196 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



as many as nine hundred cocoons, 

 one within another in one cell, and 

 it is perfectly reasonable to doubt 

 if a bee raised in such a contracted 

 chamber can be as perfectly devel- 

 oped as it would be raised in combs 

 comparatively or entirely free from 

 cocoons. 



"Foul brood" has been observed 

 in a Swiss valley to have almost 

 cleaned the bees out of existence 

 where numberless stocks were form- 

 erly kept. A bee man states, "It 

 cannot be caused by the use of 

 modern hives, as popularly believed, 

 for there never was one in that val- 

 ley." One Swiss beekeeper relates 

 that he had some fifty fine stocks, 

 when in the spring a neighbor started 

 up a lime kiln. The vapors coming 

 off from the burning limestone 

 brought on a perishing of the brood 

 in his hives, and he lost every one. 

 Since then he has found it impossi- 

 ble to reestablish his apiaries. Each 

 attempt has failed. 



From Bordeaux (France), Mr. 

 Durand writes that he has got rid of 

 foul brood by an energetic use of 

 the Hilbert salicylic acid treatment. 

 Since then the disease has broken 

 out in neighboring beehives, and he 

 has been called in to cure. 



He tried camphor, and fumigating 

 with thyme ; the brood ceased to rot, 

 and dried up. He puts a bag with 

 camphor in it on top of brood frames. 



He likewise tried Cheshire's "ab- 

 solute phenol" and fed the medicated 

 syrup at night ; but bees from another 

 infected colony commenced to rob 

 that colony next morning, and, prov- 

 ing strongest, carried away all the 



medicated syrup, and in so doing, 

 dosed themselves, and, as it proved, 

 effected a cure at the expense of the 

 loss of the colony they started out to 

 rob. 



The Germans are ahead on the 

 question of adulteration of honey 

 with glucose, and method of detect- 

 ing the same. Mr. Fritz Eisner in- 

 stituted a series of experiments, and 

 has proven that with the aid of the 

 polariscope a very, very small quan- 

 tity of manufactured glucose mixed 

 with honey can be immediately no- 

 ticed. I purpose giving an entire 

 translation of the article in next issue 

 of Foreign Notes, as I deem it a 

 subject worthy of notice by all of us 

 who have to compete with the so- 

 called, and labelled, "Pure Honey." 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 



By L. C. Root. 



Beekeepers in most sections have 

 been much discouraged over what 

 seemed a very unfavorable prospect 

 of securing much surplus honey. 



Up to the middle of July, bees 

 seemed to spend all their time and 

 energies in swarming. 



All sources of honey seemed to 

 fail us, except to supply just enough 

 to induce breeding, and create' a de- 

 sire to swarm. 



At this date the basswood com- 

 menced to bloom and, as I had pre- 

 dicted, it has yielded richly from the 

 very start. 



