow combs one year old, which had 

 never contained brood. But except in fa- 

 vored localities such honey is not ordinarily 

 obtained unmixed. Mrs. Harrison, in her 

 answer to Query !)5St of the American Bee 

 Journal, speaks of having exhibited some 

 very light-colored honey which was secured 

 by extracting from the whitest combs. 

 Last fall I lost a sale of light amber honey 

 because the party had seen some such water- 

 white honey at the fair ( no doubt labeled 

 " Extracted Alfalfa Honey "as if it was the 

 ordinary article ) and would not be satisfied 

 with anything unlike it. Moral: exposition 

 labels should not only tell the truth, but the' 

 whole truth, and average color should be 

 shown as well as the lightest. The public 

 may make the necessary limitations when it 

 sees big pumpkins, but is not competent to 

 do so in the case of honey. 



The society of apiculture in Russia, found- 

 ed at St. Petersburgh in 1889, adopted a twin 

 hive, each part containing ten frames 15X 

 inches long by 10 3-5 deep. The hive is 

 double-walled, and judging from the exte- 

 rior and interior dimensions, allows of pack- 

 ing, the difference between the dimensions 

 making each end \}-2 inches thick, and each 

 side 'A% inches. This hive dispenses with 

 the collar wintering employed in Russia. 



