270 



eyes met a vessel full of soda. Soda stops 

 fermentation more readily than salicylic 

 acid. I resolved to try soda, before getting 

 salicylic acid. I prepared a pailful 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 ; and after a few moments all 

 returned to the hive. Fermentation and 

 smell disappeared 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 had given to 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 

 alkaline water, when I noticed her foul 

 smell. For the bath I used 250 grammes 

 (about 9 ounces) of 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 15. — 

 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 

 when they were sick ; the pressed cells, that 

 I had opened before bathing, liave dis- 

 appeared to such an extent that it is 

 impossible to detect one, even with the 

 most careful search ; 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 

 also on account of its prompt effect. In- 

 stantly — the queen, bees, 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 annihilated in their stomachs. 

 The bathed bees were also purified exter- 

 nally. 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.-^. C. Kermann, of Thurm, in 

 Deutscher Bienenfreund. 



From Dom. Poultry Gazette. 



What a Woman knows about Bee- 

 Keeping in South Australia. 



"Granger Kate" discusses this subject 

 in the Southern Farmer. She says a good 

 many things that apply here as well as 

 there ; but unfortunately the grub has come 

 in upon our hives and destroys our calcu- 

 lations unless the utmost vigilance is 

 employed. 



It requires but a small capital to start 



bee-keeping with on a small scale, and as 

 skill and knowledge increase, numbers 

 increase. The fear of being stung deters 

 many from keeping bees who would other- 

 wise gladly engage in it ; and really, to 

 some, the sting of a bee is no small matter. 

 To have one's eyes closed up for a day or 

 two, and perhaps suffer with a severe head- 

 ache the while, is by no means pleasant. — 

 This, however, can be avoided by providing 

 one's self with veil and gloves. 



A cheap and easy way to make a bee veil, 

 and as good as any, is as follows : Procure 

 a piece of plain, coarse, black cotton bobi- 

 net, sew it up as a sack, run a draw string 

 in the end, which can be tied roun^ the 

 crown of the hat— any kind will answer — 

 put a string in the lower end also, to tie 

 round the neck, or simply tuck it in around 

 the neck, which will answer quite as well. 

 Should a bee strike the veil with the inten- 

 tion of stinging, the brim of the hat will 

 hold it at sufficient distance from the face 

 to render it impossible for it to reach one. 



Gloves can be rubber, or thick, coarse, 

 home-knit woolen gloves, wet in cold 

 water previous to using. 



Theoest thing 1 ever tried for a bee sting, 

 to neutralize the poison and relieve the 

 pain, was lye soap or common soda ; either 

 will do. 



Gentleness and the judicious use of a 

 little smoke, are the most effectual bee 

 charms. No one should attempt to keep 

 bees in anything but movable frame hives. 

 The time to make bee-keeping successful 

 and profitable in the old logs and boxes is 

 gone. They afford too many hiding places 

 for the moth and its progeny of worms, and 

 make it too difficult, indeed next to an im- 

 possibility, to exti'icate them. A good, 

 plain, moveble frame hive, well painted, 

 will last a long time. In reality, there is 

 no such thing as a moth-proof hive, and he 

 who sells one as such is either an ignora- 

 mus or something worse. Common sense 

 will teach anyone that where a bee can 

 enter, a moth can enter. The secret of 

 success in keeping down moths is to keep 

 your colonies full and strong, in close, well- 

 made hives, and the bees will attend to the 

 other part of the business themselves. The 

 bee-keeper is rich in proportion to the 

 strength of his colonies, and not the num- 

 ber of his hives. If one wishes bees to do 

 well, by all means keep the colonies strong. 



« I mm 1 1 • 



Foreign Items. 



GLEANED BY FUANK BENTON. 



Artificial Combs.— M. Junger, of Jail- 

 lien, writes to the editor of UApiculteur, 

 Paris, as follows: "I send you a little 

 box containing a sample of artificial comb. 

 As you can see the affair is still in its in- 

 fancy, but it will grow. I have only made 

 the cells on one side. What I am trying to 

 determine is whether it is possible practi- 

 cally to make wax combs resembling very 

 closely natural combs. So far good; I have 

 proved that one can make combs somewhat 



