98 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



two distinct apartments — brood and 

 surplus — and unless this division can be 

 maintained, many profitable plans must 

 be relinquished. The queen-excluding 

 honey-board enables the beekeeper to 

 thus set up a boundary, beyd'nd which 

 the brood cannot go. — IVesicrn Rural. 



BEE NOTES. 



See that your colonies have good 

 queens. This is a good month to super- 

 sede inferior queens. 



It is not advisable to form new colo- 

 nies after Aug. i. Make them up in 

 July and furnish each with a good queen 

 and the bees will winter well. 



Remove surplus honey from the hives 

 as soon as well capped. "I'his will pre- 

 serve its snow-white color. The longer 

 it is left on the hive the darker it will be, 

 as the bees find some way to discolor 

 the capping. 



When bees swarm out of season it is 

 generally caused by superseding the 

 queen. If there is trouble with the 

 queen the bees commence to construct 

 cells and when capped usually a swarm 

 issues with the old queen. In some cases 

 the young queen as soon as she hatches 

 is allowed to destroy the old one, when 

 no swam will issue. 



The only sure way to prevent loss of 

 swarms is to keep a drone-and-queen 

 trap on the hive during the warm months. 

 There cannot be any objection to doing 

 this as the trap does not in the least in- 

 terfere with the Vv'orking of the colony. 



Then again, the trap destroys the 

 useless drones and there is a saving of 

 stores to the colony. 



Bees sometimes are forced to swarm 

 by the heat. After the honey harvest 

 the hives should have a large entrance 

 and shaded. The large entrance is the 

 best prevention of swarming and fur- 

 nishes the best ventilation. There is 

 not the least danger of any large colony 

 being robbed by having a large entrance. 

 Robbing does not usually happen in an 

 apiary that is not much meddled with. 



IT IS THE SHAKING PALSY. 



Norivich, June 2, i8gi. 



Friend Alley : — I am a subscriber 

 to Api but I am in trouble and want to 

 know if you can help me out. I have a 

 disease among my bees and I would like 

 to know if there is any help for it. The 

 bees that are affected by it look shiny 

 as though they had been dipped in oil 

 and the other bees try to carry them 

 out of the hive. I have three swarms 

 very bad off with it. In the worst one 

 of the three the bees die off faster than 

 they hatch, so they are decreasing in- 

 stead of increasing. 



I have had colonies befoie that had a 

 few such bees but not enough to cause 

 any uneasiness. One of the colonies 

 contains the best queen I have in the 

 yard, the one I intended to raise queens 

 from, but I am afraid t ) raise queens 

 from her under the circiunstances for 

 fear of the disease. I know it is not 

 foul brood for I have had that to my 

 sorrow, but am all free from it now. 

 The brood does not appear to be af- 

 fected by the disease ; it is only the old 

 bees. I would like to know if it is 

 catching and whether it is safe to use 

 the combs and hives or not. 



I intended to send for a queen and 

 some of your "Drone-and-Queen traps" 

 but have waited to see if the disease is 

 going to spread through the whole yard. 

 It may be the " nameless disease " you 

 speak of in the Apl If so, will you 

 please write and tell me how much salt 

 to put in the honey and how much to 

 feed, etc. If you are sure that I can 

 cure this disease so it won't spread 

 through the w hole yard you may put my 

 name down for a tested queen from 

 your two-hundred dollar Itahan queen 

 and I will send the $2.00 on getting 

 your reply. Your book on raising 

 queens can't be beat. 



Alderi Cook, Norwich, N. Y. 



It is tlie shakins; palsy. Apply salt and 

 water as recoinmcuded iu the back issues 

 of the Api. — Ed.] 



