AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL- 



SI 



through the American Bee Journal. 

 In fact, they heard hira in Germany. 



But the third season the colonies in 

 large hives were the first to cast swarms 

 nearly 3 weeks earlier than those in my 

 standard hives, and here was another 

 dilemma. The swarms were so large 

 that I had to pile up three standard 

 hives on top of each other, in order to 

 get the bees all in. 



The fourth season they cast swarms 

 again, but here was another drawback : 

 the fall was an extra open one, and they 

 piled in so much pollen that they nearly 

 ruined one-half the combs, and then 

 having so much pollen they got the 

 diarrhea before spring, and dwindled 

 badly. But I demonstrated one fact, 

 which I believe to be a fact, that one 

 can rear long-lived queens large and 

 prolific ; also that their workers are 

 longer lived than ordinary, else how 

 could all those extra-large colonies that 

 I have mentioned, both blacks and Ital- 

 ians, keep up their extra-large number 

 of workers the entire year ? 



I forgot to mention that I had two %- 

 inch holes in the ends of those hives — 

 one near each side at the top, and when 

 the bees were gathering so rapidly, one 

 could see the stream in early morning 

 passing out of those holes, thus demon- 

 strating that evaporation of nectar was 

 going on very rapidly inside the hive. 

 Water would also be dripping from the 

 lower entrances. We understand that a 

 portion of that probably was fr^m the 

 breath of the bees. 



Now we have demonstrated, at least 

 to our own satisfaction, that bees can 

 certainly be improved under judicious 

 and intelligent management instead of 

 retrograding; and the great wonder to 

 me is, that they have held their own un- 

 der the bad management of as large a 

 proportion of queen-breeders as we 

 formerly had. 



Now, Mr. White, your argument that 

 the blacks are superior to Italians be- 

 cause one can rear black bees from Ital- 

 ians under unnatural and unfavorable 

 conditions, is about like the argument 

 of the large queen-breeder that I before 

 mentioned, who claimed that when he 

 tried to rear queens from the eggs or 

 larvte just hatched, many of the larvaj 

 sealed up were not larger than kernels 

 of wheat. You see that he was rearing 

 them nnder the greatest possible un- 

 favorable and unnatural conditions, 

 hence his argument was drawn from 

 false premises. 



You can readily see how the old man 

 Gallup hollowed and swung his hat about 

 his non-swarmer, etc., before he was 



" out of the woods." No wonder that 

 bees are afraid to sting him ! I have 

 always held that bees seldom sting a 

 fool, for that was the most satisfactory 

 answer that I could give to a majority of 

 people that asked why they did not sting 

 me. Of course I have another reason, 

 but that is the quickest and easiest 

 manner of disposing of the question, and 

 proves satisfactory to a majority of 

 questioners. 



By the way, I am asked why, in my 

 method of queen-rearing, I kept the 

 colony five days before giving the brood. 

 Because the bees were all young, or 

 nursing-bees, and it takes about that 

 time before a sufficient number become 

 outside gatherers, and we want all the 

 favorable conditions possible. 



Santa Ana, Calif. 



Foul Eroofl anl Its Propaiatlon. 



Written lor tlie American Bee Journal 



BY RANDOLPH GRADEN. 



It was gratifying to me to see such 

 persons as Messrs. Hutchinson, Muth, 

 and others differing from Mr. McEvoy's 

 treatment of foul brood. Still, I do not 

 Intend to be understood as meaning that 

 Mr. McEvoy cannot cure foul brood by 

 his method, as the word " foul " is a 

 German word, and its meaning is "rot- 

 ten," and any decayed, dead brood may 

 be called "foul brood;" but I do know 

 from experience that Mr. McEvoy's 

 method will not cure the disease that I 

 had to contend with here in Michigan, 

 for hives and frames used without first 

 being disinfected, would soon become 

 diseased. I have never destroyed any 

 hives or frames, but have always kept 

 them in use after being disinfected. 



Mr. McEvoy says that frames are so 

 cheap that they mightas well be burned; 

 still, I can disinfect the frames as fast 

 as they can be nailed together, say noth- 

 ing about the cost of the frames, and 

 time and trouble in getting them from 

 the factory. 



What seems to me very queer is, that 

 soon after my article appeared in the 

 Bee Journal about a year ago, I re- 

 ceived a letter from the President of the 

 Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association, ask- 

 ing for my method of curing the disease, 

 as he wished to bring it before a meet- 

 ing to be discussed. Now, why should 

 they want my method when they have 

 the discoverers of the cause and cure of 

 foul brood in their midst? 



Since I discovered my method of cur- 



