JANUARY 1, 1913 



One woman whose bees I went to inspect 

 lived in an old honse. Her clothes were in 

 rags, and were thrown carelessly upon her 

 person. Her house was in the utmost dis- 

 order. She seemed to think I had some 

 sinister motive in asking her name, and 

 would not tell me. I have since wondered 

 if some Christian woman could not go to 

 her, carrying some of the comforts of life, 

 and take her hand and tell her that the 

 good Lord loves and cares for her, and 

 bring some light, cheer, and hope into her 

 desolate abode. 



And yet another. His neighbor carried 

 me over to see him, and told me on the way 

 that he was somewhat cranky. On reach- 

 ing the place he introduced me to him. I 

 offered him my hand, which he refused, 

 saying, as he drew back, " I don't know 

 3^ou, sir." As I looked into his face and 

 saw the wild, strange exj^ression, I recog- 

 nized that he was insane. Yet he was liv- 

 ing alone, caring for himself. He had a 

 good garden, and one of the largest yards 

 of bees in the town. I suggested looking 

 at his bees. He told me it was unnecessary. 

 He knew all about bees, and said that they 

 had no disease. Nothing I could say would 

 convince him; but I admired his large 

 patch of fragrant onions without a weed; 

 his thrifty turnips, and his potatoes so free 

 from beetles. He slowly relaxed ; and 

 while his neighbor engaged him in conver- 

 sation on the value of different varieties of 

 potatoes I managed to look into several of 

 his weaker colonies where disease would be 

 most likely to show itself if present. When 

 I was ready to leave he bade me good-by 

 with a hearty hand-shake, and asked me to 

 come again. How sad to see the marvelous 

 mechanism of the human body so disorder- 

 ed as to give the mind distorted thoughts 

 and views of life ! 



A LARVA FOUND WITH ITS HEAD AT THE BOT- 

 TOM OF THE CELL. 



In looking over brood constantly for dis- 

 ease I have found that one becomes more 

 observing, and sees some things he never 

 saw before. Last winter, in giving a talk 

 on bees before a Young Men's Christian 

 Association meeting I told them that in all 

 my experience I had never known a young 

 larva to spin a cocoon and to change from 

 the larval state to a perfect bee with the 

 head toward the bottom of the cell, possibly 

 because larvae instinctiveh^ sleep with their 

 heads in the direction of the mouth of the 

 cell, ready to walk right out when mature. 

 This season, however, I saw one such case, 

 and I ]]ad the pleasure of helping the little 

 witless tiling from its cell, rear end first. 



21 



I wonder if it will know enough when it 

 gets to work to come home when it rains. 



ANOTHER BROOD DISEASE. 



There are diseases that afflict the larvee 

 of bees, other than foul brood; and I have 

 been surprised to find how general one of 

 these is. It seems to be everywhere; and, 

 while not very destructive, it should be 

 studied, and, if possible, some remedy 

 found for it. I sent a sample of it to Wash- 

 ington, and was informed that I need have 

 no anxiety about it. The disease seems to 

 kill the larvje after they are sealed up, and 

 at almost the same time, as they all look 

 alike when the cell is uncapped. These dead 

 larvae do not decay in the cell as those do 

 that die from American foul brood, but 

 retain their form, and seem to dry up when 

 they are removed by the mature bees. I 

 observed it several years ago, and in some 

 cases it was very bad — almost evei*y larva 

 in large patches dying, and then it would 

 disappear and I would scarcely see a cell 

 of it for two or three years. While it is 

 not so bad as foul brood, the loss in the 

 aggregate is considerable. 



SHAKING INTO A BOX FIRST. 



I have noticed that, as a rule, the advice 

 given to beekeepers who have foul brood is 

 to shake their bees upon frames, these to be 

 taken away in four days, and a clean hive 

 given them. After a little experience I 

 have advised shaking into the brood-box or 

 any other box for the first time, and after 

 four days giving frames of foundation. 

 This has seemed to work well, and I have 

 failed to hear of a single case where disease 

 has reappeared because the old brood- 

 chamber was used without being disinfect- 

 ed or burned out. It seems well to make 

 it just as easy as possible, within the bounds 

 of safety, for beekeepers who have dis- 

 eased colonies. I have been more careful 

 with inexperienced beekeepers than with 

 those of more experience. 



Middlebury, Vt. 



To be continued. 



BEEKEEPING TAUGHT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



BY JOSEPH TINSLEY 



In Gleanings for Nov. 1 I notice Dr. 

 E. F. Bigelow refers to his experiment of 

 teaching beekeeping to boys who, he says, 

 are the sons of wealthy parents. I am 

 pleased to inform your readers that we in 

 Staffordshire are a great way in front of 

 this. We have actually ten public element- 

 ary schools where beekeeping forms part of 

 the school curriculum. The schools select- 

 ed for this experiment were purely rural 



