(Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mall-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. York & Co., 334 Dearborn St. 



QBORQE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL, APRIL 26, 1906 



VoL XLVI— No. 17 



(gbttorial Hotes 

 anb (£omments 



j 



Honey and Herb-Tea for Bee-Paralysis 



I/Apicoltore, of Milan, has opened its columns to the 

 discussion of what we usually call " bee-paralysis," which is 

 called by the Italians " Mai Di Maggio " or May disease. 

 It appears that there has been a great deal of May disease 

 in the Province of Ancona during the past three years. An 

 apiarist by the name of Belluci has succeeded in preventing 

 the spread of the disease by feeding his bees with a tonic 

 preparation made of honey mixed with a tea of aromatic 

 herbs, and a small proportion of salicylic acid. The March 

 number of IVApicoltore contains a lengthy article from the 

 pen of Mr. C. P. Dadant, in which he gives his views on 

 the subject, describing the disease as it has appeared in 

 different countries, and commending Belluci's treatment. 



Hurrying Up Queen-Rearing 



Editor Root is interested in the experiment of trying to 

 " steal a march on Nature of a whole month " in the matter 

 of getting queens fertilized in the spring. The hives and 

 nuclei are kept in a warm room, but with the entrances 

 opening outdoors, so that whenever the weather favors they 

 can fly out freely. It will not be a surprise if the scheme 

 should fail, for the trouble in early spring queen-rearing is 

 not in getting things done in the hive, but in getting the 

 right kind of weather, and keeping hives in a warm room 

 will not help the weather outdoors. 



It seems consummate folly to waste good brains in ex- 

 periments that are predestined to failure ; but now and then 

 something that we were cock-sure was all wrong turns out 

 to be all right, and then we are all glad to have the benefit 

 of it. 



Alsike and Sweet Clover in Canada 



A correspondent in Ontario writes as follows concern- 

 ing alsike and sweet clover : 



I see there is an excitement over alsike clover. Even Editor Root 

 talks of sowing it for bees and for hay. Locality may make all the 

 difference, but every farmer here says nothing thrives upon it; and it 

 was only grown here for seed till our new Seed Adulteration Act came 

 into force, and now it is not being sown because the seed of a wild 

 trefoil here prevalent can not be separated from it; but, oh! that 

 alsike is the honey-plant above all others here, and farm lands are 

 being abandoned through that accursed sweet clover. Ontario. 



There is no doubt that in many places alsike is a valuable 

 forage-plant, and this is perhaps the first report of any 

 locality in which farmers say " nothing thrives upon it." 

 Certainly there must have been demand for the seed that 

 could hardly have originated if the plant had been generally 

 worthless. 



Is not the locality exceptional, too, with regard to sweet 



clover? Not many bee-keepers count it " accursed." But 

 it is surprising how some people howl about sweet clover. 

 It is very easy to eradicate if not wanted. Why not get ex- 

 cited over the Canada thistle and some other really villain- 

 ous " weeds and things," and give sweet clover a rest ? 



All that is necessary to destroy sweet clover is to mow 

 it just before it blooms. It is a biennial, and so, unlike the 

 miserable Canada thistle, there will soon be an end to sweet 

 clover. 



But where farmers are becoming better educated they 

 no longer oppose the spread of sweet clover, for it is val- 

 uable for hay and as a forage-plant aside from its excellent 

 nectar-yielding qualities. If the hay and forage-plant 

 values of sweet clover are doubted, ask Wm. Stolley, of 

 Grand Island, Nebr. He has made hay of sweet clover for 

 years, and has written about it for the American Bee Jour- 

 nal several times during the past few years. 



(Jiving Empty Stories Below Queen-Excluders 



To prevent swarming, G. W. Demaree gives a lower 

 story containing empty combs or foundation under the 

 brood-chamber, a queen-excluder between the two, putting 

 the queen below. With some this has succeeded perfectly, 

 while others have reported failure. 



Something similar is reported as the practise of Herr A. 

 Straeuli, editor of Die Europaeische Bienenzucht— the new 

 German journal that advocates American methods. But 

 with Herr Straeuli it is a treatment of swarms rather than 

 prevention of swarming. He does nothing to prevent 

 swarming except to repress drone-comb and favor bees little 

 given to swarming. Then when a prime swarm issues he 

 hives it in a hive containing empty comb or foundation, sets 

 it on the old stand, puts an excluder over it, and sets the old 

 hive over that. This plan is worth considering by those 

 who allow natural swarming but desire no increase. 



A matter of some importance is the question whether it 

 is not necessary to destroy queen-cells. Of course, neither 

 the Demaree nor the Straeuli plan is avaiable for those who 

 work for comb honey. 



Ohio Foul-Brood Law— One Cent Per Colony Tax 



According to Gleanings, this law has been signed by 

 the Governor, and has gone into effect. Editor Root says : 



In brief, the law now provides that, on the complaint of three 

 persons, residents of the county, to the county commissioners, setting 

 forth that the disease known as foul brood actually exists within said 

 county, the county commissioners shall (not may, as it was in the old 

 law) appoint a competent person as foul-brood inspector, clothed with 

 necessary authority to inspect colonies, and treat the 6ame according 

 to the most up-to-date methods. The expense of such inspection will 

 be paid out of the funds secured from the special tax of one cent per 

 colony, as I understand it. As there are 150,000 colonies in Ohio, ac- 

 cording to the last census, this will give us a fund of $1500— more 

 than enough, I should say, to do the work thoroughly throughout the 

 whole State. 



Ohio is to be congratulated on having a law with the 

 vitally important compulsory part. There may, however, 

 be a question whether something is not still left to be de- 

 sired. An important duty of an inspector often consists in 

 inspecting a suspected apiary to decide whether foul brood 



