168 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 2, 1905. 



a number of them showed foul brood. The question is, 

 What g-ood did it do us to treat our bees when the country 

 around was full of foul brood ? and would it have been so full 

 of it if Inspector France had been at liberty to come sooner, 

 stay longer, inspect more fully, and give more instruction 

 as to the treatment ? 



Judging from short acquaintance, we found Mr. France 

 a fine man, but it seems to the " foul-broody " people here 

 (nearly all the bee-keepers belong to that clan) that he has 

 " too many irons in the fire " to attend properly to his regu- 

 lar " knitting "; that is, if inspecting bees is his regular 

 work. 



My husband has just read what I have written, and 

 wishes me to add that Mr. France told Mr. Mathews that 3 

 of the colonies were diseased, and promised to come and 

 treat them, but failed to do so (that was after treating them, 

 and he made a second call, as I understand it) ; but instead 

 of 3 there proved to be some 15 or 20. 



There is foul brood in a number of apiaries, ranging 

 from 5 to 10 miles away in all directions, and unless it is 

 exterminated the bees will soon be, and I think I am voic- 

 ing the feelings of the most of the bee-keepers in writing 

 to you. 



A great deal of the foul brood is in small apiaries, 

 where the owners care very little for the profit from them, 

 and so do not try to get rid of the disease. If there is any 

 way of compelling these people to try to get rid of foul 

 brood, the bee-keepers here hope to see it speedily put into 

 operation. 



I will close by adding that I spent several years within 

 12 miles of Prof. A. J. Cook's home ; that we have had the 

 pleasure of seeing him, and listening to him speak, and that 

 I could tell a very different story about typhoid fever, water, 

 prosperity, and a plenty of work for wilJing workers, even 

 the short distance of 12 miles away, than he tells on page 

 37. Not that I doubt him, but things are so " exceptional " 

 in California, and I, perhaps, had a better chance to see 

 some of the "exceptional " things than he has. 



Waushara Co., Wis., Jan. 31. Mary B. Hai,i,. 



Inspector France has the reputation of being a very 

 reliable and careful man, although perhaps overworked, and 

 the probability is that he regretted as much as you the 

 peculiar circumstances that prevented closer attention in 

 that one instance. 



You say, " If there is any way of compelling these peo- 

 ple to try to get rid of foul brood ", etc. If I am not mis- 

 taken, all that is necessary is to report to the State inspector 

 such cases, and he will make it his business to see that they 

 have proper attention, you being specially favored by living 

 in a State whose laws give the inspector compulsory powers 

 equal to those of a sheriff. 



G.fkvit}ong,l}ts 



J 



The " Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



TO SETTLE WHICH IS THE BEST HIVE ! 



And some more Prof. SchoU is going to " draw Jordan into his 

 mouth". Give him a little time and he can xeltle the question which is 

 the best hive ! We laugh. But don't you mind it. Prof. S. ; our laugh- 

 ter is not of the contemptuous itind. We dearly love the young in- 

 vestigator who magnifles his office, and gets now and then a little too 

 hopeful. Hardly so well do we love the seasoned and humbled old 

 chap, all the time too pessimistic. But you see we catch a sly glimpse 

 of a theorem that says ; Behold a thousand oflicial professors settling 

 the hive question; and presently behold a thousand different hives 

 that they have settled us on ! Corollary ! One professor's settling is 

 less confusing, hut 7tot any more 7'eUable. 



The truth seems to be that there are a great many very excellent 

 hives possible to be made— economic difference between them to be 

 expressed in quite small figures — figures so small that the " personal 

 equation " (as scientists express it) upsets and obscures everything 

 else. Also no one hive, and no five iiives, could possibly be best for 

 all persons, climates, circumstances, and objects in view. Page 26. 



VARIOUS PROBLEMS TO BE INVESTIGATED. 



To return to Prof. Scholl, he has an interesting lot of weighty 

 problems on his memorandum : How to manage a distant out-apiary 

 with the least work and loss. Some more whacking away at the 

 tough job of making liquid honey stay liquid when it is put up. One 



kind of hive in the apiary, and the most profitable kind. Honey" 

 vinegar to equal the best vinegar in the market, and be made with 

 cheap honey. All inferior honey kept off the market and con- 

 verted into wax by the bees. (The last, not the least.) In these prob- 

 lems we see a minimum of the academic inquiry, and a praiseworthy 

 maximum of the dollars and cents. I'm old pessimist enough to fear 

 that honey-vinegar from poor honey (or dirty washings) can never be 

 made to hold its own in the market alongside the best cider-vinegar. 

