XMK aMERICKN BE1& JQURISKI,. 



y5::5 



is younir brood to feed, all thuiger is 

 escapt'il — the colon)- is cuii'il. 



The hest time to cure foul brood is 

 during a honey-flow. Then there will 

 be less danger of robbing, and, as we 

 have seen, robbing is one of the most 

 read_y ways to spread the disease. 



About four weeks before the prob- 

 able end of the honey harvest, cage 

 the (pieen inside the hive. As soon as 

 the brood is all developed, place a new 

 hive where the old one stooil, tilled 

 with foundation, and shake the bees, 

 queen and all, in front of this hive 

 upon some paper that can be burned. 

 This must be done under a bee-tent, or 

 at nightfall when the bees have all 

 ceased to &y. We cannot be too careful 

 to prevent spread of the contagion. 



Now burn the papers, extract the 

 honey, and melt up the combs. The 

 honey may be boiled and fed back to 

 the bees ; but if not boiled, great care 

 must be taken that the bees do not get 

 any of it. The old hive may be placed 

 for some minutes iu boiling water, or 

 else burned. No bees must be per- 

 mitted to visit it until it is boiled. If 

 we discover affected colonies after the 

 honey-flow, we had better leave them 

 till a subsequent harvest, or till the 

 next season. Else we must, by use of 

 of a bee-tent, distance or time — late in 

 the day — be absolutely certain that in 

 our manipulations no other bees are 

 exposed. 



When bees are idle and fierce to rob, 

 the danger is so great that only the 

 greatest caution would make it safe to 

 attempt treatment out of the honey 

 season. The object of caging the 

 queen is, that it makes only one opera- 

 tion necessary, and so lessens the dan- 

 ger. In extracting the honey from the 

 diseased colony, great caution is like- 

 wise required that no bees get to it, 

 and so contract the disease. In case 

 colonies are kept over for treatment 

 until the next season, they should be 

 fed the medicated syrup — salicylic-acid 

 soliition^inside the hive after night- 

 fall, and every caution taken to pre- 

 vent robbing. Bees must be kept 

 away, or the disease will spead all 

 through the apiary. 



It seems strange that with the readi- 

 ness of this malady, from its very na- 

 ture, to spead, and with the bee-trees 

 '.n the forest, which are beyond our 

 control, that the- malady once in a 

 locality does not always remain there. 

 The disease was once terribly virulent 

 about Detroit, Toledo, Jackson, etc., 

 yet now these localities are free from 

 the plague. It seems that the disease 

 dies out in time, just as cholera, yellow 

 fever, etc., disappear. Why it lets go 

 its gri]), is not understood. 



If the honey is not the bearer of 

 germs, as Mr. Cheshire believes, it is 

 hard to understand why feeding it so I 



rajiiilly spreads UuMlisease. If Ihc oUl 

 bees and queen bear the germs, and 

 are victims to th(! malady, as both Mr. 

 Cheshire and Senator Taylor ai'gue, it 

 is hard to understand how the trans- 

 ferring remedy is so effective as all 

 who have used it concede it to be. 



THE NAMELESS BEE-DISEASE. 



Within the past few years much com- 

 plaint has been made bj' bee-keepers, 

 of a disease among bees, which not 

 only depleted the colon)-, but was 

 made manifest b}- the appearance of 

 the diseased bees. They look black, 

 because of loss of hair, much as do 

 robber bees, or old bees in spring, and 

 frequently make strange motions in 

 front of the hives, as though dancing 

 or in convulsions. They are frequently 

 dragged out of the hives by the other 

 bees. 



This, like foul brood, is supposed to 

 be due to fungoid attack. In this, 

 only the mature bees seem to become 

 victims, though the inoculation appears 

 to come through the queen. Thus it is 

 found that superseding the queen 

 with a healthy one, cures the malady. 

