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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 15 



any tr-eatment. After an application of stings 

 one might conclude, if the rheumatic plains 

 abated, that the bee-stings were the direct 

 cause. In relation to their effect on rheu- 

 matism in general, the reader is referred to 

 Dr. Bonney's excellent article on page 784 of 

 this issue. 



DISINFECTING HIVES THAT HAVE CONTAINED 

 COLONIES AFFECTED WITH FOUL BROOD. 



We see by the British Bee Journal that D. 

 M. McDonald as well as Thos. Wm. Cowan, 

 author of the "British Bee-keepers' Guide," 

 recommends disinfecting hives that have 

 contained colonies affected with foul brood. 

 Another writer, Mr. Soal, in the same jour- 

 nal, while also in favor of it, thinks that our 

 advice to scorch out the inside brown or 

 black is "to depreciate it fifty per cent of 

 its value." If he had followed o// that we 

 have said on this subject he would have 

 seen we did not advise a charring heat. 

 When we say use a flame until the wood is 

 browned or blackened we mean no more 

 browning or blacking than a little piece of 

 sandpaper would remove with a very little 

 rubbing. 



The same writer thinks we are inconsis- 

 tent when we recommend disinfecting hives, 

 and, in the same breath, shaking the bees 

 from their combs direct on to frames of 

 foundation in a clean hive. If this were done 

 "when even a moderate flow was on, the 

 thin nectar," he claims, "from the diseased 

 combs would shake out all over the bees 

 and also on the new frames or board." Ev- 

 idently Mr. Soal has been very careless in 

 reading all that we have said on this subject. 

 We never recommended anywhere "shak- 

 ing bees on new frames or board." We 

 have, however, been quite careful to state 

 that, when the combs contained freshly gath- 

 ered nectar, they should be brushed and not 

 shaken. 



OUR CLUBBING OFFERS; A CHANCE TO GET 

 ALEXANDER AND DOOLITTLE WORKS. 



Do not fail to take advantage of some of 

 our liberal clubbing offers, as mentioned on 

 our cover. As time goes on, the Alexander 

 writings, now in hot k form, will stand out 

 more and more brilliantly. Mr. Alexander 

 made no attempt to follow in beaten paths, 

 but he was successful. He discovered a 

 number of new wrinkles, or tricks of the 

 trade. The cream of these, in book form, is 

 available not only to his old admiring friends 

 who eagerly sought his articles, but to the 

 new ones who were not subscribers at the 

 time he was writing. 



Then there is that old veteran, G. M. Doo- 

 little, an old standby — always orthodox and 

 reliable. His book, "A Year's Work in an 

 Out apiary," and the culmination of his 

 ripest experience as a bee-keeper, is also 

 available to our subscribers, either old or 

 new. As the years go on we find there are 

 more and more who follow Doolittle, and 

 who swear by him through thick and thin. 

 The reading of GLEANINGS for 1910 will be 



made much more valuable and helpful if 

 these two authorities are close at hand. 



STEAM-HEATED UNCAPPING-KNIVES. 



Among the inventions over which the 

 Hutchinson brothers are very enthusiastic in 

 the production of extracted honey (see Bee- 

 keepers' Review) is the steam-heated uncap- 

 ping-knife, and the Beuhne capping-melter 

 as he and his brother use it. 



We have been working on a steam-heated 

 uncapping-knif e for two or three years back, 

 but as yet we have not made one that just 

 suited us, and hence have not put one on 

 the market, nor said very much about it in 

 print. But we have sent out a number of 

 models to be tested, and among them one to 

 W. Z. Hutchinson, knowing that he would 

 give it an impartial test. 



It is our opinion that it is a long way ahead 

 of the cold knife or the ordinary one that 

 must be continually dipped in hot water. 

 When perfected we shall have illustrations 

 showing it. 



For the present we may say that steam 

 from a common ten-cent tea-kettle on an oil 

 stove will keep one of these knives continu- 

 ously hot, and, what is of great importance, 

 it is self-cleaning, i. e., it does not have to be 

 scraped. As the blade is always hot the 

 cappings slide off like melted butter from a 

 hot case-knife. 



HOW TO GET RID OF RATS. 



The United States Government has pre- 

 pared a bulletin showing that the annual 

 damage by rats runs far up into the millions 

 of dollars. How to save this loss is a real 

 problem with many. It is comparatively 

 easy to catch young rats with an ordinary 

 steel trap, but it is the hardened old sinners 

 that avoid poison and steal the bait away 

 from all kinds of traps without injury, that 

 baffle the long-suffering householder, or, 

 we will say in this case, the bee-keeper. 

 Mice or rats, either, will do an awful dam- 

 age among a lot of nice combs, and, general- 

 ly speaking, we advise storing ihem in su- 

 pers or hive-bodies, closed at top and bot- 

 tom. 



But we will say the rats are making havoc 

 with the other property of the bee-keeper. 

 Poison is distributed, and the result is that 

 cats and dogs, and even children, are some- 

 times made victims. Traps are set in vari- 

 ous places, but still the depredations of the 

 rodent go on. Every now and then these 

 ugly creatures are seen running from one 

 rendezvous to another. Aye, right there is 

 the solution of the difficulty. A 32-caliber 

 flobert rifle with shot cartridges, or an or- 

 dinary shot-gun will destroy these old fel- 

 lows as nothing else will. But perhaps the 

 farmer or bee-keeper says he has no time to 

 watch. Let him keep his gun handy. If a 

 rat runs into a pile of stuff it is almost sure 

 to come out in a few minutes to prospect 

 again. Get the gun, and watch. When he 

 shows up, give him a dose. 



Rats will very often come out just about 



