Cleanings in Bee Culture 



DdcsgKi]© (dH (Bipmm i!\p®m Mi!if(B\P(Bmil{FmMi 



How Often is it Necessary to Inspect Colonies for 

 Foul Brood ? 



Dr. C. C. jl/iV/ec— How often would you recom- 

 mend examinine hives for foul brood, and at what 

 season of the year? In April or May I examined a 

 colony that acted strangely, and found about one- 

 fifth of the unsealed brood dead and black. In three 

 weeks all cells were cleaned out, and being filled 

 with eggs and larva- : but about a third of the 

 worker-cells hatched out all drones. No more dis- 

 ea.se appeared. I pronounced it pickled brood. 

 These bees were dark hybrids. 



In August I killed the queen, which was a fine- 

 looking one. and introduced a golden Italian one 

 in her place. Soon beautiful bees began to hatch : 

 but within ten days from the time they began to fly 

 out. there would be from four to seven dead ones 

 on the alighting-board. But there were no old nor 

 hybrid bees among the dead ones. The unhatched 

 brood was healthy. Why did the young bees that 

 had never done field work die off? At present all 

 seems to be well. 



(jcwda Springs. Kan.. Dec. 9. D. W. Holland. 



[Dr. Miller replies:] 



Of course there's no use looking any time before 

 brood Is present in .'spring, nor. Indeed, for some 

 time after. Wait till colonies have built up into 

 prosperous condition and are bringing in honey. 

 From that time until brood-rearing ceases in the 

 fall it will be well to make an inspection every two 

 or three weeks if foul brood is in the apiary, either 

 for treatment or to make sure that no treatment is 

 needed. 



You are likely right in attributing that 20 per 

 cent of dead brood to the pickled-brood business, if 

 we may call starved or chilled brood pickled brood. 

 But the drones from worker-cells should be charged 

 to a defective queen. I'he dead young Italians may 

 likely be charged to the larva- of the moth. These 

 run their galleries along the surface of the sealed 

 brood, mutilating the young bees, which are then 

 thrown out. C. C. Miller. 



When is the Best Time to Remove Old Crooked 

 Combs ? 



Are Jumbo frames self-spacing ? 



What is the best way to remove old useless 

 brood-comb from the hive so that there shall be as 

 little waste as possible of honey, brood, and pollen? 



I have no honey-extractor. Some of my colonies 

 have contracted foul brood, and I find that it is 

 those colonies that have old brood-combs. 



Bainham. X. Z. K. B. Langford. 



[The Jumbo frames are usually self-spacing of the 

 Hoffman type. 



If colonies require feeding in the fall, old crooked 

 combs can be gotten rid of very easily at such a 

 time by removing them before the feeding is done, 

 and then contracting the size of the brood-chamber 

 to accommodate the combs left which contain the 

 winter stores. 



Karly in the spring a great many poor combs can 

 be taken away; and a little later, when the bees be- 

 gin to need more room, frames of foundation can 

 be substituted. 



During swarming time the old combs may be re- 

 moved entirely, and the bees shaken on to full 

 sheets of comb fovmdatlon. The old brood-combs 

 are then stacked up. the young bees allowed to 

 hatch, and then, after three weeks, these young 

 bees shaken in front of various colonies in the yard 

 that may need strengthening. The old combs are 

 then empty and may be rendered up.— Ed.] 



Capping-melters Darken Amber Honeys. 



1 am one of the oldest bee-keepers in Australia, 

 and for a long time the largest, although I do not 

 think 1 am at pre.sent. 1 have had a bottling es- 

 tablishment in Sydney for a number of years : and 

 as it was always necessary to use heat I had consid- 

 erable experience of the eflect of heat on different 

 honeys. There are some honeys gathered in Aus- 

 tralia of good consistency and flavor, and very 

 light color, which a capping-melter would not In- 

 jure much: but the majority of darker honeys it 

 would damage to a great extent. There are some 

 honeys here that will not stand heat at all: and it 

 they candy it Is better to let them go in that state 

 than to attempt to liquefy them, as they get so 



dark and rank. For that reason a capping-heater 

 would be of no use to me, nor, I think, to the ma- 

 jority of Australian bee-keepers. If I used one I 

 would certainly keep the honey apart and sell it on 

 its merits. I would not allow It to run into the 

 tank. 



