lie 



April, 1914. 



American Hee Journal 



and debilitated condition." It is un- 

 doubtedly true that many germs, both 

 good and bad, are to be found every- 

 where, but are the germs of foulbrood 

 thus omnipresent ? 



For many years after the honey-bee 

 was introduced into this country foul- 

 brood was unknown. Is it believable 

 that during all that time germs of the 

 disease were alertly on the watch with- 

 out ever finding a single colony any- 

 where in such poor condition as to 

 allow them to effect an entrance ? 



Take a specific instance, the case of 

 one of the veterans who began bee- 

 keeping many years ago. During all 

 his experience of many years he had 

 no personal knowledge of foulbrood. 

 Then came years when he knew it was 

 in the land, appearing here and there, 

 but not in his neighborhood. Then it 

 came to his knowledge that the disease 

 was within a few miles of him, and a 

 few years ago he found it in his own 

 apiary. He had been on the alert for 

 it; his colonies were in good condi- 

 tion ; yet there it was, in good, strong 

 previously healthy colonies. It is in- 

 credible that during the years of his 

 novitiate there should never have been 

 a colony in such poor condition as to 

 offer an abode to those villainous germs 

 prowling everywhere, and that such an 

 abode could only be found after many 

 years of waiting until the value of 

 strong, healthy colonies had been fully 

 learned, and that such colonies not un- 

 til then offered a welcome to the mis- 

 creants. 



As already said, it is just possible 

 that Dr. Carton may not have meant 

 what he appears to mean, and it is well 

 to warn the ine.xperienced that he 

 should put no false trust in the best 

 sanitary care of his colonies, but watch 

 even the strongest for the appearance 

 of the foe. 



The Weed Flora ot Iowa 



We have under our eyes Bulletin No. 

 4 of the Iowa Geological Survey, with 

 above title. The book is very exhaus- 

 tive, and contains over 900 pages, with 

 40 pages of index, numerous engrav- 

 ings, considerations on the structure 

 of seeds, flowers, leaves and roots, the 

 injuriousness of weeds, their migra- 

 tions, weed and seed laws, etc. It is 

 the work of Dr. L. H. Pammel, the 

 eminent professor of botany at Ames, 

 and author of a " Manual of Poisonous 

 Plants." 



This appears to be a very thorough 

 work, and the cuts are excellent. There 

 is but one thing for which we might 

 be sorry concerning this most useful 

 treatise. It is that the usefulness of 

 such weeds as produce honey has not 

 been taken into account, the only men- 

 tion that he have seen of honey pro- 

 duction from weeds being in regard to 

 sweet clover, to which Dr. Pammel 

 renders full justice. We notice that 

 he places golden-rod on a parity with 

 ragweed as to the baneful influence of 

 its pollen on hay-fever sufferers. 



We suggest that an additional study 



of the weed flora in regard to the use- 

 fulness of the honey and pollen pro- 

 duction would be exceedingly interest- 

 ing. It might also be published in the 

 form of a bulletin. In the fight against 

 weeds, it is well that we should sep- 

 arate those which prove useful in 

 honey production from the thoroughly 

 injurious ones like the ragweed. It 

 remains for eminent workers like Dr. 

 Pammel to give the country this addi- 

 tional information, and it is to the in- 

 terest of the farmers that it be done. 



Fastening Foundation with Putty 

 Knife 



C. B. Palmer writes: "I have been 

 using this style of fastening for two 

 seasons, and find it very good. We take 

 the foundation and lay it on the sec- 

 tion, dip a short, stiff putty-knife in 

 common Karo white syrup, and press 

 the foundation into the wood; the 

 syrup prevents the knife from sticking 

 to the foundation, and the Karo hardens 

 at the edge of the foundation, and 

 seems to make a tight and smooth 

 joint. (Do not get the syrup under the 

 foundation.)" 



