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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



yard, will give you relief from the disease. Treat- 

 ing here and there a colony is only partially ef- 

 fective, for the probabilities are that the disease 

 will continue to break out here and there and 

 everywhere, causing you no end of trouble. 



Referring to your postscript, you could take 

 the bees down cellar, remove the diseased combs, 

 allowing the bees to cluster on those that appear 

 to have no dead matter in them. This will in- 

 volve considerable work and loss of bees; but we 

 would not undertake to do any thing until next 

 spring. The old mossbacks with their gums 

 should be referred to your foul-brood inspector. 

 He can compel them to transfer and treat the col- 

 onies. — Ed.] 



PROPOLIS — FROM WHAT GATHERED? GETTING 



CANDIED HONEY OUT OF COMBS; THE 



FORMALIN TREATMENT. 



I have sent you a few buds from a balm-of- 

 Gilead tree. You can see that some substance 

 is oozing out of the buds now. 1 think this is 

 what the bees gather and convert into propolis. 



My two-frame automatic extractor worked to 

 perfection. There was some candied honey left 

 in the combs. This I intend to dissolve with 

 water, then while the combs are still moist I 

 should like to treat them with formalin. Do you 

 think it would be more effective then? Please 

 send me directions for using this treatment. 



After cleaning and treating these combs I in- 

 tend to use them above an excluder, for extract- 

 ing purposes only. W. C. Sorter. 



Wickliffe, O., Dec. 24. 



[No doubt bees gather some gum from the buds 

 of the balm-of-Gilead. As a matter of fact, it is 

 probable that propolis is gathered from several 

 sources. Any thing of a gummy nature bees 

 will at times appropriate; and it has been assumed 

 on the part of bee-keepers that they make out of 

 these various gums their bee-glue, or propolis. 

 The very fact that this glue varies in color ac- 

 cording to the locality would seem to argue that 

 the character of it is modified by such gums as 

 the bees are able to gather in the vicinity of their 

 hives. 



As to the honey candied in your combs, the 

 general plan is to soak them in warm water for 

 a time, put them in an extractor and throw out 

 that portion which has been dissolved, as you 

 propose. Another soaking may remove it all. 

 Still another plan is to give the combs after their 

 warm-water bath to the bees in an upper story; 

 but, all things considered, it is better to use the 

 extractor; and if the extractings are not all dis- 

 solved, warm them up until they are, and feed 

 them back to the bees, as it will be too thin to 

 bottle without souring. 



We would advise you to let the bees clean the 

 combs up perfectly, then treat them with forma- 

 lin if you desire. The plan usually advocated is 

 to use the fumes of the gas made by melting the 

 solid substance over a slow fire or wetting cloths 

 in the formalin liquid that is sold by druggists, 

 and placing these in the compartment to be fu- 

 migated. The objection to the formalin treatment 

 is that the average bee-keeper does not appreciate 

 the importance of making a hermetic sealing for 

 a room or box in which the combs are placed, 

 and where they are subjected to the fumes of the 



gas. Unless the combs are put into an absolute- 

 ly tight box or compartment while being treated, 

 little or no good may be accomplished. If the 

 combs have been taken from diseased colonies 

 we would by all means advise melting them up 

 and converting the melted wax into foundation. 

 Experiments show that, if one uses the wax-press 

 properly, there will be enough wax secured to 

 pay for the foundation and leave a little some- 

 thing besides. — Ed.] 



AN ALEXANDER VEIL SUPPORTED ON THE TOP 

 OF THE HEAD. 



For two years I have used a bee-hat of my own 

 design that suits me much better than any thing 

 else I have ever seen. The hat is practically the 

 same as the Alexander veil, but is improved by 

 a rim projecting beyond the wire cloth to shade 

 the eyes. 



To build the hat I make two wire hoops of 

 telephone wire, one to form the top of the wire 

 cloth, 10 inches in diameter, and one 17 inches 



in diameter, over which cloth is stretched and 

 sewed firmly. A piece of the same material 10 

 inches wider is sewed over on the back of the 

 wire-cloth cylinder for a protection to the back 

 of the neck. I want a skirt sufficiently large to 

 come down over the shoulders, and I use a piece 

 of cloth 50 inches long and 18 wide, hemmed at 

 the bottom and gathered at the top, and fastened 

 to the bottom of the wire cloth. I would have 

 the wire-cloth cylinder only 9 inches deep. 



Another improvement is a skeleton crown in 

 the upper part. It is made by tying a shoestring 

 around the head as you would measure for a hat, 

 and with this for the " hat-band " extend projec- 

 tions to the wire cloth outside of the walls in all 

 directions, and make them fast. This raises the 

 hat off the shoulders, makes a circulation of air 



