THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



337 



of Gleaning-s sujarg-ests that it may be 

 on account of their more thoroug-h 

 house cleaning. Let the cause be what 

 it may, it is well known in New York 

 that he first step in getting rid of 

 black brood is the introduction of 

 Italian blood. 



It is also well-known that bees clean 

 out and polish the cells in which the 

 queen is to lay, and this period of 

 queenlessnesi may induce the bees to 

 do a more thorough job, and in a com- 

 plete and wholesale manner. If the 

 germs of the disease are still left in the 

 honey, it would seem that tl.e disease 

 would again break out as soon as any 

 of the old, infected hone\' was fed to 

 the larvae. Mr. Alexander says, how- 

 ever, that he has been testing this 

 treatment for three years, on hundreds 

 of colonies. 



It might be asked why the period of 

 broodlessness between the end of the 

 breeding season in the fall, and its be- 

 ginning in the spring-, might not brings 

 about a cure in the same manner as the 

 removal of the queen in the height of 

 the season. The theory is that the 

 bees in the fall do not polish up the 

 cells as they do in the bi-eeding- season. 

 The combs are left smeared with the 

 dead brood, and the stuff dries on 

 hard. 



Gleanings brings up the question as 

 to whether foul brood might not be suc- 

 cessfully treated in the same manner. 

 Mr. Alexander is somewhat doubtful; 

 as the dead matter in foul brood forms 

 a more tenacious g-lue than is formed 

 by black brood. In this connection it 

 may be interesting to know that Mr. 

 Simmins of England, author of the 

 book entitled "A Modern Bee Farm," 

 asserts that fou brood may be cured 

 in exactly the same manner as that fol- 

 lowed by Mr. Alexander in treating- 

 black brood. His theory, however, is 

 that the spores are bound to germinate 

 in the hive, and, if they g-erminate 

 where there is no soil to support them 

 (no brood) their existence is soon term. 



inated. (See page 54 of Review for last 

 February.) 



I can only say, as I have said so 

 often when something seemed unreason- 

 able, _vet promised great things, with- 

 hold judgment. Don't pooh, pooh it, 

 and condemn it untried, and don't take 

 it for granted that it will work all 

 right with you because it has with some 

 one else in some other locality and 

 under other conditions. This method 

 has been given quite an extensive trial 

 by a man in whom I have great confi- 

 dence, so I say try it, both for black 

 and foul brood, although I must con- 

 fess that I have very little, if any hopes, 

 for the latter. 



The Control of Increase. 

 A very few of us can remember when 

 the control of increase was almost un- 

 known, and seldom practiced. A colony 

 swarmed when it got ready, and there 

 was no attempt to foretell, forstall or 

 prevent the act. It was necessary to 

 watch the bees almost constantly dur- 

 ing the swarming-season; and when a 

 swarm issued it was hived upon a new 

 stand, and, in due time, the parent 

 colony sent out one, two, or three after- 

 swarms. With the advent of movable 

 combs came artificial swarming, but 

 this was olten so poorlj' managed that 

 after we had had our turn at it the 

 bees took theirs. Queen traps, the 

 clipping of queens' wings, non-swarm- 

 ing hives, queen cell detectors, shook- 

 swarming, the removing of queens, the 

 prevention of after-swarming, etc., were 

 all unknown. The management of an 

 out-apiar3' without some one in con- 

 stant attendance would have been im- 

 possible. Gradually we learned to 

 control after-svvarming, or eliminate it 

 entirely if so desired. We could open 

 the hive and cut out all the queen cells 

 except one; or we could hive the swarm 

 upon the old stand, brush the bees 

 from the combs into the hive contain- 

 ing the swarm and divide up the brood 

 among weak colonies; or those that we 



