AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



641 



cesses by motion, absorption and re- 

 pulsion are very uniform in their collec- 

 tive influences. 



The declaration that there can be no 

 plant without its seed is scarcely com- 

 prehensive enough, in a radical sense, 

 to involve the medial of nature's secrets 

 which are hidden from the eye alone, or 

 when aided by microscopic power. 



At this point there seems to be a dis- 

 connection of the knowable and undem- 

 onstrable in the teachings of those who 

 have attempted to describe to us novices 

 what foul-brood really is. Some writers 

 teach that the spores of foul-brood feed 

 on the healthy fluids of the larval bee. 

 But can the spores of disease exist in 

 the healthy fluids of the larva except in 

 a state of dormancy? It seems that 

 they cannot ; but to the contrary, it 

 seems very certain that an abnormal 

 condition of the fluids is the true feed- 

 ing-ground of the parasitic spores. 



Again, it does not appear that the 

 presence of spores in a healthy organ- 

 ism will generate the disease of foul- 

 brood by contamination due to their 

 presence alone, as may be led to the be- 

 lief by reading the statements of some 

 writers. Would it not be more reason- 

 able to hold that a contamination of the 

 soil in which the seeds are planted first 

 stimulate their germination? Analogy 

 very strongly favors that side of the 

 question. To "sum up," the position 

 appears reasonably tenable when sup- 

 ported by the assertion that the soil 

 must be first in a suitable condition ; 

 and the surroundings congenial, before 

 seeds, from which the spores of foul- 

 brood are generated, will produce the 

 plant or fungus representing the disease. 



West Cumberland, Me. 



Bees f orHng in lie Open Air. 



JOHN D. A. FISHER. 



In regard to bees building comb and 

 working out in the open air, I would say 

 that in our part of the county bees 

 settling and building comb out in the 

 open air is of frequent occurrence. I 

 have said before that I believed the bees 

 acted thus because they had failed to 

 find a home, being tired and discouraged, 

 and as a last resort they built combs on 

 a limb, or anything else on which they 

 may have chanced to have clustered. 



Some 22 or 23 years ago I was walk- 

 ing through a piece of new ground, 

 which contained brush-heaps. In pass- 

 ing one of the brush-heaps my foot 



caught on an end of a large brush that 

 jarred the brush-heap. I was surprised 

 by the sudden sound or roaring of bees. 

 On looking, I at once saw that there 

 was a swarm of bees in the brush-heap, 

 and that they had comb. 



I at once made arrangements to hive 

 the bees. I found that they had four or 

 five nice pieces of comb, with brood and 

 honey. 



About two years ago, Mr. W. Safrit 

 found a large swarm of bees on some 

 small bushes on the bank of a small 

 stream. They had built nice combs, and 

 were to all appearances enjoying their 

 home in the open air. 



Last year bees began watering at the 

 ford on the public road across a creek 

 here. Several parties had gone to the 

 place to try to see where the bees were 

 located. It was discovered that the 

 bees went straight up. At last the 

 swarm was seen away up on a large 

 limb of a tall Spanish oak tree, about 60 

 feet from the ground. The limb hung 

 directly over the road. This was a very 

 large swarm of bees ; we could see they 

 had built four combs about two or more 

 feet long, up and down the limb. Just 

 how deep they were we could not tell. 



How to get the bees down was a puz- 

 zle. At last Mr. Thomas Byrd said he 

 would go up and saw off the limb. This 

 he did by cutting slats about 2 feet 

 long, and nailing them to the tree with 

 large nails, commencing at the ground, 

 and nailing and climbing as he went up, 

 until he reached the limb the bees were 

 on. He then sawed the limb off, and 

 down came limb and bees ; but, alas, 

 for the poor little workers ! Their beau- 

 tiful new home, with themselves, was 

 smashed up. 



Yes, bees will build comb in the open 

 air when they cannot find a home else- 

 where. 



Woodside, N. C. 



Conliiclors n Alisorlieiils In Wintering. 



C. W. DAYTON. 



A great deal has been said the past 

 few months about using the cushions of 

 porous material as absorbents, to absorb 

 the moisture that is i>i,'oduced by the 

 clusters of bees. 



If the moisture is to be absorbed and 

 retained by the cushion until the Winter 

 is over, then the questions come up as 

 to how large the cushions will need to 

 be, and how much moisture there will be 

 for the cushions to absorb. 



