464 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



honey a good name in market, but I must leave them on the hive until the nice 

 white comb was more or less travel-stained by the bees, for as sure as I took a comb 

 out and put an empty section in its place, the combs in the sections next to it would 

 have their cells so lengthened that they could not be crated at all. 



Then each section must be filled with foundation, if I would succeed, no matter 

 how short I was of cash to purchase it. To be sure, I did succeed tolerably well by 

 putting strips of foundation two inches wide in the two outside tiers of sections ; 

 then IX inches wide in the next two tiers inside of them, then one inch wide next ; 

 and in the center two tiers, foundation only 3^ inch wide ; but all this required a 

 nicety that was much greater than the use of separators demanded. 



From the above it will be seen that I have given the non-separator business a 

 fair trial, and was at last driven to the conclusion that, for me, separators are an 

 actual necessity, if I would secure the most comb honey in the best marketable 

 shape. 



Not long ago I ran across the question asked in one of the bee-papers of the 

 past, "Will all bee-keepers agree that it is more profitable to dispense with them 

 (separators) than to keep them ?" to which one of our noted writers replied : " It is 

 not at all likely that all bee-keepers will, as some are so wedded to their fixtures 

 and methods that it would be almost impossible to induce them to even try some 

 better method ;" and yet, if I am correctly informed, that noted writer has left that 

 " better method " (non-separators) and gone back to using separators again. It is 

 well, as a general thing, to know that a certain thing which we may advocate, is a 

 " better method " before we herald it broadcast before the world, for by this herald- 

 ing we may induce others to go to a great expense in changing their fixtures, only 

 to be disappointed in the end. 



Some have thought that separators cost them considerable of their crop of 

 honey ; but from careful observations during the past twenty years, I fail to find 

 anything pointing toward such a conclusion. The only thing that I can see against 

 separators is their original cost, and the time consumed in attaching them to the 

 super or wide-frames, and I believe that the advocating of the production of comb 

 honey without their use, is a move in the wrong direction, and I hope that all will 

 take an interest in seeing that good prices in our markets can be maintained only 

 by putting upon it that which is as nearly perfect as possible. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



THE "NE'W BEE-DISEASE" INVESXIGAXEO. 



BY WM. B. HOWARD, M. D. 



Having noticed on page 344, in the report of the Los Angeles County conven- 

 tion, by Dr. G. A. Millard, under the caption "A New Bee-Disease," that they are 

 having some trouble in California from this new infection (?), I wish to call the 

 attention of those interested to page 14 (my work on " Foul Brood "), commencing 

 at the last paragraph on the page, where the condition is treated of in full. 



We have been troubled with this condition in this county, and have lost several 

 colonies of bees from it. The treatment mentioned in connection with this condi- 

 tion, where rigidly carried out, has not failed to cure it. During the profuse honey- 

 flow it frequently disappears, from the fact that the bees clean out the dead brood 

 and fill the infected cells with honey. Later in the season, or perhaps the next 

 spring, when the honey has been removed, and the cells have been used again for 

 brood, the disease reappears. In all the cases which I have examined, I have found 

 that the most of the dead brood was sealed. Many putrefactive bacteria increase 



