A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to the Interests of Honey Producers. 

 $L00 A YEAR, 

 w. z. HDTCHISSON, Editor and Proprietor. 



VOL. XVIII. FLINT, MICHIGAN, JAN. 15, 1905. NO. L 



>ifie( 



BY N. E. FRANCE. 



USE very little smoke in opening- the 

 suspected hive. Do the work just 

 before sundown. 



Open the hive without any jarring-, 

 leaving- the bees in a natural condi- 

 tion. 



As soon as the cover is slightly re- 

 moved, place your nose near the open- 

 ing- just made over the suspected brood 

 combs. If the peculiar, stale, g-lue- 

 smell is noticed, go carefully to avoid 

 danger from robber-bees, or from any 

 honey leaking. 



Take out carefully the olde.st hatch- 

 ing brood in the hive, and notice if the 

 brood is capped over regularly, and 

 smooth, or if cappings are scattering 

 on the comb, many sunken, and some 

 with ragged holes in the cappings. 

 This is more noticeable in old, black, 

 brood combs. 



Here is the way to look in the comb. 

 Bring the brood-comb up from the hive 

 to the level of your chin; then tip the 

 top of the comb towards you, so your 

 view strikes the lower side-walls (not 

 the bottom) of the brood-cells about 



one- third distant from the front end of 

 the cells. Then turn so that the rays 

 of bright light will come over your 

 shoulder and shine where your eye is 

 looking. The white line in frontis- 

 piece shows both the angle of the sun- 

 shine and your vision. Gas or elec- 

 tric light will not take the place of 

 good daylight, 



What to look for ? Dried down 

 scales. 



On the lower side-wall, a little back 

 from front end of infected cell, will be 

 seen the dead larva bee, nearly black, 

 with a sharp pointed head, often turned 

 up a little, the back portion of the bee 

 flattened to a mere lining of the cell, 

 often no thicker than the wax in the 

 wall of the comb. The base or bottom 

 of the cell, likely, looks clean; also all 

 of the other side-walls of the cell. 

 The last effort of the dying bee often 

 is to throw out the tongue, sometimes 

 touching the upper wall of its cell, at 

 other times, falling short, will strike 

 the body near the middle of the bee. 

 In either case it will stick as fast as if 



