THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST SUPPLEMENT. 



I will only recall attention to them 

 for the sake of em[)hasis, and this 

 at the risk of some critic pinning 

 me down i)y asking ''and who saitl 

 it wasn't?" 



HIT THK NAIL ON THK HKAD. 



I think that Mr. Robbins has hit 

 the nail on its head in liis article 

 in the October number about bees 

 knowing each other. I can support 

 his argument by observations of a 

 similar nature. 



For instance, on one occasion 1 

 removed a breeding queen, lor a 

 specific purpose, to the strongest 

 colony I could find not five minutes 

 after their own queen had been re- 

 moved. She was large and heavy 

 with eggs, and I had no sooner 

 placed iier carefully on a comb in 

 her new residence than she began 

 looking for a cell to lay in as if 

 nothing had happened, while the 

 bees received her as if they did not 

 know the difference. And so the 

 affairs of that realm went right on 

 without any interregnum. 1 have 

 had similar experience more than 

 once ; while, on the other hand, I 

 have replaced queens in their own 

 hive after a few minutes of absence 

 when their excited actions would 

 cause the bees to ball them at once. 



THE HONEY CROP IN CALIFORNIA. 



The few reports that I receive 

 from time to time continue to show a 

 remarkably short crop, even in the 

 most favored parts of California. 

 It is a noteworthy coincidence that 

 this scarcity should occur all over 

 the United States and Canada at 

 the same time. 



Gonzales^ Gal. 



The Apiculturist for September 

 came a few days ahead of time. Un- 

 der the able management of Mr. Alley 

 it improves each month. So far as 

 valuable matter is concerned, it is 

 one of our best apicultural periodi- 

 cals. It is well printed. — American 

 Bee Journal. 



Diseased Bees. In looking 

 our bees over a few days ago, a 

 colony was noticed to have strong 

 symptoms of the '-shaking palsy." 

 or the nameless disease. The 

 queen in that hive came from Ver- 

 mont, but was fertilized in the 

 Bay State Apiary. The colony 

 diseased was one of the best in 

 the apiary and we did not care to 

 lose it, and so salt and water, 

 (quite a strong brine), was applied 

 iuimediately. The top-board, or 

 honey- board more pi-operly, was 

 removed and about a pint of the 

 salt brine was dashed over the 

 bees and combs. That })articular 

 colony was watched closely for 

 about a week, lii the course of a 

 few days all the diseased bees, per- 

 haps two hundred in all, were driven 

 from the combs and were clustered 

 at the bottom of the frames near 

 the entrance. The diseased bees 

 are known and distinguished from 

 the healthy bees by their bright 

 and shiny bodies. One warm day 

 (Se[)t. 23) the bees seemed to be 

 driving the shiny bees out. As they 

 came out they v^^ere destroyed ; and 

 on Sept. 27, there were only two 

 diseased bees to be seen about the 

 hive. The brine had worked an 

 immediate cure. 



The black and shiny appearance 

 of infected bees is not owing to the 

 disease with whicli they are troub- 

 led but by the constant work and 

 gnawing which the healthy bees 

 are doing to them for the purpose 

 of ejecting their sickly companions 

 from the hive. 



Since writing the above we find 

 that Professor McLaiu has used 

 brine as a remedy for the nameless 

 disease, a fact showing that the 

 Professor has read the "Api" care- 

 fully. 



We need not say that what Pro- 

 fessor McLain sa3's of foul brood 

 is correct. 



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