GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



yard every ten days, I can remove the queen 

 from a strong colony, such as I want to 

 breed from, and there will be cells there on 

 my return ten days later, or the eleventh 

 day when I want to requeen. However, I 

 prefer to introduce the cell at once, upon 

 the removal of the queen, by placing it in a 

 cell-protector and placing that on one of 

 the combs in the usual way. This saves an 

 extra trij) to this yard. Another way to 

 get the cells is to have a queen-rearing yard, 

 and carry the cells to the yard for all the 

 increase one wishes to make. 



By following this plan there is no let-up 

 of work in the supers as there is by the 

 shaking plan or any other plan that I ever 

 tried, but work goes i-ight along as if noth- 

 ing had happened. In testing this plan in 

 1907 I tried it in two yards, with the result 

 that there was no swarming in those yards. 

 1 made 100 per cent increase, and got more 

 honey per colony than in any other yards. 

 We thus have the matter of increase in our 

 own hands. If we wish no increase, we may 

 kill the queen and requeen as described 

 above, or we may cage the queen as per Dr. 

 Miller's plan. 



Mathis, Texas. 



MODIFICATION OF THE BALDRIDGE PLAN 

 FOR CURING FOUL BROOD 



Running the Bees from the Diseased Colony into a 

 Healthy Colony 



BY CHAS. M. MUSGROVE 



The foul-brood situation in this part of 

 Berkshire Co. is discouraging. Since the 

 inspection in 1911, nothing has been done 

 except by individual beekeepers; and in 

 many cases where disease was found in 1911 

 nothing has been done in the line of treat- 

 ment. The consequence is, we are surround- 

 ed with diseased colonies to such an extent 

 that I, for one, made up my mind that I 

 would go out of the bee business unless some 

 way could be found Avhereby I could control 

 matters in my own yard independently of 

 the surroundings. 



In the fall of 1911 Dr. Stockwell, of 

 Stockbri^dge, Mass., at our beekeepers' meet- 

 ing read a paper in which he argued from 

 a medical standpoint that it is possible, by 

 constant selection, to develop a race of bees 

 that will be practically immune to the dis- 

 ease. 



With every method of treating foul brood, 

 so far given to the public, there is constant 

 danger of spreading the disease through 

 opening the hive and shaking out, honey as 

 well as bees. With the Baldridge plan the 

 shaking is eliminated; but even then in 

 opening the hive and catching the queen 



there is danger that healthy bees will get 

 some of the honey. Perhaps with experts 

 there is no danger ; but we are not all ex- 

 perts. In any case, if we wait according to 

 directions until the beginning of the honey- 

 flow, and then treat by either plan, otir 

 haiTest is over before the bees have time to 

 build up strong enough to take advantage 

 of it. 



In my experiment I have used the Bald- 

 ridge plan as part of the treatment, and Dr. 

 Miller's plan for requeening comes in also. 



Early in May, 1912, when I found colo- 

 nies with European foul brood I immediate- 

 ly closed the hives as they were before, and 

 placed by the side of each an empty hive. 

 This, I think, is an important step in the 

 treatment. 



Instead of doing any thing more with the 

 diseased colonies, which we will ntimber 1, 

 2, 3, 4, and 5, I proceeded to treat a colony 

 which did not have the disease. 



In 1911 I had one colony located between 

 two diseased colonies which did not contract 

 the disease, and which produced more comb 

 honey than any other which I had. I went 

 to this colony, which we will call No. 6, and 

 commenced feeding for the purpose of forc- 

 ing a swarm. The result was, that on May 

 18, which is very early for this location, I 

 had a large swarm. This was hived in the 

 usual way. Parent colony No. 6 was re- 

 moved, and the new swarm put in its place. 

 So far there is nothing new. 



I then went to colony No. 1, removed the 

 empty hive before mentioned, and put No. 

 1 in its place. Then I put No. 6 (which had 

 just cast a swarm) where the diseased colo- 

 ny had been. The result, of course, was that 

 most of the flying bees from No. 1 went into 

 No. 6. Then in the evening I placed over 

 the entrance of No. 1 a hollow tube extend- 

 ing to about the center of the entrance of 

 No. 6, and ending with a Porter bee-escape, 

 so that, as bees from colony No. 1 came out 

 thej' were forced to enter No. 6. 



No. 6, being reinforced with the bees from 

 No. 1, became so strong that, as soon as the 

 young queen could fly, they cast a larger 

 swarm than the prime swarm headed by a 

 j'oung queen. This swarm gave me more 

 honey than any other I had. Colony 6 

 swarmed the second time ; was removed, and 

 the new swarm put in its place without re- 

 moving the bee-escape tube from No. 1. 

 The remaining bees and hatching brood re- 

 inforced this new colon}', and, for a time, 

 two queens were working for the benefit of 

 this colony. 



Colony No. 6 was then taken to No. 2, 

 and the same process repeated. In this way 

 I treated five diseased colonies from hive 

 No. 6 — getting, in place of five diseased 



