70 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feb. 4. 



all that bee-keepers ask in return from the fruit-grower is a 

 little nectar from the llowers in his orchard and field, and the 

 Arm and kindly grasp of his hand, acknowledging the common 

 interests and common benefits. He referred to the chances of 

 development of trade in our honey with the British and other 

 markets, and to the experiments carried on at the tluelph Ex- 

 permental Farm with foul brood. 



Freight Rates om Honey. — These are far too high, in 

 the opinion of members, honey being clastat flrst-class rates, 

 while syrup is shipt much more cheaply. At any rate, gran- 

 ulated honey should get lower rates, as there was no risk of 

 its damaging anything even if the case broke. Messrs. Gem- 

 mill and Holtermann were appointed a committee to confer 

 with the Classification Committee of Railroads and Steamships 

 as to lowering the classification of honey. 



Bee-Keepixg in Cuba. — An interesting account of bee- 

 keeping in that country was given by Mr. Irving Kiuyon, of 

 New York. The natives use box-hives 5 to 6 feet long, open 

 at both ends. Wax, not honey, was the object sought. The 

 comb is cut out with machetes. Honey is too plentiful and 

 cheap to be lookt after, being worth only 22 to 2i cents a gal- 

 lon since the war commenced. Bees thrive well and are very 

 gentle. The honey-flow begins October 1 and is best in De- 

 cember. Wa.x is worth 22 cents a pound. Wax-moths are 

 very destructive to wax and comb. Most of the honey is shipt 

 to Holland. Foul brood is very prevalent. Mr. Kinyon also 

 gave the methods of securing comb honey employed in New 

 York State. 



Honey-Vinegar. — Some discussion took place on the 

 methods employed in making honey-vinegar. Mr. McKnight 

 gave his plan as follows : Take a barrel with a wooden tap 

 that will hold 40 gallons ; put in honey and water in the pro- 

 portion of two pounds of honey to one gallon of water. The 

 second fermentation will result in vinegar. Fermentation is 

 regulated by the temperature and the admission of air. Below 

 42 ' fermentation ceases. The best temperature is about 85^. 

 To hasten fermentation, yeast or " mother" can be put in, or 

 an old vinegar barrel used. To clarify the vinegar, use isin- 

 glass, white of eggs, or, what is cheaper and nearly or quite as 

 good, skimmed milk. 



Principles of Su.mmer Management. — An exceedingly 

 interesting and what was pronounced to be one of the best 

 papers ever read before the Association, was the one on the 

 above subject, given by Mr. A. E. Hoshal. To make it better 

 understood it was illustrated by diagrams. To many of the 

 Association his views were a revelation in bee-keeping, and 

 were eagerly received. Below will be found some points in his 

 address : 



In their natural condition bees store bulk honey above 

 brood, and as near the top of the hive as possible. They work 

 from the top down, and the brood is forced down all the time. 

 Surplus cases should be added above the brood for honey. We 

 should not compel our bees to travel over the honey on top to 

 store more honey. The division between the brood and honey 

 should be just above the brood-cases, lirood-chambers should 

 extend under the whole surface of surplus case. In hives built 

 with frames crosswise the end combs will generally be found 

 full of honey, and therefore contain less brood. The less space 

 found between the brood and honey, the quicker will the bees 

 fill it up. The shallower the cases above, the quicker will they 

 be filled. In the early part of the season he forces brood so 

 long as they can be hatcht before the honey-fiow ceases : after 

 that time young bees are of no use. He uses a honey-board, 

 which is an unnatural condition, but which he finds useful in 

 increasing the honey-llow. This, by keeping brood out, gives 

 a better quality of honey. Queens of strong vitality are need- 

 ed. There is as much difference in the honey-producing qual- 

 ities of bees as In the milking qualities of dairy cows. If wo 

 wish to check swarming, we must force the production of comb 

 honey. He uses the Heddon hive, and has wintered bees in 

 hives only five inches deep, those in single stories wintering 

 more unformly than those in double stories. 



In the discussion of this paper exception was taken to the 

 statement that at the close of the honey-flow young bees were 

 of no use, and also to the use of the honey-board, but Mr. Mc- 

 Evoy heartily endorsed Mr. Hoshal's system. 



Experiments with Foui, Brood. — Very interesting were 

 the results of experiments with foul brood, given to the meet- 

 ing by Mr. F. C. Harrison, B. S. A., Bacteriologist at the On- 

 tario Agricultural College. He isolated the bacilli, and placed 

 them in darkened chambers, at temperatures from 45-" to 90- 

 and at the end of a month growth was still goipg on. The 

 same results were found when they were placed in the light. 

