92 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ARTICLE 10— SPECIAL MEETINGS. 



A special meeting may be called by the 

 Executive Committee at any time on requi- 

 sition of five of the Vice-Presidents. 



ARTICLE 11— AMENDMENTS. 



This constitution may be amended at any 

 annual meeting, by a two-thirds vote of all 

 the members in attendance. 



Adopted at meeting at Cleveland, Ohio, 

 Dec, 1871. 



CONSTITUTION AMENDED. 



Article 5, amended as follovi^s: Any per- 

 son may become a member by giving his or 

 her name to the Secretary, and paying an 

 annual fee of one dollar, except ladies, who 

 shall be admitted free of charge. Adopted 

 Dec, 1872. 



SOCIETIES. 



Resolved, That the President of this So- 

 ciety be authorized in its name and behalf, 

 to address a circular to all the bee-keepers 

 of this continent, urging the formation of 

 neighborhood, county, state, territorial and 

 provincial associations, auxiliary to this So- 

 ciety. Adopted Dec, 1873. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



An Easy Cure of Foul Brood. 



I find in the Rucher du Sud Quest, of 

 Bordeaux, France, an article translated 

 from a German paper — the Deutscher Bien- 

 enfreund— on this malady; and I repro- 

 duce it for the A. B. J., with the hope that 

 it will be found interesting. 



Ch. Dadant. 



"On June 31st, I discovered that a colony 

 received from Baron Rotschultz, of Posen- 

 dorf, Carniolia, had become foul broody. A 

 few days after its arrival, in spite of feed- 

 ing, the number of bees did not increase. 

 But as foul brood is unknown here, and as I 

 had never seen this malady, I thought that 

 the small quantity of brood, the lack of in- 

 dustry and desire to build combs were the 

 result of weakness or old age of the queen; 

 and I resolved to replace herj on the first 

 opportunity, by giving the hive a queen 

 cell. I gave the colony some brood from 

 other hives, but the sickness of the colony 

 increased, and I began to smell a peculiar 

 odor, which increased and seemed to come 

 from the fermentation of a liquid substance. 

 Then I resolved to further examine the 

 hive. 



" I saw that the bees were mainly on the 

 brood combs that I had given them, and 

 that the brood which came with the bees 

 from Posendorf, was altogether isolated; 

 that the cappings of a dozen cells were 

 deeply pressed down; that all the honey in 

 the uncapped cells (there was no other in 

 the hive) was fermenting, and that the bad 

 smell came from the combs from Posendorf. 

 I cut with a pen-knife some of the cells 

 whose cappings were pressed down, and 

 saw the brown matter they contained. 

 Then I discovered the cause— foul brood. 



"I had on hand a little salicylic acid— a 

 substance which is very dear. Then my 

 eyes met a vessel full or soda. Soda stops 

 fermentation moi-e readily than salicylic 

 acid. I resolved to try soda, before getting 

 salicylic acid. I prepared a pail-full of a 



strong solution of soda and water, warmed 

 by the sun. The first frame was dipped in 

 the solution several times, together with its 

 bees and honey. A few bees swam, the 

 others clung firmly to the comb and were 

 put back with it in the hive. I gathered 

 the swimming bees with a skimmer, and 

 put them in the sun to dry. None of them 

 perished; after a few minutes all returned 

 to the hive. Fermentation and smell dis- 

 appeared immediately from the immersed 

 combs." 



" After this I dipped in the soda, all the 

 combs coming from Posendorf, with their 

 bees and all. The queen had fled to the 

 sound combs that I liad given the colony. 

 Mr. L. Krancher, publisher of the Bienen- 

 freund. visited my bees and also noticed 

 the foul state of this hive. A few days 

 after I resolved to bathe the queen in the 

 alkaline water, when I noticed her foul 

 smell. For the bath I used 350 grammes 

 (about 9 ounces) ot carbonate of sodium, in 

 a pail of water, containing 8 or 10 litres, 

 (quarts) in which I mixed a little salicylic 

 acid. 



"The result is complete so far, July 15th. 

 The smell of the hive is normal; the brood 

 is fast spreading; there is now capped 

 honey in the hive; the bees now show some 

 readiness to sting; they had none while 

 they wei'e sick; the pressed cells that I had 

 opened before the bathing, have disappear- 

 ed to such an extent that it is impossible to 

 detect one, even with the most careful re- 

 searcli; and the bees begin to fill their 

 empty frames with comb. 



" This remedy seems more advantageous 

 than the solution of salicylic acid, not only 

 on account of its cheapness — 10 centimes (2 

 cents), instead of 3 francs (75 cents) — but al- 

 so on account of its prompt effect. Instant- 

 ly—the bees, queen, honey, brood, combs, 

 frames, and everything was purified of the 

 disease. 



This remedy was not only administered 

 externally, but as the bees were compelled 

 to suck the lye mixed with the honey, the 

 disease was anihilated in their stomachs. 

 The bathed bees were also purified external- 

 ly. The drying of the wet bees and of the 

 combs was soon completed by the warm 

 weather. That the bath kills the uncapped 

 brood, is of very little consequence, when 

 compared with the other advantages of this 

 remedy. A. C. Kermann. 



Thurm, Germany. 



Important Mistakes made by Bee- 

 Keepers. 



READ BEFORE THE MICH. B. K. ASSOCI- 

 ATION, DEC. 21, 1876. 



The profits of rational bee-keeping are 

 little understood, and if stated, would be 

 still less believed. Since keeping bees— if 

 I except disaster in wintering, which has 

 only occurred twice — I have never failed to 

 secure 300 per cent, net profits, and have 

 often realized over 300 per cent. I fully be- 

 lieve the losses need not be repeated. 



But granting that these are occasionally 

 imperative, with the combs and honey still 

 left at my disposal, I could purchase again 

 in the spring, and still secure 100 per cent. 

 on my outlay. This is no guess-work, but 

 a fact built on the secure foundation of past 

 experience, and can only be denied on the 



