148 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 5, 



Pursue thy fellows still with jest and jibe, 

 Wit, Sophist, SoDjjster YorrioK of ihy tribe. 

 Thou sporiive satirist of Nature's school. 

 To thee tile palm of scoffing we ascribe. 

 Arch mocker and mad abbott of misrule." 

 [To be continued.] 



Preparing aad Moving Bees on a Wagou. 



BY .1, R. SLEASB. 



Some time ago I saw in the Bee Journal some explicit 

 directions for moving bees in ramshackley hives, a distance 

 of 7 miles. As I have had considerable experience in hauling 

 bees at distances varying from 3 to 100 miles, over the worst 

 of Rocky Mountain roads, I thought that my ideas of moving 

 bees might be useful to those who have them to move. 



The best time is immediately before the working or breed- 

 ing season, in the latter part of winter or early spring. Leave 

 the hives just as the bees sealed them down for winter. A 

 strip of stiff spring burlap (the opener the better) two inches 

 wide and two inches longer than the hive-entrance, doubled 

 in at the ends and pushed into it with a thin knife-blade, 

 placed on the center line so that it goes in double, with a small 

 wire nail in each end, is all the closing they need for either a 

 long or short haul on smooth roads. On rough roads a good 

 cord or wire tied tightly around each hive will answer, and on 

 very rough roads a cleat should be nailed on each corner of 

 the hive, long enough to nail to both cover and bottom, where 

 bottoms are loose. 



To prepare the wagon, take the bed off and couple it 12 

 feet long for plank 16 feet long, or 16 feet long for plank 20 

 feet. Floor the wagon with 2-inch plank if the road is rea- 

 sonably good ; if rough, lay a 2x4 crosswise on each end of 

 plank floor — one behind the front wheels and another in front 

 of the hind wheels ; floor on top with inch boards, and pin- 

 spike or bolt the four corners, and you have a platform that 

 you can haul the bees over any road in perfect safety, if you 

 have a good team, and the driver is neither scary nor balky. 



Choose a good, moonlight night. Close the hives as early 

 as possible, put on as many as you can, and drive through as 

 soon as your team can walk it. Put off the hives and open 

 them at'once. Put a board or some obstruction in front of 

 each hive to compel, or rather induce, the bees to locate, and 

 repeat each evening until the bees are moved. I have hauled 

 bees on this plan two hives deep, more than 100 miles. I was 

 on the road four or five days, and passed several miles in 

 which the wheels constantly hopped from one rock to another, 

 without touching ground. 



If the hives are bad, cover down as soon as loaded with a 

 wagon sheet, tarpaulin, or old bed-quilts, to keep as dark as 

 possible. 



FASTENING FOUNDATION. 



After trying many methods, we set our frames in the sun- 

 light until they get warm, lay the wax (foundation) to the 

 wood, and roll, in case of brood-frames, or press, in case of 

 sections, with the Parker fastener. We work with 12,000 

 to 16,000 pounds of honey a year, and cannot follow round- 

 about methods. Roswell, New Mex. 



[Those who have very full acquaintance with the Parker 

 foundation fastener, say that for one who has many sections 

 to fill with starters, it is entirely too slow and too hard work, 

 and that after you get the hang of the Daisy fastener, you 

 could hardly be hired to use the Parker. — Editors.] 



A Ne'w Binder for holding a year's numbers of the 

 American Bee Journal, we propose to mail, postpaid, to every 

 subscriber who sends us 15 cents. It is called "The Wood 

 Binder," is patented, and is an entirely new and very simple 

 arrangement. Full printed directions accompany each Binder. 

 Every reader should get it, and preserve the copies of the Bee 

 Journal as fast as they are received. They are invaluable for 

 reference, and at the low price of the Binder you can afford to 

 get it yearly. 



If any one desires two of the Binders — one for 1895 



and one for 1896 — send 25 cents, and they will be mailed to 



you. 



,*-•-• 



The McEvoy Foul Brood Treatment is 



given in Dr. Howard's pamphlet on " Foul Brood ; Its Natural 

 History and Rational Treatment." It is the latest publication 

 on the subject, and should be in the hands of every bee-keeper. 