 It is also reported that abundance of 

 salt water placed close by the hives, 

 where the bees can gain readj' access 

 to it, will cure this " nameless bee- 

 disease." 



It would seem that this malady is the 

 same that has received attention in 

 Europe, and which Mr. Cheshire has 

 said was due to the attack of bacillus 

 gaytoni. 



Agricultural Coll.,Mich.,Apr.l5,1890 



BEE-FEEDERS. 



Need of a Feeder for Winter 

 and Spring Use. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY S. J. YOUNGMAN. 



Bee-keeping has made wonderful 

 strides in the past quarter of a century. 

 This was forcibly brought to my mind 

 while recentlj- talking with a gentle- 

 man living in Greenville, Mich., and 

 well acquainted with some of .its early 

 history. He was speaking of Mr. 

 Moon, who was trying to enlist interest 

 in the Harbinson hive, in that vicinity. 

 Having a knowledge and experience 

 at that time far above the average 

 bee-keeper, he soon had some of the 

 business men interested, and he soon 

 made a sale of the State of Minnesota, 

 to Manning Rutan, a wealthy mer- 

 chant, for a mile square, or 640 acres 

 of pine timber land near Greenville. 

 Although not very valuable at that 

 time, if the timber was now standing, 

 it would be worth $200 per acre, or 

 $128,000. The hive used by him is 

 still in existence, and in a good state 



of i)rcsiTv:ili(ii]. and would Ijc a good 

 relic for the 15ke Jol'unai. Museum. 



But I think that whih; some parts 

 of bee-kee])liig art; having more than 

 their sharti of thought and consequent 

 invention, other jiarts have been sadly 

 negli^cted — for instance, the simple 

 thing of spiing feeding of bees, which 

 is sometimes an actual necessity, and 

 I believe it would pay to fe(;d all colo- 

 nies in early spring, if some cheap, 

 simple and easy way was provided to 

 do so. I think that if some of our in- 

 ventive geniuses will carefully read 

 the article by Robert Carv(!r, on page 

 278, they will see a chance to construct 

 a much-needed article for the modern 

 apiary, namely, a good, handy, simple, 

 cheap bee-feeder. 



The frames of nearl}- all the hives in 

 this latitude, at the time that the in- 

 mates need feeding, are covered with 

 some kind of protection, either of chaff 

 or cushions. Now nearly all bee-keep- 

 ers will acknowledge that the bees 

 should be fed on top of the frames, 

 over the cluster. The facts are, that 

 not one-tenth of the bees are fed when 

 they should be, on accout of these 

 cushions, etc., being in the wa}-, and 

 with the style of feeders now in use, 

 there is no way of getting to the 

 frames without giving an outlet for the 

 escape of the heat so much needed for 

 brood-rearing at this time of the j'ear. 



This feeder can be made of tin or 

 wood, or both ; put on in the fall, with 

 the tube protruding up through the 

 packing, no heat can escape, and the 

 feeder is in place, ready for use at any 

 time. 



Bees here in Michigan usually gather 

 large quantities of pollen in autumn, 

 and, if wintered outside, they com- 

 mence breeding in March ; but brood- 

 rearing is often greatly retarded even 

 in M.ay, for the want of nectar during 

 a cold spell. Although plentifully 

 supplied with pollen, at these times 

 they should be fed. 



Bees wintered here on the summer 

 stands in fine condition, and are breed- 

 ing up and doing finely, although fruit- 

 trees are not in bloom yet. Cellar- 

 wintered bees are in bad condition, 

 many having perished, and are 

 dwindled badl}'. 



Lakeview, Mich., May 5, 1890. 



SWARMS. 



Self-Hivcrs and Swarni.Catcliers 

 — The Drone-Trap, elc. 



Written lor the American Bee Jcmmal 



BY HENRY ALLEY. 



So much interest has been shown in 

 self-hivers recently described in the 

 bee-periodicals, I am sure that the 

 readers of the American Bee Journal 



