24 



THE BER-KEErERS' REVIEW. 



breeds up to a degree of vigor and viru- 

 lence that the defenses of the human 

 body can not stand against, then a new 

 disease starts out and goes round the 

 world. Several have so done within the 

 memory of the present generation. It 

 is as if a pair of bull pugs, too sleepy and 

 too small to be dangerous, should breed 

 up to an army of 200-pound bull dogs, 

 with a disposition to jump at ever}- man's 

 throat. 



Now for the theory that we have been 

 wading toward. The bull-pug breed of 

 Bacillus alvei is supposed to be scattered 

 around everywhere, and to be doing no 

 particular harm. A hive full of frozen 

 brood is supposed to offer so peculiarly 

 stimulating a nidus for development that 

 (sometimes, not always) the harmless 

 pug of Bacillus alvei breeds up to the 

 destroying bull-dog breed of Ilj.ril'us 

 alvei. Now, not everything actually 

 takes place which one considers imag- 

 inable and rational. I, for one, don't 

 believe this theory has an actual count- 

 erpart in fact. But if some brother 

 just as good a naturali t as I thinks 

 that it does, I have no business to call 

 him a ninny. 



In the same article Mr. Taylor says he 

 has proved by a hundred cases that it is 

 entirely unnecessary to put foul-broody 

 colonies, that are being cured, on clean 

 sheets of foundation the second time. 

 Here he is getting a little too "hot." 

 That experience is not proof. It is a 

 cheering indication that proof may even- 

 tually be complete. Only by experi- 

 ments in different years, and under m my 

 different circumstances, and in wide- 

 apart localities, can there be proof of the 

 maximum persistence of such a variable 

 thing as a bacillus disease. 



A change of our standard section in 

 the air, eh ? See Review, 325. ImpurLant— 

 and I'm afraid also it is true — but I rather 

 wish it were not. Our present section is 

 good enough; and I, like good old Jol), 

 was expecting to "die in my nesl. " 

 The work and expense of getting out of 

 it and into a new nest is not a ])leasant 



prospect to me. And lots of old fogies 

 will sympathize with me, methinks. 

 When the market gets fully supplied with 

 a kind slightly more popular than ours 

 we may be driven to move; but we'uns 

 are not going to lead the grand march — 

 you hear me shouting ! 



When moth-worms are tumbled down 

 upon the bottom-board by bees they are 

 apt to iind a bottom-bar so near the board 

 that they can just squeeze under ; and 

 then the bees can noi dislodge them. 

 vS quire bottom-bars, sttangle dozen, make 

 this kind of refuge impossible. Strong 

 score in favor of square bottom-bars, if 

 they are otherwise satisfactory; and it is 

 claimed that comb is built down better to 

 the upward angle than to a flat surface. 

 A. L. Boyden, Gleanings, 661. But J. O. 

 CTrimsley says in Gleanings, 732, that 

 small, square bottom-bars, in his experi- 

 ence, cause a bad mess of burr-comb to be 

 built around them as soon as they are put 

 into the extracting-super. This is a heavy 

 weight on the outer side. 



W. W. Eagerty, Gleanings, 666, .says 

 spread .sections on thick soft green grass 

 under a dense shade, instead of wetting 

 them before folding. Who knows but 

 that would be a handy and winning 

 scheme sametimes ? I should fear, how- 

 ever, that they would curl up like sticks 

 of cinnamon, unless you mowed some of 

 the green grass and sprinkled it on top 

 of them. 



In Gleanings, 6S3, J. A. Johnston claims 

 to havfe been trying for tweU'e years 

 without success to exterminate sweet 

 clover from a pasture and some fence- 

 corners where he had sowed it. 



So it seems that Gravenhorst, one of 

 the weightiest of German authorities, 

 favors hiving swarms on starters rather 

 than on full .sheets of foundation. .Straw, 

 Gleanings, 730. Chance for the foundation 

 folks to trot out a Ronald to meet this 

 Oliver — I)ul let them not revile the start- 

 er-using folks much till they have down- 

 e 1 him. 



Both lu-nest Root and Dr. Miller think 

 cross bees can be influenced for the bet- 