Mr. Palmer sends a sample, which 

 shows a nice, straight job. The use of 

 the putty-knife for fastening founda- 

 tion in sections was superseded by the 

 Parker fastener, which did at a single 

 stroke wliat the putty-knife did at sev- 

 eral strokes. Then the hot plate drove 

 out the Parker. Yet the old method of 

 fastening still comes nicely in play 

 when in the apiary a section happens 

 to be found in which a starter has 

 fallen down; only in that case instead 

 of a putty-knife the flat blade of a hive- 

 tool is generally used, because more 

 convenient, and for the same reason 

 honey is used instead of Karo. Besides, 

 it seems a sort of insult to the bees to 

 offer them glucose, even in so very 

 small quantity. 



Making Hone.v Labels Stick 



In the March number Dr. Miller 

 stated that he had trouble with making 

 labels stick on tin. We have since re- 

 ceived several letters suggesting reme- 

 dies for this, nearly all of them recom- 

 mending the addition of a small amount 

 of honey to the paste. Mr. R. S. Miller, 

 of Indiana, writes : 



"This is a problem that bothered me 

 for a long time. By experimenting I 

 finally found that by scouring the sur- 

 face of the tin the labels would stick. 

 Later I learned how to make paste 

 that would stick without scouring. Use 

 plenty of water in making a thin paste 

 of flour or starch. Boil slowly and 

 evenly. When partly boiled down add 

 two tablespoonfuls of honey to each 



teacup of the paste. Continue to boil 

 until thick. Use while fresh." 



Mr. Parison, of California, suggests 

 the addition of a small amount of fish 

 glue instead of the honey. He also 

 gives the formula for making a paste 

 that will keep any length of time : 



" Mix two tablespoonfuls of corn 

 starch to K pint of cold water. Add 

 one teaspoonful of fish glue and }-i 

 tablespooful of lye that has been lique- 

 fied in water. Cook until thick, stirring 

 vigorously to avoid lumps. If it does 

 not thicken properly, add a little more 

 lye. This paste will not sour or smell." 



Note. — If honey is used in the paste, 

 care should be taken to use white 

 honey, as a darker honey may discolor 

 the label. 



A Honey Day 



One of the interesting points brought 

 out at the February meeting at St. 

 Louis, was the possibility of establish- 

 ing a national " honey day " in which 

 people would be urged to eat honey. 

 Mr. Geo. W. Williams, of Redkey, Ind., 

 said that Dec. 15 had been designated 

 in Indiana as a " honey day." In a 

 private letter to the Editor, he stated 

 that in his opinion this helped to move 

 some 40 tons or more of honey than 

 would have otherwise been sold in the 

 State. There is no doubt that a Na- 

 tional Honey Day would help honey 

 sales considerably. Let our beekeepers 

 agitate this subject. 



Foulbrood v.s. Foul Brood 



Some time ago we received the fol- 

 lowing from Dr. Miller, regarding 

 whether " foulbrood " should be spelled 

 as two words or one ; 



" When a man sees a bird of any kind 

 which is black in color, we say, ' He 

 saw a black bird,' writing the two 

 words separately and putting the em- 

 phasis on ' bird.' If he uses the same 

 two words to name a particular bird 

 that he saw (a grackle), putting the 

 emphasis on 'black,' then we unite the 

 two words into one, and say, ' He saw 

 a blackbird.' Same with blackberry, 

 greenhouse, etc. In some cases there 

 is an intermediate stage, and hyphen is 

 used between the two words, but 

 sooner or latter the hyphen is usually 

 dropped, and the two words written as 

 one. By analogy, when we use the 

 words ' foul ' and ' brood ' to name a 

 certain disease, putting the emphasis 

 on 'foul.' wc should write 'foulbrood,' 

 and not ' foul brood.' If healthy brood 

 is taken from a hive and left to decay, 

 there will in time be foul brood, but no 

 foulbrood. It would be well if this 

 form should be used in all bee litera- 

 ture." 



lust when is the proper time to drop 

 the hyphen is hard to tell. For in- 

 stance, bee-keeping is considered cor- 

 rect, yet it should be a word of com- 



