(Bntered at the PostOfflce at Chicago ao Second-CIasa Mall-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. Vork & Co., 334 Dearborn Street. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL, MARCH 21, 1907 



VoLXLVU— No, 12 



Swarm Leaving Colony Hopelessly 

 Queenless 



The following question and answer are 

 taken froai the report of the Ontario conven- 

 tion in the Canadian Bee Journal : 



Q.— Will a colony cast an afterwarm with 

 the last queen leaving the parent colony hope- 

 lessly queenless? 



Mr. Alpaugh — I would say, Yes, once in a 

 while, but not very frequently. I have had 

 them do such a thing several times in my 

 time. I have returned them 4 or 5 times with 

 the young queen back into a colony, and they 

 came out, and they had no queen left, and 

 yet the queen would go out with the swarm. 

 I put her back, and she would do that time 

 after time. I do not know the reason. 



Plan of Giving Sections 



D. M. M., in the British Bee Journal, gives 

 this as the plan he followed in giving to the 

 bees supers of sections, or " racks," as he 

 calls them : 



All racks were given above the others, 

 rather before there was any clamant need, 

 but these were placed below when taken pos- 

 session of by the bees, and the nearly-full 

 ones raised above to seal. At the same opera- 

 tion an empty rack was placed above all the 

 others to act as a cooler. 



That differs at least a little from the usual 

 practise, and is worth considering. 



Mr. Cowan on Names of Brood-Ois- 



eases 



In the British Bee Journal, an editorial evi- 

 dently written by Thos. Wm. Cowan — a man 

 whose word counts for much in regard to 

 brood-diseases — commenting upon the pam- 

 phlet, "The Brood-Diseases of Bees,'' by Dr. 

 E. F. Phillips, takes issue with some of its con- 

 clusions in the following words : 



That there are two forms of foul brood, a 

 mild and a virulent one, has long been ad- 



mitted, but we aiu certainly not yet prepared 

 to allow that these differ from American foul 

 brood upon the slender evidence adduced. 

 The symptoms and characteristics of Ameri- 

 can foul brood, as described by Dr. Phillips, 

 correspond with those of foul brood as we 

 have it here, and such as we found in the 

 United States when we first visited the api- 

 aries at Medina, in 1887. We have since that 

 time had the opportunity of seeing specimens 

 of foul brood in the States and Canada, and In 

 every case the symptoms were similar. Slight 

 variations occur, but there was always the 

 distinctive ropiness and unpleasant odor 

 which can be compared to bad glue. We have 

 also seen many specimens from different 

 parts of Europe and Africa always with the 

 same characteristics. 



Our first acquaintance with black brood, or 

 " New fork bee-disease," as it was at that time 

 called, was made some years ago in Califor- 

 nia. This was sent from New York State by 

 Mr. West, a State bee-inspector, and on ex- 

 amining it we at once saw that it differed 

 from what we called foul brood, for, although 

 the outward appearance of the comb was 

 similar, the distinctive ropinees and odor were 

 absent. Notwithstanding that our experience 

 with foul brood was pretty extensive, and 

 dated back for more than 35 years, this was 

 the first time we had come in contact with 

 black brood. It was entirely unknown to us 

 except from descriptions in the journals, and 

 not a single sample had been sent to the 

 British Bee Journal office for diagnosis. Last 

 year, however, we began receiving from time 

 to time specimens of dead brood differing in a 

 marked degree from any we had previously 

 seen in this country, and which corresponded 

 in nearly every particular with the descrip- 

 tion given of black brood, and they at once 

 reminded us of that we saw in California. 



Black brood is of quite recent occurrence 

 here, and we naturally hesitate to accept the 

 statement defining it as " European foul 

 brood," or the assertion of Dr. White, that it 

 is caused by Bucilltts alvei. To say the least, 

 it is quite possible that Dr. White has made a 

 mistake, just as others have done, and has 

 cultivated one of the numerous saprophytic 

 bacteria found in bees. It appears to ns that 

 the most important test has been omitted, 

 and until that has been made successfully 

 our judgment must be suspended. The test 



we allude to is to prove that the disease can 

 be reproduced in healthy brood from a pure 

 culture of Dr. White's Bacillus Uirme. showing 

 the characteristic symptoms of foul brood — 

 that is, the ropiness and odor. We know that 

 this was done by Mr. Cheshire with JlitciHus 

 alvei, but we can not see that Dr. White has 

 hitherto been able to reproduce the disease 

 with his microbe. Until this has been done 

 the investigations and the conclusions arrived 

 at are of little value so far as solving the 

 question is concerned. 



in Case of Losing All of One's Bees 



A reading of the following letter can not 

 fail to arouse sympathy, while raising the 

 question whether our correspondent is mak- 

 ing the wisest stand: 



George W. York & Co.— I am sorry to 

 say that I will have to ask you to discontinue 

 sending ray copy of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal. I have been among bees here and in 

 England on and off for the last 40 years, but 

 never ran up against anything in the bee-line 

 as I have the last 4 years. Oiu-c in n iclille 

 you can not take the honey away fast enough 

 here, but the last 3 years bees have not pro- 

 duced enough to live on. 



Two years ago I knew of 250 colonies with- 

 in a radius of 5 miles of my place, and to-day 

 I can not count 25. I know of two friends 

 who had 20 and 31 colonies; to-day they have 

 none, like myself; so if that is not discourag- 

 ing, what is? 



I got in enough supplies after our big crop, 

 3 years ago, to carry me through another 

 such a season, and to-day I have the sarne 

 supplies on hand and not a single bee, but 50 

 empty hives. If I ever get hold of another 

 colony I will surely subscribe again for the 

 American Bee Journal, for no man with one 

 colony should be without it. 



Jno. T. Paihtbr. 



P. S.— I know you will say I get discour- 

 aged too easily. Well, since 1885 or 1S86, 

 when we all, around here (the late Mr. Clute 

 included), got barrels of honey, I have known 

 only one t/ood year, and that was in 1904 ; and 

 that is the average, I find, for around here for 

 good crops. J- T. P. 



There are bee-keepers who accept with 

 complacency a disastrous year, if indeed they 

 do not rejoice over it. And not without rea- 

 son, for your experienced bee-keeper will 

 tell you : " Even if I should lose every colony 

 I have I don't know but I would gain by it 

 in the long run. For it will drive out of the 

 business some of those slouchy bee-owners 

 who can hardly be called bee-keepers, and 

 when they're out of the way I'll get enough 

 more for my honey to make up for the loss." 



All this aside, let us consider what is the 