 He took one drop of the spores and put it in a test-tube and 

 allowed it to evaporate ; ho then exposed It to the sunlight for 

 a portion of 124 hours, at 85'-" to 00 -. At the end of the per- 



iod he found them still alive. He found that it took 45 min- 

 utes to kill them at temperature of 208'to210-. By using 

 steam it was done in 10 minutes. In dry heat they live for 

 13^ hours at 1 TjO^ Centigrade. He found bacilli in honey and 

 bee-bread. Formic acid retards the growth of the bacilli, but 

 not of the spores, but does not kill them. 



In answer to a question, Mr. Harrison explained that the 

 bacillus was the vegetable form, while spores are found when 

 the bacillus ends its existence. Spores are a form of reproduc- 

 tion to tide the bacilli over adverse circumstances. When ba- 

 cilli are excluded from oxygen they are purer. In hydrogen 

 the germs grow well. He found bacilli alive in combs that 

 had been exposed to the atmosphere for eight months. 



He had tried feeding bees with honey in which spores had 

 been placed. At the end of one month none seemed affected ; 

 but flies fed on sugar and water in which spores had been placed 

 all died. He was now conducting experiments with formic 

 acid and naphthaline, feeding the former to bees to see if that 

 will counteract foul brood. 



The following is the annual report of the Foul Brood In- 

 spector, Mr. McEvoy : 



FOUL brood inspector's REPORT. 



During the past season I visited bee-yards in the Counties 

 of Lambton, Huron, Bruce, Grey, Middlesex, Perth, Norfolk, 

 Brant, Wentworth, Lincoln, Halton, Simcoe, Peel, York, On- 

 tario, Carleton, Russell and Prescott. I examined 88 apiaries 

 and found foul brood in 41. The great out-break of decaying 

 brood which was found in so many apiaries in June and July 

 caused many bee-keepers to become very much alarmed, and 

 was often mistaken for foul brood. I received many letters 

 from bee-keepers describing the sort of dead brood that they 

 found in their colonies, and also samples of comb with decayed 

 brood in them. Sometimes foul brood was mistaken for dead 

 brood of other kinds until it had made great headway. 



Every place I went, I found the bee-keepers anxious for 

 me to examine their apiaries, and pleased when I did so. And 

 for the very nice way that I have been treated by all the bee- 

 keepers, I here return to them many thanks. I am also 

 pleased to say that those that had the disease in their apiaries 

 did their duty, and that I did not have to burn one colony in 

 1896. 



My time, livery hire, and railway fares, amounted to 

 $658.85. Wm. McEvoy. 



Remedy for Wax-Moth. — "What is the best remedy for 

 the prevention and destruction of the small wax-worm, princi- 

 pally on section honey '?" was askt. 



There seemed to be some doubt among the members as to 

 whether this was the larva of the ordinary bee-moth or a new 

 kind of pest. According to Mr. Heise, it was a worm three- 

 sixteenths of an inch long. Mr. Switzer had had experience 

 with a small worm, pinkish in color (which has a web), and 

 works on the face of the comb. It was recommended to re- 

 move sections with pollen and there would be no trouble ; also 

 to keep comb in the house where the moth cannot get to it. If 

 there are dead bees in the comb the moth feeds on them. Live 

 specimens of the worms should be sent to the Entomologist at 

 Ol'tawa, who could then determine if they were a new species. 



Mr. S. T. Pettit made the following report for the Com- 

 mittee on Legislation, which was approved, with some niodifi- 

 calions : 



REPORT ON legislation. 



I am forced to believe it my duty, in justice to the Parlia- 

 ment of Canada, to point out the difficulties and obstructions 

 that came up in the way of at once giving the legislation 

 sought. Then, again, this Association has a right to demand 

 of mo as to how I discharged my duties and why I spent so 

 much money on them. Briefly, then : 



1 started for Ottawa Jan. 24, 1896. I had been there 

 but a short time when I was made acquainted with the fact 

 that the members had been liberally supplied with a pamph- 

 let against our Bill, which was read, or portions of it, and 

 quoted on the floor of the House as authority. This pamphlet 

 set forth that " the law was sought for selfish ends." " It is 

 wanted as a weapon and a menace to keep an upstart clique in 

 power ;" and other base motives were given as reasons for 

 seeking legislation. (Jreat effort was made to lead the Par- 

 liament to believe that only a few bee-keepers — a mere "clique" 

 — care anything about the legislation sought, and that the 

 motives of this few are low and mean in the extreme. 



Then my reputation was assailed, and the statement was 

 circulated that such " blind guides as Mr. Pettit will stick at 

 nothing to damage any man's reputation who advocates sugar- 

 honey or dares to dllTer from him in any way." 



Then, again, besides the two opponents from our own 



