THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



219 



[For the American Bee Journal] 



Items of Various Kinds. 



The Bee Disease. 



That bee disease, so far as my knowledge ex- 

 tends, has not appeared in Canada, and I hope 

 it will not, as we have already sufficient draw- 

 backs to beekeeping. Having never seen any- 

 thing of the kind, I am quite unprepared to say 

 what the cause is, 01 what the remedy. How- 

 ever, I cannot believe it to be poisonous honey, 

 scarcity of honey, or barrenness of queen. 

 Why should poisonous honey, such as could 

 cause the disease, have been gathered for the 

 first time last season? Scarcity of honey and 

 barrenness of queen are contingencies too com- 

 mon to be productive of such fatal results. The 

 same may be said of " want of pollen " as the 

 cause. Has there never been a want of pollen 

 before ? Why should this want occur last sea- 

 son ? Were not flowers as abundant as in other 

 seasons, and as productive of pollen, even if 

 not of honey. Neither ©an I accept my friend 

 Dadant's "probable cause 1 ' — constipation; that 

 is, if constipation is produced, as he is inclined 

 to believe, "by a sudden and great fall of tem- 

 perature, while the abdomen of the bees is filled 

 with faeces." Do we not frequently have as 

 great and as sudden a fall of temperature, as 

 was experienced last September ? It appears to 

 me that the true cause of the disease has not yet 

 been arrived at. 



Foulbrood. 



I know of but one apiary in the Province of 

 Ontario, where foulbrood exists. There may 

 be others, but not to my knowledge. This 

 apiary is owned by Mr. Thayer, of Georgetown. 

 In the fall of 1867, being in that vicinity, I 

 called on Mr. Thayer, and with him examined 

 several stocks of bees, two of which were badly 

 affected with foulbrood. I tried to induce him 

 to destroy the hives and stocks entirely ; but he 

 being unwilling to do so, I cut out all the affected 

 combs and left the stocks to live or die. Mr. 

 Thaj-er had I think at that time some fifty stocks. 

 I cannot say whether others were affected or not, 

 or how far the disease had spread among his 

 bees, not having heard from there of late. Mr. 

 Thayer now takes the Bee Journal, and it is 

 to be hoped that he will see to it, and rid his 

 apiary of the disease. 



Candied Honey. 



Friend A. J. Root, in the current volume of 

 the Bee Journal, page 179, thinks that candied 

 honey, after being melted by submitting it to a 

 temperature of 206° F., will not candy again. 

 My experience has been that it will. If Mr. 

 Boot will put his honey into jars, and then 

 bring it nearly to a boiling heat, and seal it up 

 as fruit is sealed, it will not candy. At least, 

 I have kept it thus for two years, as clear and 

 fine as the day it was sealed up. 



Queens Laying Drone and Worker Eggs. 



On page 198, of the current volume of the 

 Bee Journal, Mr. Dadant says— " I think 



j that the queen finds less enjoyment while lay- 

 j iug in droue than in worker cells ; and that she 

 lays in drone cells only when compelled by 

 J want of room, or when hurried bv the desire (it 

 j laying in the height of the breeding season." 

 I I do not know Whether the queen finds any en- 

 joyment in laying in drone cells, but I do know 

 that a queen will lay in drone cells when not. 

 i compelled by want of room, and this not in tue 

 ! height of the breeding: season. 

 j In reply to Mr. R. Bickt'ord, in the Bee 

 Journal of February, 1868, page 147, I submit 

 that if the queen lays in worker cells because 

 she understands that by so doing she will pro- 

 duce a worker or female progeny; then she lavs 

 in drone cells because she understands that by 

 so doing she will produce a worker or male pro- 

 geny. Logical conclusion. The same under- 

 standing that causes her to lay in worker ce.ls, 

 in order to produce workers, would cause her to 

 open the mouth of the seminal sac, in order to 

 produce fertilized or worker eggs ; and when 

 laying in drone cells, in order to produce drones, 

 would cause her to close it, in order to produce 

 unfertilized or drone eggs. It can require no 

 more knowledge to open and shut the seminal 

 duct, than it does to open and shut the oviduct. 



Again— if the queen instinctively lays in 

 worker cells, then she instinctively lays in drone 

 cells. Logical conclusion. The same instinct 

 that causes her to lay in worker cells, in order 

 that workers may be produced, would cause her 

 to open the mouth of the seminal sac, in order 

 that impregnated or worker eggs may be deposit- 

 ed ; and, when laying in drone cells, it would 

 cause her to close the mouth of the seminal sac, 

 in order that unimpregnated or drone eggs be 

 deposited. If instinct causes the oviduct to 

 open and shut, it may cause the seminal duct 

 to open and shut. Ye wise ones, either deny 

 the premises, and say the queen does not lay at 

 all, or accept the conclusion. 



J. H. Thomas. 



Brooklin, Ontario. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Mr. Editor :— R. Bickford's troubles, de- 

 scribed in the February number, have induced 

 me to send you my plan of getting bees out of 

 honey boxes. 



Place an empty barrel anywhere about the 

 apiary to suit your convenience. Remove the 

 boxes from the hives, and place them in it; then 

 lay a dark cloth over the top of the barrel, leav- 

 ing a space at one side just large enough for one 

 or two bees to crawl out at a time. You may 

 then leave for other work, and return at your 

 leisure, without fear of finding any honey car- 

 ried away by robbing bees. 



I have tried this plan several years, sometimes 

 placing a dozen boxes in a barrel at one time ; 

 and never yet knew a bee to return to the bar- 

 rel for honey, or a cell to be uncapped by its 

 own or other bees. 



If any one has a cheaper, quicker or easier 

 way, that is not patented, I should like to hear 

 of it. 



John L. Rice. 



Rensselaerville, N. Y. 



