1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



youni; swavras do not come out early eufugh to 

 be able to lay up a sufficieiit ntorf. of hv)ney, the 

 season being one half ])ast before tho young 

 colonies are prepared to enter the field, it is 

 •wisdom to ask if we cannot do something to 

 assist and strengthen our colonics in season, 

 that they may be in readiness to enter the 

 harvest field on th'o opening of the first blos- 

 soms, thus rend(!ri!.g the honey season much 

 longer, giving the bees time to lav up a sutficient 

 amount of stores. 



Now, the question arises, how can we mnnagc 

 our apiary so as to be able to furnish bers enough 

 to enter the fields in due time? My opinion is 

 that we should he well rewarded for the extra 

 trouble of rearing one or two surplus queens 

 for each colony, to ])i' kept in reserv<' until 

 spring. A hive containing twelve fr'!m s and 

 two division-boards, so arruug-d that the animal 

 heat may be retained and equ^ilized, giving <^ach 

 apartment four frames, an entranc- at each end, 

 and one in front ; tlien put in each apart mont 

 about an equal amount of bees young bro- daud 

 larva3, that they may rear a quc^n in season to 

 be ferrilized. We will now have three queens 

 insteod of one, and the same amount of homy 

 and bees, and probai'ly more. Let them remain 

 in the same hive through the fall and winter, 

 until they are to be put on tlieir summer stands ; 

 then take each four fr mcs and put into a new 

 hive of the same dimrnsions, with a movable 

 division -board, Lo enlarge the space with the 

 grcwth and increase of the colony. Caution 

 should be used to prevent the spac' being too 

 large for the animal heat, which must in all 

 cases be preserved. 



Now we have three queens to increase the 

 workers instead of 'm . We also have Ihree 

 swarms with workers suflicient to gather a good 

 supply of honey, also in the fall a large, strong 

 colony of bees. A gooi, piolific queen, with 

 bees enough for breeding purposes, are all ihat 

 is required in the spring, as most i:f the bees 

 hatched in the fall, die during the fir^t months 

 of their flight in s])riijg Three queens may be 

 wintered \\ ith the u<\\:\\ amount of bees, in a 

 strong colony, with as little cost and trouble as 

 one. If one queen is cf any account in the spring, 

 three are worth three times as much, providing 

 there are bees enough for breeding purposes. 

 Then you can see ihe advantage of rearing 

 queens in August, for breeding the following 

 spring. It is judici us mauiigenient to 1' ave 

 bees to swarm naturally. In order to make it 

 profitable, the apiarian must assist the colonies 

 by feeding and stimulating to breed, that each 

 colony may be strong laid fully prepared to 

 enter the field in th^. oj)ening of spring. A 

 strong colony in spring seldom tails to g.ither a 

 full supply of honey. They have th -^hole 

 season, while those that swarm out the last of 

 July and August, have only about three months. 

 Hence, the great advantage of rearing surplus 

 queens for spring use. 



Bees that are hatched in the spring do not live 

 longer than the honey harvest, and tho.se hatched 

 in summer die before breeding time in the fol- 

 lowing spring; consequently, bees should be 

 hatched as late in the tall as possible, that they 

 may live until spring, to sustain the colony until 

 young bees are bred to supply their places, 

 leaving the colony in good condition for the 

 coming season. No one need expect any profit 

 from keeping bees unless they are properly cared 

 for. It is like all other business, when neglected 

 it ttoon goes to ruin. E. Gerey. 



Garden City, Minn. 



[For the American Bee Journal.} 



Poul Brood Cured. 



I wish to notice an article on foul brood by 

 M. Quinby, in the May number of tlie Ameri- 

 can P,\i.E, JouRSAL, in order to commend it to 

 the attention of bee keepers. Ha%'ing had to 

 contend ioar year.-, with this loathsome disease 

 in my apiary, I am happy in being able to say 

 that I am now clear of it. And, as it is the 

 only Inst-ance of loul brood havin.;^ appeared 

 in tliia State, as far as I can learn, I am gratified 

 at my success in ( xtirpating the disease without 

 its extending to any of my neighbors. The 

 method which I hive pur-^ued is almost identi- 

 cal with that recommend d by Mr. Quinby in 

 his book on bee-keeping and in t .e article 

 referred to above. And I now tcel satisfied 

 that no great advance in knowledge as to the 

 cause and treatment of foul brood has been 

 made since Mr. Quinby published his book, 

 though 1 was led to hope t hat some valuable 

 discovery had b(!en made by Mr. Lambrecat, a. 

 German, frm remarks made by K( v Mr. Kleine 

 befon a convention of bee keCfjer . in Prussia, 

 translated fir thu American Bee Journal and 

 published in the number for Ceptember, 1870. 

 But, as ;dl iotere.st in xVIr. L imbrecht's discovery 

 seems to have passed away, I conclude there 

 was nothing in it better tiian that which we 

 already possessed. 



I think it ])os:-ible tliat the hyposulphite of 

 soda, sugg. sted by Dr. E. P. Abbe, (A. B. J., 

 vol. 6, p. h7,) would be .% valuable remedy if 

 any easy method could be devised of bringing 

 it in contaet with everything containing the 

 disease, I thought I had cured a foul broody 

 stock of bees with it, but unfortunately, before 

 I -ould be really certain of it, I re-introduced 

 foul brood into that hive and several others by 

 fetding ^'i'h honey containing the disease. The 

 liive -vitu which I experimented had brood iu 

 four frames, all of which was more or less 

 alfeeted. My atomizer was a very poor affair, 

 b" t the best I could get. I cleansed all the 

 crlls that I could see, ccmtaining dead brood in 

 the way described by Dr. Abbe. To be certain 

 as to clic effect ol the remedy, I marked a good 

 maiy of tlie colls out of which I had removed 

 the putrid matter, and found that the bees 



