386 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



The Starvation Cure for Foul Brood; the Impor- 

 tance of Treating Promptly 



I have a copy of your A B C of Bee Culture for 

 1905, and I wish to ask you about an article on 

 pa?e 170, second column, about half way down. 

 You say, " When the bees begin to fall from the 

 comb as if from starvation, they were fed." Does this 

 mean that they were closed up in the hive after giv- 

 ing them sheets of foundation for foul-brood treat- 

 ment ? 



Would you advise treating for that now, or wait 

 until after the honey-fiow ? and about what date then 

 would you advise? 



I also intend to Italianize. Would j ou advise me 

 to do this after the honey-flow too? I have five hives 

 of hybrids. 



Ashland, Ky., April 21. John M. O'Dw er. 



[Referring to the method of curing foul brood as 

 given in the edition of the A B C of Bee Culture 

 which you have, we would say that our idea was to 

 put the bees in a wire-cloth cage or in a hive having 

 a screen top so that the bees can get plenty of air 

 while they are kept away from the combs, and dur- 

 ing the period where they are being starved, until 

 they just begin to drop down. If they were shut up 

 in an ordinary hive tight, without any special ven 

 tilation other than that given at the entrance, they 

 might suffocate; but nowadays we have a little more 

 modern method of cure by which we do not have to 

 starve the Lees at all. We let them loose on frames 

 of foundation. We are sending you under separate 

 cover a copy" of our booklet, " Diseases of Bees," and 

 would refer you to the special treatment given for 

 foul brood. 



Always in bee diseases of any sort, especially 

 American or European, we would advise immediate 

 treatment. To defer the matter until after the honey- 

 flow would only subject your other colonies to the 

 danger of infection; and it is better to treat when 

 the bees are not inclined to rob than at any othei 

 time. If the fruit-bloom is all over with you it might 

 be advisable for you to shake your bees on to frames 

 of foundation, as given in our booklet, along about 

 sundown, or possibly a little later — just late enough 

 so that robber bees would not cause any trouble. 

 The combs themselves then should be thoroughly 

 burned and the ashes buried. 



The matter of Italianizing the bees can, perhaps, 

 be deferred to advantage until after the honey-flow. 



We should be very glad to have you come and see 

 us at any time. Our apiaries are open to inspection, 

 and beginners are always welcome, or any one else. 

 When you come, make yourself known and we will 

 see that a man takes you over the plant and gives 

 you opportunity to see actual work among the bees. 

 If you can stay long enough we will give you a 

 chance to go out to the outyards where the men are 

 at work. — Ed.] 



Another Plan for Running for Increase and Ex- 

 tracted Honey Both 



I have fifteen hives of bees which I wish to in- 

 crease to thirty. Twenty I intend to run for ex- 

 tracted honey, and ten for comb. Will the following 

 plan work ? When the colonies get quite strong I 

 will give each a second brood-chamber filled with 

 comb, or full sheets of foundation. Every few days 

 I will reverse the brood-chambers, top for bottom. 

 When the honey-flow comes on I will take one brood 

 chamber filled with the heaviest frames of brood, 

 the queen, and some young bees, and set them on 

 a new stand, leaving the hive on the old stand to 

 raise a new queen. I will then give each a super, 

 I will make the change in the middle of the day 

 when most bees are flying. I have 200 lbs. of sugar 

 on hand. I will feed until I add the second brood- 

 cliamber, which will be when the fruit-trees start to 



1 loom, or pjrhaps before. Would it be advisable to 

 raise some .\ouug queens and have them all ready to 

 introduce to the hives I leave on the old stands? 

 Troy, N. Y , April 14. W. H. Roberts. 



[Giving a colony an extra brood-chamber filled 

 with empty combs or frames of foundation is correct 

 enough in principle; but there will be no particular 

 advantage in reversing the position of the brood 

 chambers unless you use perforated zinc and put the 

 queen below the zinc with the empty combs or 

 frames of foundation. Without the queen-excluder 

 or perforated z'nc, the queen in all probability would 

 stay with her brood-combs whether she was in the 

 bottom story or in the top story. She would grad 

 ually, however, work into the other story that had 

 the empty combs or frames of foundation, no mattei' 

 whether it were below or whether it were on top. 

 A much better plan than reversing the brood-combs, 

 and which would accomplish the object which you 

 are seeking, would be to scatter the brood — that is, 

 after settled warm weather has come on. At the 

 time of giving the extra hive-lody on top, remove 

 some of tlie brood-combs from the lower hive and put 

 them in the upper hive. Pill the spaces in both hives 

 with frames of foundation or combs, placing the 

 empties in alternation with the frames of brood. 

 But be < areful not to overdo this. It would be very 

 much better, at the start, to bring up one or two 

 frames of brood in the upper story along with the 

 empty combs and frames of foundation. Place the 

 two frames of brood together. At the beginning of 

 things it is wise not to scatter the brood too much: 

 but when the swarming season begins and the bees 

 feel inclined to swarm and hang out, then we advise 

 alternating a frame of brood with an empty frame 

 of comb or frame of foundation. As a general thing 

 this will entirely check swarming for the time being. 



Your scheme of taking away the brood-chamber 

 containing the heaviest frames of brood is correct 

 enough, with this exception: It would be better to 

 use only frames of sealed brood. If you effect this 

 removal at the time when the bees are flying the 

 heaviest, and leave plenty of young bees with the 

 hive removed, there will not be much danger of chill 

 ing the brood, providing the weather is warm 

 enough at the time. Taking every thing into consid- 

 eration we think you will find the Alexander method 

 of making increase, recently given in Gleanings, 

 will suit you better. See page 314 of Gleanings 

 for May 1. 



Yes, you could raise young queens and have them 

 all ready to introduce at the time of making the 

 division; but before you raise any queens you better 

 read the article on " Queen-rearing " in our A B C 

 and X Y Z of Bee Culture, or in our booklet, " Mod- 

 ern Queen-rearing." — Ed.] 



No Pollen-producing Plants in Bloom, a Result of 

 the Frost 



In returning to my apiary from the north last 

 week I found every thing at a standstill; but little 

 brood-rearing was going on, and the bees were weak- 

 er in numbers than ever before in my experience at 

 this time of the year. I soon saw, from inspection, 

 that they were entirely destitute of pollen, and not 

 a speck was coming in. The bees were heavy from 

 well-filled combs of honey which was fed to them 

 last fall. I never had such an experience before, as 

 pollen is always abundant here, even when honey 

 is absent. I never had to feed flour before in my 

 experience of more than thirty years. The bees went 

 at the rye flour like hogs to swill. They were more 

 ravenous over it than when robbing. My one hun- 

 dred colonies took in four quarts each day, for a 

 week, and stored but little of it, and the weather.too, 

 was very cold for this season of the year. 



I now see that the pollen flowers are absent, and 