Mr. Beuhne is, I think, peculiarly situated, inas- 

 much as he has a location which gives him a very 

 large yield of light honey — the sort which receives 

 the minimum amount of damage by the applica- 

 tion of heat. Both here and on my other farms. 400 

 miles south, I get some honey which I could safely 

 put through a capping-heater, but I get a lot which 

 I could not. 



Capplngs are undoubtedly a nuisance— that is to 

 say, the accumulations during extracting are: and 

 the only merit a heater has, in my opinion, is to 

 get them out of the way quickly: but if this is done 

 at the expense of the quality of the honey the ad- 

 vantage is a doubtful one. I will tell you later on, 

 if you care to know, how we manage with our cap- 

 pings. Major Shallard. 



South Woodburn, N S. W., Australia. 



[We are very glad to use what you have to say re- 

 garding capping-melters: and we should be i^leased 

 to have you continue the subject, and tell how you 

 dispose of cappings.— Ed.] 



A Swarm that Issued when the Queens were 

 Ready to Hatch. 



One Sunday morning in July we noticed that a 

 swarm had just gone out of one of our hives previ- 

 ous to our visit; and in order to make sure from 

 which hive the swarm came we opened the one 

 which, the previous day, seemed about to swarm. 

 This happened to be the right hive; and on exam- 

 ining the frames we saw two or three queen-cells 

 on which the caps were so loose from the young 

 queens trying to free themselves that we had no 

 trouble in removing the caps with our fingers and 

 releasing the young queens, which immediately 

 ran out on the frames. That was the first time in 

 our experience that we had so good an opportuni- 

 ty to test this much-mooted question. We think 

 this bears out your experience also, that the young 

 queens hatch at or about the time the old queen 

 goes out with the swarm. 



Clamart, France, Nov. 21. Geo. Stephens. 



[There has been plenty of proof to show that the 

 swarm occa-sionallij issues about the time the cells 

 hatch: but it seems likely that, in the majority of 

 cases, it comes out about a week in advance. Un- 

 favorable weather conditions probably account for 

 the occasional delays. — Ed.] 



Will Honey Transmit European Foul Brood? 



I wish to know if l<;uropean foul brood might be 

 transferred from place to place in the honey. I un- 

 derstand that it is fully admitted that the Ameri- 

 can type is. Will honey extracted from an apiary 

 containing European foul brood, and shipped to 

 another State, and fed to bees, bring on disease ? 



Kerman, Cal., Dec. 13. C'has. A. Lee. 



[This letter was referred to Dr. E. F. Phillips, who 

 replies:] 



The question raised is, of course, important ; but 

 I know of no way to answer it definitely. The 

 cause of European foul brood is not known, and 

 therefore we would not know what to look for in 

 the honey. Furthermore, even for American foul 

 brood (which we know Is carried in honey) it is dif- 

 ficult to find the organisms. Some practical expe- 

 riences would certainly indicate that European 

 foul brood is carried in honey: but. on the other 

 hand, the success which is sometimes experienced 

 with the dequeening method of treatment makes 

 this somewhat questionable. lOvery phase of this 

 disease is a puzzle, and one who can speak definite- 

 ly of it usually does not know. E. F. Phillips, 

 In Charge of Apiculture. 



Bees Returned to Old Location when Set out for a 

 IVlidwinter Flight. 



The mercury rose to 66 degrees, so I ventured to 

 set my bees out for a flight, and they flew freely all 

 day. I set them on the opposite side of the house, 

 and some of the bees hung around the old stands, 

 but returned all right. That shows their memory. 



Derby, Vt., Dec. 12. W. H. Wilson. 



