THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



153 



frames used in the Bay State hive are 

 about the same capacity as seven L. 

 frames. 



We (k) not believe in a large hive 

 as the Dadanls do, and think Mr. 

 Doolittle is right in advocating tlie 

 small hive. 



Foul brood. 



Our friend, F. A. Geramell, of Can- 

 ada, has sent us a cop}' of a pamphlet 

 on foul brood. If this worst and most 

 destructive of all diseases among bees 

 is half as bad and prevalent in Can- 

 ada as this pamphlet seems to indi- 

 cate, the Canadian beekeepers must 

 be having a hard time of it. 



I would much rather go into my ap- 

 iar}' and find all m}' bees dead than 

 to find one colony infested by foul 

 brood. Over twenty-five years ago 

 we went through a seige with this dis- 

 ease. Fire was the best and chea[)est 

 remedy we could apply, and he who 

 employs any other means to eradicate 

 foul brood from his apiary will cer- 

 tainly' have diseased colonies on his 

 hands as long as he has a hive of bees. 

 Don't attem|)t to cure it. You cannot 

 do it. Destioy it. Don't hesitate a 

 moment to destroy the best, or even 

 all the colonies in the apiary if even 

 but one cell of foul brood is found in 

 each hive. I know this is a harsh 

 remedy, but it is the proper thing to 

 do. 



I believe in enacting the most strin- 

 gent laws for the extinction of foul 

 brood. One case of foul brood in the 

 hands of a careless beekeeper would 

 be the means in time of destroying all 

 the apiaries in the country. 



Let some inexperienced person open 

 a hive having foul brood on a warm 

 day when the bees are not at work. l\\ 

 a few moments the bees from ever^' col- 

 ony in the apiary woidd be trying to 

 rob that hive. The result would be 

 that every colony in the yard would be 

 infected with foul brood in less than 

 six months. Take no stock in the 

 cure of foul brood. No matter who 

 tells you it can be cured. It will 



cost more to cure it than it will 

 to annihilate it. When you have had 

 any considerable experience with the 

 disease, I feel pretty sure you will 

 come to the same conclusions con- 

 cerning its cure I have. 



"Winter feed. 



Some apiarists chiiin that a healtliier 

 food for bees to wiiittM- upon can be made 

 from granulated su<jai- tlian honey, which 

 I very much doubt. It looks like presump- 

 tion on the part of man to claim superior 

 wisdom to the Creator who fashioned the 

 bee and provided its food. It is true that 

 during very cold winters, when many col- 

 onies of bees living upon natural stores 

 died of diarrhoea, tliose that had only syrup 

 made of granulated sugar remained 

 healthy. Under some conditions it may 

 be the best food, but it does not seera 

 right nor practical to take away tlieir nat- 

 ural food and substitute an artificial one. 



The above is from the pen of Mrs. 

 Harrison. I wonder if Mrs. H. was 

 thinking about the "bug juice" bees 

 sometimes store in the combs, when 

 she wrote the above. 



When man removes this horrid stuff 

 from the combs and feeds his bees 

 good, clean and wholesome granulated 

 sugar, he certainly makes an improve- 

 ment upon nature. Has Mrs. H. for- 

 gotten the time, long ago passed, 

 when nearly all the bees in this 

 country were destroyed on account of 

 the ''bug juice" stored in the combs 

 for winter food ? 



I do not believe that granulated sug- 

 ar is superior to good hone}' to winter 

 bees upon, and I think a beekeeper 

 would be in fine business to remove 

 the good honey from his hive and feed 

 back sugar for winter stores. I do 

 not believe any one has ever done that 

 thing. Most people feed sugar for 

 winter food for the reason that the 

 combs are bare of natural stores. That 

 is why we have been feeding sugar the 

 past ten days. Most of our colonies 

 are now in fine condition for winter. 

 In a few days the brood-chambers will 

 be placed in the winter cases, the cush- 

 ions put on the frames and that is all 

 we shall do to our bees till spring. 



