1907] 



some honey. He had gone in one of 

 the houses and informed me that they 

 did not want any honey. I went in, 

 as it happened to be the same place 

 that I was headed for, had sold pre- 

 vious years, he paid a cent more for 

 my honey and never looked in the 

 case, run chances and would rather 

 pay a cent more per pound than be 

 bothered with opening case, he wanted 

 No. I for No. I and No. 2 for No. 2. 

 He did not want to be deceived nor 

 did he want to deceive his customers. 

 You will have to grade right or you 

 will not have any place to put your 

 honey. 



Question: "What is your method 

 for swarm control?" 



Mr. Collins: My own experience 

 for controlling swarms is, in shaking 

 the swarms of bees; I am bound to 

 lose some brood. When I see that 

 they are ready to swarm I have simply 

 found my queen, laid her down in 

 front of the hive, put a hive in place 

 of the old hive, put her in front of 

 new hive just as quickly as I can. Do 

 it a lew hours before leaving apairy. 

 You ha\e every old bee out of your 

 swarm and have young bees in the 

 new swarm. 



H. Rauchfuss: We have some 

 rather weak and some rather small 

 colonies. I exchange stands with the 

 strong and weak colonies, so that the 

 weak one gets just what it needs. It 

 is good brood that they want. What 

 they want is bees. Bees to cover that 

 brood. A queen or the bees that she 

 produces might not be very strong, 

 might not winter well, but at the same 

 time might do good work. This queen 

 is capable of raising a good sized 

 swarm and fill their hive with brood 

 and make a good colony. They com- 

 mence to work with much more vigor 

 than if you let the old bees with them, 

 and there is such a thing as too 

 strong colonies to do good work 

 in the supers. Medium size colonies 

 will, on an average, gather more hon- 

 ey than those great big colonies. It 

 is very hard to get strong colonies. 



Mr. Foster: Do you use starters 

 in the frames in the new hive with 

 your new swarm? 



Mr. Collins: I usually put in three 

 or four wires in frame and get good 

 worker combs. As a general thing I 

 use a small starter. 



H. Rauchfuss: If I was presenting 

 this for any instruction I would make 

 it a point to give the swarm full brood 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



259 



You cannot force 



comb, not starters 

 them to fill comb. They are the field 

 bees, will not supply comb unless they 

 are compelled to. 



Suggestion has been made to pay 

 the janitor something for his work 

 and also to pay the stenographer for 

 taking down the proceedings. 



Mr. Rhodes: I think that Mr. F. 

 Rauchfuss is the only one and I would 

 suggest that a motion be made to the 

 effect that the matter be turned over 

 to him, an order to be drawn on the 

 treasurer for the amount. 



Mr. Collins: Motion made and car- 

 ried that this matter be turned over 

 to Mr. F. Rauchfuss and that we add 

 to that committee Mr. Jouno to ar- 

 range this matter. 



Motion made and seconded that we 

 adjourn. 



FRESH AIR AND FOUL BROOD. 



Referring to Mr. Farmer's lette.-, I 

 wish to state in support of his conten- 

 tion that I have long held the opinion 

 that bee-diseases (and I speak particu- 

 larly of foul brood) are dependent for 

 their propagation and degree of viru- 

 lence upon certain conditions outside 

 of the mere presence and existence of 

 the disease germs. I am led to think 

 that in certain localities the disease may 

 be endemic, or perchance simply latent, 

 and that under suitable circumstances 

 the germ may, and does, find congenial 

 ground and scope for its harmful pro- 

 pagation and development. I am also 

 sure, as Mr. Farmer and Mr. Simmins 

 both say, that under certain natuiral 

 conditions foul brood cannot continue 

 to exist in a hive, and will be extirpated 

 by the bees themselves. And foremost 

 of these conditions I place warm sun- 

 ny weather, with a good honey-flow, 

 and it is simply astounding what a 

 change can be wrought in a week or 

 two under such conditions. I have had 

 repeated and abundant evidence of the 

 fact which I assert, and have seen a 

 badly-diseased colony not only oust 

 the disease, but also show a good 

 record of honey-gathering the same 

 year, and in the succeeding year lead 

 the way in the whole apiary with no 

 mean take of honey. I believe, as Mr. 

 Farmer evidently does, that fresh, 

 sweet air, bright sunshine, and good 

 food are the best aids to sanitation and 

 the greatest enemies of disease in the 

 world. — Lancelot Quayle, Glenmay, 

 Isle of Man, in British Bee Journal. 



