from year to year that it is diflicult to write of them 

 so as to be understood. Sometimes they fill the 

 brood-(>oml)s very heavily when fed to finish sections, 

 and at other times not a great deal is stored there. 

 My thought was to give a general idea of how to get 

 partly built sections finished, and about how fast we 

 could count on doing it, and let every one work out 

 the details, varying them according to the need of 

 the different seasons and localities. At this date, 

 Aug. 20, I am feeding back to two colonies, and the 

 work is going well; but as the early flow lasted until 

 August, and tapered off very gradually, I had only 

 15 or 20 supers to feed back. 



Dunlap, Iowa. E. S. Miles. 



The Water-bottle for Queen-cages; a Good Testi- 

 monial from One of the Old Veterans 



I am glad to see that you are going to add a wa- 

 ter-bottle to your queen-cages. Years ago I bought of 

 A. I. Root an imported queen, and home-bred 

 queens all came through in good shape with their 

 little water-bottles. Contrast this with the present 

 method. Queens I bought of Messrs. Moore, Robey, 

 and Hand all came dead. I suggested softer candy 

 to two of the gentlemen, and the next queens came 

 through alive. More than half the queens shipped 

 here are dead on arrival. I know a man who return- 

 ed queens four times to the same shipper. The fifth 

 came dead, and he let it go at that — said he was 

 ashamed to return her. All of these queens could 

 have been saved if shipped as Mr. Root shipped them 

 35 years ago. 



I question whether we have improved the frame 

 designed by A. I. Root. I had some two thousand 

 combs built in these trussed frames. There was no 

 sagging of the top or bottom bar unless the wire 

 broke. This is more than I can say of the frames I 

 have now. 



Bakersfield, Cal. C. G. Knowles. 



[My good friend, I am greatly pleased to see your 

 indorsement of my queen-cages and frames of olden 

 times. If I am correct, the preference seems to be 

 strong for a heavier top-bar ; and with these heavy 

 top-bars the wire trussing I devised seems to be un- 

 necessary. The heavy top-bar (an inch thick or 

 more) does away with burr combs over the frames 

 to a great extent. See ABC book, p. 130, for a 

 full discussion of the matter. — A. I. R.] 



The Smoke Method of Introduction Again Suc- 

 cessful 



When I received queen No. 2 I removed the old 

 queen from a small colony of what I would consider 

 pure blacks and laid the new queen on top of the 

 frames. In 24 hours I looked in and found the 

 queen still in the cage, but the bees had balled her 

 and were stinging and biting her. I made the dis- 

 covery that they had started many queen-cells. I 

 said, " You are not going to kill that queen," and I 

 plugged up the hole in the candy so that they could 

 not reach her, destroyed the cells, and placed the 

 queen back on the frames. The next day I found 

 the same conditions and again destroyed the cells. 

 The next day it was the same, and I concluded to 

 try Arthur C. Miller's plan of introducing as given 

 in Gleanings, June 1, p. 370. I did not tear the 

 cells down, but administered the smoke as directed, 

 and released the queen. I left them alone two days 

 and looked in, and there was the queen as contented 

 as if she had been raised there. The bees that came 

 with her were also there. This is the first time that 

 I ever had a swarm build queen-cells when there 

 was a laying queen caged in the hive immediately 

 after the removal of the old queen. I am also sure 

 that I vyould have failed with any method that I 

 have previously tried in introducing. 



I never have read a report of the effect of a high 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



dry altitude on the candy in a queen-cage. It some- 

 times becomes so hard that I doubt if the bees would 

 get it out in a week. I had this experience in Fallon, 

 Nevada, last jear. C. E. Hammond. 



Vivian, La., Aug. 8. 



Sac Brood 



I am writing you in regard to sac brood. Some 

 thing got wrong with my bees, and I sent two sam- 

 ples of brood at different times from two hives that 

 were affected to Dr. Phillips, at Washington, and 

 both times he reported sac brood, and said that it 

 was not serious, and no treatment was recommend- 

 ed. The two colonies affected were weak, so I burned 

 them before I got his answer, thinking I had foul 

 brood. I have a colony now that was affected with 

 only a few larvie in one comb, so that I cut them 

 out and am writing you to see what I must do to 

 them. RoscoE McElroy. 



Morganfield, Ky., Aug. 18. 



[Sac brood is not dangerous nor contagious, or at 

 least only slightly so. We are sorry that you burned 

 up your colonies. It is found in the height of the 

 season in most apiaries in the United States. It 

 usually disappears in a short time, and the only 

 damage it does is to kill half a dozen or so larvae 

 out of possibly twenty-five or thirty thousand other 

 individual larvEe in the hive. Such loss is hardly 

 worth taking into account. If you will apply to Dr. 

 E. F. Phillips he will send you a government bulle- 

 tin on sac brood. Address him, Department of Agri- 

 culture, Washington, D. C. — Ed.] 



Meeting of the Carolina Beekeepers' Association 



The Carolina Beekeepers' Association held its mid- 

 summer meeting in the convention room of the Lan- 

 grenhold, Asheville, N. C, July 26. The meeting 

 was one of unusual interest. O. Brumfield, J. W. 

 Gooderyin. and others discussed the merits of the 

 ten-frame hive over that of the eight frame, with the 

 result that each hive had an equal number of advo- 

 cates. 



Dr. B. F. Landis talked on the subject of the best 

 bee for the South. A discussion followed, and the 

 matter was settled in favor of the pure Italian. 



C. W. Harmon, a packer and dealer in fine honey, 

 gave the convention a treat as to the best methods 

 of preparing our product for the market. 



Our society has doubled its membership in less 

 than 12 months. The next meeting will be held in 

 Black Mountain, N. C, Aug. 29, at which time new 

 nfiirers will be elected. A. L. Beach, See. 



Virgins Lost Because of High Wind 



Your editorial, August 1, page 513, states that a 

 high wind July 13 and 14 left your queen-rearing 

 yard almost queenless. I have had trouble this sea- 

 son. I have been replacing virgins continually that 

 went somewhere. We have had a great man • hi>,'h 

 winds preceding storms, and at other times. I can 

 now understand why so many have been lost. 



Cranbrook. B. C. T. S. Gill. 



Sweet Clover and Alfalfa Stood the Drouth 



This has been a dry year. We did not get any 

 rain this summer. The bees did better than they did 

 before for eleven years. Some for the last three 

 years did not make their own living. Through all the 

 dry weather the sweet clover and alfalfa did finely. 

 This is the first year the alfalfa ever honeyed. I 

 have got 26 hives. My best hive made 115 pounds, 

 and some made nothing. I will get your ABC book 

 and raise by own queens next year. 



Fredonia, Kan., Aug. 26. ChAS. Hekold. 



