•76 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Notes from Canada 



J. L. Byer, Mt. Joy, Ont. 



Mr. Sladen, recently from England, gave 

 'a warning against importing any bees from 

 the British isles for fear of getting Isle-of- 

 Wight disease over here. Judging by what 

 he and others who know say, this fell 

 scourge has all the other bee ills " beat- 

 en to a frazzle." Certainly Mr. Sladen's 

 warning is timely, and it would be a foolish 

 vthing indeed to take any chances. 

 » * * 



Already " jabbed " by the editor, and 

 with the prospect of being jabbed again 

 by such a formidable assailant as Dr. Mill- 

 er, is it any wonder that I look for the next 

 issue of Gleanings with trepidation? (page 

 2, Jan. 1). But see here, Mr. Editor; you 

 say something about steady cold weather 

 about the "middle of January;" at which 

 time enough honey will be consumed to give 

 the colony a winter nest. Here in Ontario 

 we often have that land of weather all 

 through December; so, what will happen 

 when things pan out that way, and the 

 combs yet solid with honey? 



* * * 



That article of Wesley Foster's on page 

 13, Jan. 1, which so entertainingly tells 

 about the beauties of photogi'aphy, I read 

 with more interest than I could have deem- 

 ed iDossible a few months ago. Can you 

 guess the reason ? Well, I have recently in- 

 vested in a camera costing about $20.00, 

 an English machine called the " Butcher's 

 Carbine." I never had my hands on a cam- 

 era before ; but by a strange freak of 

 chance, the first six films used are all good, 

 and I hope to use some of them soon in this 

 journal. I have just returned home from 

 the northern yard, over 100 miles away from 

 home; and while there I took sevei'al pic- 

 tures of the apiary to illustrate wintering 

 outside. I have not tried to develop them 

 yet ; and on reading friend Foster's article 

 I am fearful that I gave too long an expos- 

 ure to the films. It is needless to say I shall 

 find out just as soon as possible. Really I 

 must stop writing along this line, else (be- 

 fore I know) I shall be classed as a "camera 

 fiend" before I have even had a peep into 

 the rudiments of the game. 



* * * 



LONGEVITY OF CARNIOLAN QUEENS. 



On page 743, Nov. 15, the question is 

 asked as to whether Carniolans are jDrone 

 to supersede their queens; and in answer 

 to this I must say no, most decidedly. As 

 a matter of fact, I have often wished that 

 such was the case, as one fault I have with 

 them is that the queens are very long-lived, 

 and will sometimes be left when they are 



too old to be of good service. As I clip 

 all my queens I know what I am talking 

 about. No doubt claims are made sometimes 

 by people who do not clip, so they can not 

 be positive on matters of this kind. Some 

 time ago I reported having kept a queen 

 until she was seven years old — no doulit 

 about the matter at all, as I have abundant 

 evidence to prove the statement. Well, this 

 particular queen was a pure Carniolan, and 

 her wings were all off close to her back, so 

 that there were additional risks according 

 to some anti-clippers. 



* * * 



IS FOUL BROOD MORE VIRULENT AT TIMES? 



On page 719, Nov. 15, Mr. Crane speaks 

 of foul brood being more virulent in some 

 places than in others, and says that he does 

 not wonder at the variety of opinions ex- 

 pressed on the subject by ditferent writers. 

 What kind of foul brood is meant? If 

 European foul brood I can understand how 

 differences of opinion might arise; but if 

 our old acquaintance American foul brood 

 is meant, I can not agree with him. I have 

 seen it in different counties in Ontario in 

 all stages, and I can think of no malady 

 affecting any living organism that is more 

 uniform in its actions than this disease. 

 As a general principle, it can be stated that 

 larvae die from this disease only when fed 

 infected honey, or what amounts to the 

 same thing, Avhen a larva is hatched in a 

 cell that has the disease scales, and thus be- 

 comes infected. Disease makes progress 

 according to the number of larva3 that hap- 

 pen to get the disease given to them. As 

 an illustration, the following will make the 

 point clear; and as it is a common happen- 

 ing in sections where American foul brood 

 is present, no doubt many have noticed how 

 it works. 



Let a colony that is foul be robbed out 

 late in the fall when brood-rearing has 

 stopped, and as a result it may be that 

 none of the robbers will cause disease to 

 break out in their colonies, for the simple 

 reason that no brood is present and the 

 honey is used before any larvae are in evi- 

 dence to be fed this diseased honey. On 

 the other hand, let an ajjiary rob out a foul 

 colony in the spring time, especially just 

 at the close of fruit bloom, and every colo- 

 ny taking part in the robbing will be dis- 

 eased — nothing surer. The same principle 

 on a modified scale applies to all stages of 

 the disease, and will ahvays explain why a 

 colony gels bad very quickly in one cas,'>, 

 while another may have had the disease for 

 quite a while before getting in bad order. 