 He may try it, though. 



As to making poor honey into wax, my advice would be, don't 

 waste much time in small experiments that try to settle the wax- 

 honey ratio beyond doubt — experiments that try to cut off all causes 

 of error. Folks will doubt anyhow— and we get out of visible causes 

 of error by getting into invisible ones twice as big. Be a little shy of 

 all small experiments. Let the scale be large; and inquire, What does 

 it cost for these 10 colonies to make 10 pounds of wax? Have another 

 10 colonies alongside, fed the same honey in the same way, but caused 

 to make as Ultle comb as possible. Poor honey for this purpose should 

 be poor but perfeeihj sound. Don't expect anything of honey that has 

 changed even a little in the direction of souring. Sound but thin, 

 sound but bitter, sound but black, sound but weedy tasting, are the 

 hopeful kinds. One good way to make bees secrete wax is to give 

 them ready-made extracting-combs to store in, but the cells cut down 

 so as to be only half as deep as they ought to be. Keep slicing down 

 again and again and feeding back the same honey — a little water 

 added. Don't believe I would put the combs in the extractor at all. 

 Another taking way (if not good) is to take new swarms just hived 

 and cut away every four days all the comb they make— all except just 

 enough for starters at the top. Page 26. 



OFFICIAL "STANDARD HONET ". 



I think the official "Standard Honey " of the government chem- 

 ists should not allow so much as 25 percent of water. Sorry I can not 

 pretend to say what should be the minimum. Not much less than 

 that. found in best 12-pound-to-gallon honey — but somehow few 

 authorities convince us that they can tell exactly what that propor- 

 tion is. Page 36. 



ORGANIZING HONET-PRODUCERS' ASSOCIATIONS. 



That's not the way the great trusts of the world accomplish re- 

 sults — to move for them without cash in hand, without confidence, 

 and without anybody vested with fuU power to do any ide?ttiral thing. 

 Rather seems to me that I'm glad of it that bee-folks hitherto are play- 

 ing at organization, rather than organizing. Have we exhausted the 

 possibilities of simple agency? One honest, capable salesman should 

 not be impossible to find. And the simple question of the large pro- 

 ducer to him. What will you take to sell my honey? hardly requires 

 more of organization than agreement in what order the successive 

 employers shall stand. First man in the line more pay, and last man 

 much less pay. Page 36. 



=\ 



Doctor miller's 

 Question = Box 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Van Deusen Wired Foundation— Paintlns Hives. 



=/ 



1. Have you used the Van Deusen wired foundation? If so, 

 would you recommend its use in brood-frames in preference to put- 

 ting wire in by hand? 



2. Do you recommend painting hives both inside and outside? 



Virginia. 



Answers. — 1. I have never used it to any extent. If the work is 

 well done there can be hardly any choice of the two ways. Either 

 makes good work. But foundation splints make better. 



2. Not inside in any case. If I lived in a village with hives in 

 full view of passers-by, I should paint them ; not otherwise. I think- 

 they are a little better for the Ijees if left unpainted. 



HIve-Cleats-Deep Bottom-Boards— Refining Propolis. 



1. In " Forty Years Among the Bees " you advise nailing a cleat 

 at the rabbet ends of the hive. Do you nail it fiush with the top of 

 the hive? It so, do you use a special cover, or could it be placed so as 

 to use an excelsior cover? 



3. Would you also use a deep bottom-board for the 10-frame hive? 



3. How can I refine propolis and separate it from wax? Does it 

 lose its aroma when boiled in water? 



4. I can not use a dummy the size you recommend with staple- 

 spaced frames. Do you use staples on the frame next to the follower? 



5. About how much would you pay to have 100 supers scraped of 

 propolis— 8-frame supers with fence separators? Also, how much 

 would you pay to have 50 8-frame bottom-boards made of second- 

 growth pine, complete, such as you recommend in your book? 



New York. 

 Answers. — 1. Yes, the cleat comes flush to the top of the hive. It 

 can be used with any cover that is flat on the under side, but not with 



