THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



173 



2. For winter passage ways I have used 

 some sticks placet! crosswise the frames 

 a few iiu-lies apart. A mat of some sort 

 is tlieu placoci over all and a ciisiiion, 

 made of a clicap-jirade cotton-cloth llUed 

 with iiay <'Ut tine, is placed on that. 



3. I do not approve of feedini; as late in 

 the fall as some beekeepers recommend. 

 Bees shonld lie fed in September, and be- 

 fore the 20th of the month, too. I do not 

 like to disturb the hives for any purpose 

 after frosty niuhts set in. A colony of bees 

 can l)e wintered on from four to twelve 

 standard Laiiii'strotii frames. I use seven 

 and eight frames, but think bees winter 

 best on seven combs when they are well 

 tilled with good honey. 



4. A good colony of bees should have 

 twenty-tive pounds, nice granulated su- 

 gar fed them iu order to have plenty of 

 food for l)otli winter and spring. 



5. By no means allow the snow to block 

 the entrance of any hive. The bees need 

 no upward ventilation. The air should 

 be allowed to circulate around the bottom 

 of the frames as much as possible, as that 

 is where the combs mould first. That 

 is why so n)uch space should be given 

 at the bottom of the frames. 



East Sidney, N. Y. 

 Mk. Aixky: I received your postal an- 

 swer to my question, also the copy of the 

 Apicultukist, and am well pleased with 

 it. Now I want you to answer some more 

 questions. 



1. You say the trap does not need atten- 

 tion oftener than once a month. Is the 

 trap so arranged that it can be put on and 

 taken oil' quickly? and in hiving a swarm 

 how can you prevent the drones going 

 with the bees when the queen is released? 



2. In the August Apiculturist you 

 have an article on "requeening after the 

 swarm issues." After you have waited 

 three days do you allow the queen to run 

 in or do you cage her? and if you do not 

 want the cells would there be any danger 

 in cutting them out. 



3. Could the queen be introduced by 

 caging the next day after the swarm is- 

 sues without destroying the cells? 



Lksteii Judson. 



answkus by iikn'uy alley. 

 1. The trap needs i)ut little attention 

 except when It is tilled with drones. Tiiis 

 will not occur more than two or three 

 times during the season. The trap is pro- 

 vided with a little opening made in one 

 end of the division-brard, so that by re- 

 moving a small nail the queen can pass 

 out and into the hive and no drones can 



escape. This need not be done unless the 

 drones are of a sort that are not desired 

 in the apiary. 



The trap is so arranged that it can be 

 put on the hive in less time than it takes 

 to say so here. Most hives are provided 

 with an alighting-board, and the trap is 

 merely placed on that board. 



2. When introducing a queen by the 

 three-day method she may be allowed to 

 run in at the entrance, or at the top, pro- 

 vided a liberal amount of smoke is used. 



3. Yes, the cells should be removed if 

 the queen is not introduced until one day 

 after the swarm issues. A queen can be 

 introduced by caging and without remov- 

 ing the cells. When a swarm issues, of 

 course the cage must be arranged so that 

 the bees can i-emove the food and thus 

 release the queen. As soon as the queen 

 is liberated the bees will permit her to 

 destroy the cells, and no more swarms 

 may be looked for from that colony that 

 season. 



Foul Brood. 



P. M. Aldrich, Fairmont, Nebr., on July 

 19, 1888, asks the following question : 



About three-fourths of the bees in this 

 vicinity have died from foul brood ; and in 

 Graltou, seven miles west of here, quite 

 a number of colonies died last year. I 

 think that the hives were left on the stands, 

 not knowing wliat had killed the bees ; and 

 nearly all are dying this year. I watched 

 mine, and those near me, and killed and 

 burned them as soon as I found it in a hive. 

 Please tell me if I did right. Do you think 

 that thei-e is a cure? I have not seen a 

 sign of it among my bees this season. I 

 had twenty- five colonies left from sixty 

 last year. They are swarming and doing 

 tinely now. 



You did just as we should have done, 

 upon discovering the disease in our apiary. 

 We have but little coufld-ence in the so- 

 called cui'es for foul brood. The editor of 

 the Canadian Bps Journal, giving his ex- 

 perience with foul brood, says : "Last sea- 

 son we experimented with phenol, as did 

 also Mr. A. I. Root, and neither had the 

 success which would enable us to recom- 

 mend it as a permanent cure. It did re- 

 lieve, and to a certain extent cure, the col- 

 onies afflicted, but we could not depend 

 upon it as lasting." 



Mr. A. I. Root says that if he should 

 own a small apiary and discover foul brood 

 in it, he would burn up the whole rather 

 than endeavor to experiment in curing the 

 disease. If the larva? be elastic and ropy, 

 it is a sure indication of foul brood. This 

 is a sure test, but the odor is not to be re- 



