461 



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Hainesville, 111., Aug. 26, 1879. 

 1 have not had much experience with bees 

 till within the past tew months, and finding 

 something wrong with them, have come to 

 you for information. 1 had, as I supposed, 

 10 colonies in first-class condition, strong 

 and doing well. I am so situated I cannot 

 be with them but about once a month. 

 While home Aug. 12th, I went through my 

 hives to see if all was right. I found plenty 

 of brood, but here and there would be an 

 uncapped cell, with dead bees or larva? de- 

 cayed and rotten, while some of the young 

 bees that were hatched and trying to get out, 

 but could not— seemed as if they were 

 glued to the bottom. What is the cause ? 

 Finding young bees decayed means foul 

 brood, does it not ; if so how came it there ? 

 Does it come of its own accord, or does it 

 have to be propagated ? Now, will you, or 

 some good-hearted writer for the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, explain foul-brood in 

 the first stage.jand how to cure it, if possible. 



W. E. H. 



[We fear your bees have that most loath- 

 some complaint, "foul-brood." Mr. E. P. 

 Abbe, of New Bedford, has a very interes- 

 ting communication on page 450 of this 

 number, giving the result of a series of ex- 

 periments with this disease. If, however, 

 it should develope into unmistakeable fout- 

 broed, we doubt if the trouble, and risk, 

 and expense would be compensated by their 

 recovery. The greatest caution is required 

 to prevent its spread. Undoubtedly, like 

 everything else, there must have been a 

 " first cause," but we also know it can be 

 rapidly propagated by contact, and here 

 lies the base of the argument to thoroughly 

 eradicate the disease by burning bees, hives, 

 combs, and everything which could possi- 

 bly come in contact with it, as it long re- 

 quires the closest watching after a cure is 

 supposed to have been effected, to prevent 

 a return. We are glad to say we have never 

 had any experience with it. — Ed.] 



North Lansing, Mich., Sept 9, 1879. 

 I have been looking around for a good site 

 for the establishment of another apiary, and 

 think the most advantageous I have found 

 is in Wood county, Ohio, near the Maumee 

 river. There I find plenty of basswood and 

 a large quantity of melilot or sweet clover, 

 as well as a fair amount of other honey-pro- 

 ducing plants. My son, George L. Perry, 

 and myself have an apiary at Lansing ; but 

 there are so many bees in this locality that 

 it is, or soon will be over-stocked. There 

 are not far from 600 or 800 colonies within 

 bee-range of our apiary, many of them 

 blacks or hybrids, so we cannot rear any 

 more pure Italians without a great deal of 

 trouble. Where I am going there are no 



bees within 6 miles that I can hear of ex- 

 cepting 3 or 4 old box hives. These I will 

 buy or transfer and Italianize free, before I 

 will let them remain as they are. I have 

 been transferring through Michigan, Ohio, 

 Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas, for 

 the past 4 summers. My son and partner, 

 George L. Perry, is a graduate of the Mich- 

 igan Agricultural College, under the tutor- 

 ship of Prof. A. J. Cook. I shall have a 

 new bee-feeder to give our brother bee-keep- 

 ei*satthe National Convention. It is for 

 winter-feeding, and can be used in the cold- 

 est weather, without disturbing or chilling 

 the bees. It coutains 3 apartments— 1 for 

 honey, 1 for water, and 1 for rye flour and 

 will, I think, become a favorite with bee- 

 keepers. I can endorse the American Bee 

 Journal as the best bee publication in the 

 world. Solomon C. Perry. 



Richmond, Texas, Aug. 16, 1879. 

 Enclosed find part of a weed that grows 

 here. Bees work on it all day. This has 

 been a fine season in this county for honey. 

 Other parts of the State have been too dry. 

 From 70 colonies I have taken 6,000 lbs. of 

 honey, and got 42 young swarms. Will get 

 several thousand pounds yet, as bees here 

 gather honey until December. I have estab- 

 lished a good home market in Houston and 

 Galveston, at $15.00 per 100 lbs. in 1 lb. sec- 

 tions, and iff 10.00 per hundred lbs. for ex- 

 tracted. J. W. ECKMAN. 



LThese are different species of boneset, 

 or eupatorium (see "Manual," p. 238, fig. 97). 

 There are 16 species in the eastern United 

 States.— A. J. Cook.] 



Canandaigua, N. Y., Sept. 8, 1879. 

 Last May 1 bought 36 colonies of bees 

 wintered in the old box hives with the loss 

 of 2 colonies. They were on south side of 

 dwelling surrounded by board fence on the 

 west and south ; the land on the west being 

 about 500 feet above. Most of the bees in 

 this vicinity, at least quite a proportion 

 (from 30 to 50 per cent.) winter-killed or 

 dwindled away in the spring, and the 

 amount of honey made is about one-quar- 

 ter of last season. I subscribed for your 

 very excellent Journal last June, and con- 

 sider that I have already received my money 

 value. 1 have just returned from New 

 York, after interviewing Messrs. Thurber, 

 Quinby, Thorne and others, as to the pro- 

 spective price of honey in prize-boxes this 

 season. They seem to think its scarcity, by 

 the death of bees and unfavorable season in 

 many of the States, will necessarily make 

 it start in at about the price of last year, 

 viz : 20c. per pound. They also claim that 

 apiarists stood in their own light last season 

 in sending their honey to so many different 

 commission men, claiming that if the mar- 

 ket could have been in about four first-class 

 merchants' hands, the early season's satis- 

 factory prices could have been maintained ; 

 but that the honey which needs very care- 

 ful handling, in many instances getting into 

 the hands of butter and cheese and other 

 commission men's hands, who thought it 

 must be disposed of at any price, much fine 

 honey, some in bad condition, was sold at 



