242 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.. 



moving the queen has often cured the 

 disease, seems to point to that direction. 



What can be done ? The treatment 

 used to cure silk-worm disease cannot 

 be applied to bees. The chief part of it 

 consists in a microscopical examination 

 of the eggs lo ascertain if there are any 

 spores in them, and reject all but the 

 healthy ones. 



Two processes suggest themselves : 

 Since the disease resides chiefly in the 

 grown bees, it is probable that salicylic 

 acid administered ia syrup, or some 

 other antisepic, would destroy the dis- 

 ease. The other consists in removing 

 the queen to be sure she cannot trans- 

 mit the disease to her brood through her 

 eggs or otherwise ; and at the same time 

 spraying the bees and combs with some 

 antiseptic (salicylic acid, phenol, sul- 

 phur, or perhaps salted water) in order 

 to destroy what spores might be in the 

 hive, and repeating the process until all 

 the diseased bees should be gone. 



The bees themselves help a good deal 

 in checking the disease, by ejecting and 

 literally carrying out the diseased bees ; 

 and since bees void their excrements 

 outside, and also die generally outside 

 of the hive, most of the spores are thus 

 carried away. Somebody has insisted, 

 however, that the dead bees ought to be 

 collected and burnt, so as to avoid any 

 danger from that source. 

 I have not tried anything yet. 

 Knoxville, Tenn., July 20. 



Swarmii M the Bee-Keeper. 



Written lor the American Bee Journal 



BY S. C. MARKON. 



What harvesting is to the farmer, 

 what pay-day is to the editor, what Sun- 

 day is to the minister, swarming is to 

 the bee-keeper. Proper swarming cul- 

 minates proper management. By this, 

 profit is made and loss sustained. 

 Swarming, unlike wintering and season- 

 ing, is directly controllable. Increase 

 and surplus honey result from its 

 method of procedure. 



If I wish to double the number of colo- 

 nies, is it that I must sacrifice my 

 amount of surplus honey ? No ! For the 

 reason that I may early divide the colo- 

 iii(!S, give laying and clipped queens 

 (prepared in one. or two franle nuclei to 

 avoid swarming while mating) to the 

 young colonies, and have them prepared 

 for the flow of honey. If tiie season 

 proves a failure, double up colonics to 

 winter. The ways of ^sacrificing honey 



for increase are numerous, and the ma- 

 jority of bee-keepers have already ex- 

 perienced them. 



Again, let us suppose a bee-keeper — 

 amateur or professional — managing an 

 apiary. The proper way for him to pro- 

 ceed would be to have his hives ready 

 and clean, with combs free from worms. 

 He may, however, neglect hives and 

 combs until swarming is already upon 

 him, then with hurry and anger he 

 rushes from point to place, upturning 

 last year's negligence, overturning hives 

 of honey, bee-bread and worms, himself 

 blinded by the cloud of moths issuing 

 from the pile, etc. The former looks 

 upon swarming with cheer and com- 

 placence, the other with dread; the one 

 gladdens its coming, the oiher fears ; 

 the one hives with neatness and correct- 

 ness, the other with slovenliness and 

 irregularity ; the one succeeds, the other 

 fails ; the one we honor and follow, the 

 other we shun and despise. 



One remarked that by the chips he 

 could tell the workman ; so by the con- 

 dition of the combs we can tell the story 

 of that bee-keeper's life. No matter if 

 he combine any trade or profession with 

 apiculture — the amateur bee-keeper ex- 

 periments, the professional learns. The 

 amateur becomes the professional when 

 he combines reason with the honey-bee's 

 instinct — when he observes, notes and 

 studies. 



Right here I may say no science af- 

 fords such a field of experience and 

 pleasure as the culture of the Italian 

 honey-bee. No science portrays the 

 character of a man better. We can see 

 men who are painfully economical in the 

 apiary, and we see them fail. Indeed, 

 no profession so combats economy as 

 this. This profession is comparatively 

 new, yet one very old. Progress was 

 never greater nor faster than to-day, 

 and who can see its climax ? There are 

 bee-keepers who will take every ounce 

 of honey from a colony and leave them 

 to gather their winter stores from the 

 last of buckwheat or the frost-bitten 

 flowers. What is there seemingly more 

 cruel ? Such businesslike little crea- 

 tures, brimming with animal life, and 

 their wonderful God-given instinct, gath- 

 ering perhaps five or six fold their own 

 consumption ! 



The art of bee-keeping is holding out 

 its hand for n\en who are men, accord- 

 ing to Emerson — men fit to tutor a fam- 

 ily of intelligent children. Apiculture 

 is becoming a pleasure with its ample 

 gain. 



Cardiff, N. Y. 