 Price, 25 cents ; or clubbed with the Bee Journal for one year 

 —both for $1.10. 



Report of tlic Illinois Slate Convention Held at 

 Chicago, Jan. 9 and lO, 1§96. 



REPORTED BT ERNEST R. ROOT. 



(Continued from page 134.) 

 Second Day— Afternoon Session. 



CURING FOUL BROOD WITHOUT DRUGS. 



Question. — "Can foul brood be destroyed without destroy- 

 ing the colony, and without resorting to drugs ? If so, how?" 



Mr. Walker — I tried Mr. Root's plan of shaking the bees 

 off from the diseased combs, and putting them on frames of 

 foundation in clean hives. This worked well, but it was too 

 expensive at the time on account of the waste of brood and 

 combs which had to be burned. I tried, also, pruning or cut- 

 ting out diseased spots of honey, as I would find them in look- 

 ing over the hives. This worked very well while the honey- 

 flow was good. 



Mr. Baldridge — The plan I use and recommend is the one 

 I described in the Bee-Keepers' Review a couple of years ago. 

 I bore a hole through the front of the hive that has the dis- 

 ease, and attach a bee-escape. What I used is a perforated 

 tin cone. The entrance is now closed, and the hive removed 

 a few inches to one side of the stand it occupied, and a clean 

 hive with a frame of brood and adhering bees is put in its 

 place. The queen is caged in the diseased hive for a day, 

 when she is removed and allowed to run into the new hive on 

 the old stand. It is evident that no bee can get in or out of 

 the old hive except by the escape, and in from 30 to 60 days 

 they will all be out — the bees in the old hive, as well as those 

 yet to be hatched from the brood. I thus save, as you see, all 

 the brood that is good for anything. At the end of the 60 

 days I remove the old hive, disinfect it, and burn the combs. 



Mr. Walker — I tried that plan, and it did not succeed. I 

 consider it very risky on account of robbers. 



Mr. Wheeler — I wonder if there are two diseases very 

 similar. I have seen in my yard a sort of false foul brood. It 

 resembled the real disease, but never amounted to anything, 

 and finally it went oft itself. 



Mr. Root — Yes, we have seen the same thing in our yard. 

 The cappings of the brood will become punctured, sometimes 

 sunken, and the larvas will shrivel up, and turn yellow and 

 brown ; but it lacks one important symptom, and that is, 

 pronounced ropiness of' the diseased matter. What we mean 

 by ropiness is this : If a toothpick or spear of grass be in- 

 serted in the dead matter in the cell, it will adhere to the 

 point as it is slowly drawn out, like spittle ; and if it is drawn 

 out still further the filament will break, the two ends flying 

 back to their points of attachment. I have seen very slight 

 ropiness with this false foul brood, but it is easily distinguished 

 from the other. 



Mr. Draper — I have had something similar in my apiary. 

 Larvaj would soon die after hatching from the egg. I did not 

 dare to risk it, so I burned all such colonies. I saw the same 

 thing at J. M. Hambaugh's, who declared it was not foul 

 brood at all. It seems to come on in July and August. 



Mr. Walker — I have had dozens of such cases as these, 

 and do not care a snap for them. With me it comes on at all 

 times, and is not ropy. 



Question. — "How fast is foul brood likely to travel?" 



Mr. Walker — It often gets a start before the apiarist sus- 

 pects it. 



Mr. Thompson — Can the germs be carried in the air? 



Mr. Root — Possibly, but probably not. Its chief method 

 of propagation seems to be through honey containing the dis- 

 eased germs that robbers get hold of. 



GETTING WOMEN TO ATTEND CONVENTIONS. 



Question. — " What can be done to get women to attend 

 conventions ?" 



Mr. Stewart — I invited my wife to come, and she came. 



Miss Candler — If they keep bees they will want to come. 

 I have had as high as 86 colonies, and now I have 54. My 

 average per colony was 60 pounds in 1895. 



