102 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Feb. 1, 1906 



ing between the staves, tamp them by driving a hard cord 

 into the crack with a suitable tamping iron. 



Air. Saunders — To prevent swarming equalize brood, 

 then when the swarming impulse starts take out three 

 combs of brood, putting in two frames of foundation and 

 one comb. In the fall I generally find these two-thirds 

 filled with honey. 



Mr. Holtermann — I don't succeed in having founda- 

 tion put in in this way, filled with brood. 



Mr. Pettit — Take them early and put in only one 

 frame of foundation at a time. 



Mr. Alpaugh — Add foundation at the outsides, but put 

 drawn combs in the center. 



Mr. Nolan — For winter packing use leaves. Try to 

 prevent swarming with super-room and ventilation. 

 Remove some brood as soon as cell-cups are started. 

 Remove larval brood, not hatching brood. 



Mr. Holtermann — As colonies come up to full strength 

 draw brood from full colonies and give to the next strong- 

 est — not to the weakest. When all are built up don't make 

 a whole lot of nuclei, but build up by degrees. 



Mr. Byer — Add an extra brood-chamber to the strong 

 ones. 



Mr. Hershiser recommended what Mr. Holtermann 

 had said at Niagara Falls. He would go further and take 

 frames of eggs from weak colonies and give to the medium. 



Mr. Holtermann — Increase the super-room until the 

 hive equals the strength of the colony, holding the colony 

 together till it reaches that point where the death-rate and 

 birth-rate are equal. I favor not extracting until the end 

 of the season. 



Mr. Dickenson thinks the second super should be taken 

 off as soon as it is ready. 



Mr. Armstrong— It is a good point to let them alone 

 till the end of the season, then extract. 



Mr. Lower— I should leave the honey with the bees 

 till it will "hair." 



Mr. Bowen has not much trouble with swarming, 

 running for extracted honey. He has a complete break 

 between fruit-bloom and white clover. 

 (The End). 



Southern 

 * 33eebom -f 



=% 



Conducted by Louis H. Scholl, New Braunfels, Tex. 



Be Careful With Dead Colonies 



That warning of R. F. Holtermann, on page 861, is a 

 timely one. He calls attention to the care of dead colonies 

 in the spring on account of the dangers of foul brood. As 

 it may not have been heeded, I should call special attention 

 to this matter, especially in " Southern Beedom." Fortu- 

 nately, the Southern States have had very little trouble 

 with the dreaded disease, Bacillus alvei, or commonly called 

 foul brood. For many years the majority of the beekeepers 

 of Texas did not even pay any attention to articles on any 

 such subject as foul brood, foul brood eradication, and foul 

 brood laws. Recently, however, a number of very severe 

 cases have made their appearance at different points, and 

 the bee-keepers have been awakened. Foul brood received 

 more attention, and protection from it was resorted to. A 

 foul brood law for Texas was obtained, and put to work. 

 As the disease has not spread to any extent, it can be con- 

 trolled if properly taken in hand. The utmost care should 

 be practiced by the beekeepers, however, to keep it from 

 spreading, and to prevent any further introduction into 

 other localities. 



In this connection our hints on taking care of dead 

 colonies should be heeded. Especially the inexperienced or 

 careless beekeeper may not know the cause from which 

 colonies died, or dead colonies may be left uunoticed in any 

 apiary. These may be robbed out by other colonies in the 

 neighborhood. If diseased with foul brood it is then car- 

 ried to these, and thus the disease spreads. I know from 

 my experience as foul brood inspector that just such things 

 exist sometimes. Out of an apiary of 32 colonies at one 

 place, 28 were diseased with foul brood, and 24 of these were 



dead. They remained in the yard in this latter condition 

 throughout the whole season, and were robbed out by other 

 colonies. Is it a wonder, then, that foul brood is a dreaded 

 scourge, especially since it takes only a single germ or a 

 spore to infect a whole apiary, or the whole neighborhood ? 

 Bee-keepers, if you are interested, first, in the welfare 

 of your little workers, and, second, to the extent of having 

 them make your " bread and butter," why don't you wake 

 up and do your duty ? Foul brood is to be dreaded in the 

 least, and should not be tolerated. Texas has a foul brood 

 law, and if the bee-keepers do their part foul brood can be 

 exterminated. The other States in the South should fall in 

 line — the bee-keepers of these should do their part also. 



Why I Do Not Advocate Feeding Honey and Exchang- 

 ing Honey-Combs 



In previous articles the feeding of sugar syrup or sugar 

 candy only has been given, no mention being made of feed- 

 ing honey, or syrup made of honey, or of exchanging combs 

 of honey from strong colonies to weaker or needy ones. My 

 reason for this — and a reason I make a strong one — is that 

 of the danger of spreading bee-diseases. In the hands of 

 the experienced apiarist there may be little danger in this 

 respect, still it is at a great risk if practiced even by the ex- 

 perienced sometimes. For the novice, or the careless, I 

 would not advocate it. Several cases have come under my 

 observation in recent years that have caused me to denounce 

 the practice, unless a person is absolutely certain that there 

 is no danger. 



In an apiary of an experienced bee-keeper the majority 

 of colonies needed feeding, and were fed by giving combs 

 of honey from the supers of several stronger ones. Later 

 it was discovered that one of these latter had foul brood — 

 from where, is not known to this day. Any way, the re- 

 sult was that the disease broke out in about 20 of the others 

 that had been fed honey from the foul-broody colony. 



In another, honey was bought and syrup made from it 

 was used for feeding. Foul brood broke out so violently 

 the next season, and the apiary being for the time in the 

 hands of incompetent help, the whole number of colonies in 

 it had to be burned later. It is dangerous, therefore, to use 

 honey from an unknown source, and by using a high grade 

 of granulated sugar this danger is overcome. 



(Dur+Sister 

 Beekeepers 



j 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



A Canadian Sister's Report for 1905 



On page 730 (1905) mention was made of the success of 

 Miss Trevorrow, as reported in the Canadian Bee Journal, 

 with the request that Editor Craig would give us a little 

 more light on the subject. This he has kindly done in the 

 following : 



Owing to our visit to Meadowvale being somewhat hur- 

 ried, we missed much information that we would like to 

 have had regarding Miss Trevorrow's management of her 

 bees, but which we hope she will favor this Journal with in 

 the near future. We regret to learn that just at present it 

 is necessary for her to undergo a course of treatment for 

 rheumatism at the Dr. Walters' Sanitarium, from where 

 she kindly sends us the following in reply to Miss Wilson's 

 enquiry : 



"Mr. Editor: — When I read the comment, in the 

 American Bee Journal's latest issue, upon the reference you 

 had made to my bee-keeping in the Canadian Bee Journal, 

 it struck me as possible that you might not be possessed of 

 the needed information to reply satisfactorily to the inter- 

 ested enquiries of our American sister. I, therefore, sub- 

 mit the following data, trusting that it may be of use to you 

 in granting her reasonable request : 



" I had 33 colonies of bees last spring, all in good condi- 

 tion. From these I extracted 4400 pounds of white honey, 

 and about 300 pounds of dark honey. (We have no very 



