40 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



sunies a vinilent or more conta^ous type 

 or form, while, later, it may have spent, 

 to some degree, its force; and I can only 

 conclude that, under some such circum- 

 stances, the foundation cure alone may be 

 quite sufficient, but not in all cases; and, 

 until more experience teaches me other- 

 wise, I cannot recommend or justify its 

 adoption in toto. Past experiments 

 prompt me in stating that it is better to be 

 sure than sorry — as in many instances 

 the amount of infected honey carried 

 with the bees was so great that odd cells 

 W'ould show diseased larvae, if this honey 

 were deposited in the brood chamber. 



If I mistake not, some of the Califor- 

 nia apiarists agree wfth me in this matter; 

 as, during my late visit there, I under- 

 stood the practice with some of those who 

 happened to have the "good luck" to 

 find a stray swarm in or near their own 

 apiar}- was to hive it on starters for a few 

 days, and then, afterwards, give founda- 

 tion; fearing that the visitors might have 

 brought with them a gift other than 

 sound honey. 



I must confess that Mr. Baldridge's 

 article was a pleasant surprise to me. 

 Treating foul broody colonies by his 

 method is novel, and yet savors so much 

 of possibilities that I can but express my 

 delight with the information it contain- 

 ed. The great difficulty, heretofore, has 

 been to secure a good crop of honey from 

 a colony having the disease, and at the 

 same time cure it with as little time, la- 

 bor, and expense as possible. 



The plan outlined prevents increase, of 

 course, but that is no detriment; at least, 

 ought not to be to any one possessing either 

 few or many hives. More explicit direc- 

 tions for carrying out the cure could 

 scarcely have been given; so that failure 

 can scarcel}' follow if a pains-taking bee- 

 keeper undertakes the remedy. I wish 

 that assurance pos.sessed my soul to such 

 an extent that all would succeed who tried 

 it; but that would almost be expecting too 

 much, for there are those who, un- 

 fortunatly, bungle anything they under- 

 take. 



No oljjection can be offered at present 

 by me to his treatment. At the same 

 time, it w ill be tried, as soon as an oppor- 

 tunity presents itself, and results duly 

 reported. 



One thing, of probably minor impor- 

 tance, is the boring of a hole in the front 

 of the hive, for the purpose of attaching 

 a cone for the exit of the bees from the 

 diseased colony. I just would not bore 

 that hole in the hive, but, instead, w^ould 

 use an attachment containing a cone (a 

 double cone preferred ) which can be ad- 

 justed in a second to the front of any 

 hive, without altogether closing the en- 

 trance proper, thus affording freer ventil- 

 ation to the practically imprisoned bees. 

 Such an arrangement is quite simple; and 

 has been m use for seven or eight years, 

 or more, by Mr. J. B. Hall, one of onr 

 best comb honey producers. I have used 

 it myself some five or six years for the 

 prevention of after-swarms, by transfer- 

 ring the bees from the parent colony to 

 the swarm until the young queen is ready 

 for fertilization, when the old hive can be 

 removed to a new stand, or disposed of 

 as seems best. 



Of course, there are numerous ways of 

 curing foul brood, but time, nor space, 

 I fear, are sufficient to enlarge on them 

 here; so I Aill, therefore, in cojjcltision , 

 congratulate the editor on having secured 

 so many other good contributions which 

 are highly appreciated, but can be more 

 profitably commented upon by others 

 than by your humble servant; and I will 

 simply add that some experiments which 

 Mr. McEvoy and myself have been carry- 

 ing out of late had to be abandoned for 

 the present for lack of time. I mention 

 this fact, as I had occassion to refer to 

 such in corresponding with you some few 

 months ago. 



Stratford, Canada. Jan. 15, 1898. 



[I think Mr. Tavlor has never positive- 

 ly asserted that foul brood could be 

 gotten rid of in all cases by simply shaking 

 the bees off upon sheets of foundation, 

 but that siich had been his experience 

 without a single failure. — Ed.] 



