American l^ae Journal] 



October, 1907. 



brood and some little honey over the 

 present needs of the colony. This was 

 about sunset, and, on disturbing the 

 swarm, they very promptly showed fight 

 and gave us to understand they re- 

 garded that spot as their home. Seeing 

 some transferring had to be done, we 

 postponed the job until morning. Other 

 important work in the apiary prevented 

 immediate attention to the swarm, and 

 before again disturbing them in the 

 least, the whole swarm (not leaving a 

 bee) decamped to parts unknown, about 

 10 a. m., leaving their babies and a 

 little honey also. 



Why did those bees leave? Did our 

 disturbing them on the previous even- 

 ing cause suspicion? or had their pas- 

 turage become short and exposure to 

 depredations of robber-bees and other 

 pilferers, caused it? Perhaps they rea- 

 soned thus: "Shall we stay here on this 

 bush and risk our life as a colony, or 

 shall we desert our babies and all this 

 10 or IS days' labor, and go to some hoU 

 low tree where we can begin anew and 

 be in position to protect our labor and 

 a new crop of babies?" 



There must have been some mental 

 decision, and each member of that 

 swarm must have accorded with that 

 decision. I've seen large bodies of 

 men ponder for days on matters of 

 much less importance, and never reach 

 a decision. Shall we accord to the bees 

 a greater reasoning faculty than man — 

 that personage whom, it is said, God 

 endowed with the highest and greatest 

 of reasoning faculties? 



Beeville, Tex. 



Curing Apiaries of Foul Brood 



BY WILLIAM MCEVOY. 



In the honey season when the bees 

 are gathering freely remove the combs 

 in the evening and shake the bees into 

 their own hives ; give them frames with 

 tomb foundation starters on and let 

 them build comb for 4 days. The bees 

 will make the starters into comb dur- 

 ing the 4 days, and store the diseased 

 honey in them which they took with 

 them from the old com'o. Then, in 

 the evening of the fourth day, take out 

 the new combs and give them comb 

 foundation to work out, thus complet- 

 ing the cure. 



By this method of treatment all the 

 diseased honey is removed from the 

 bees before the full sheets of founda- 

 tion are worked out. Where you find .. 

 large quantity of nice brood with only 

 a few cells of foul brood in the most of 

 your colonies, and have shaken the bees 

 off for treatment, fill 2 hives full with 

 these combs of brood, place one hive of 

 brood on the other, and shade this 

 tiered-up brood from the sun until tlie 

 most of it is hatched. In the evering 

 shake these bees into a single hive, give 

 them frames with comb foundation 

 starters on. and let them build comb for 

 4 days. Then, in the evening of the 

 fourth day, take out the new comb and 

 give them comb foundation to work out 

 to complete the cure. After the brood 

 is hatched out of the old combs the 

 latter must be made into wax or 

 burned, also all the new combs made 



out of the starters during the 4 days 

 must be burned or made into wax on 

 account of the diseased honey. 



Where the diseased colonies are 

 weak in bees, put the bees of 2, 3 or 

 4 together, so as to get a good-sized 

 colony to start the cure with, as it does 

 not pay to spend time fussing with lit- 

 tle weak colonies. All the curing or 

 treating of diseased colonies should 

 be done in the evening, so as not to 

 have any robbing or cause any of the 

 bees from the diseased colonies to mix 

 and go in with the bees of sound colo- 

 nies. By doing all the work in the 

 evening, it gives the bees a chance to 

 settle down very nicely before morn- 

 ing, and' then tliere is no confusion 

 or trouble. 



When the bees are not gathering hon- 

 ey any apiary can be cured of foul brood 

 by removing the diseased combs in the 

 evenings and giving the bees frames 

 with comb foundation starters on. Then, 

 also in the evening feed the bees plenty 

 of sugar syrup, and they will draw out 

 the foundation and store the diseased 

 honey which they took with them from 

 the old combs. In the fourth evening 

 remove the new combs made out of the 

 starters, and give the bees full sheets 

 of comb-foundation, and feed plenty of 

 sugar syrup each evening until every 

 colony is in first-class order. Make the 

 syrup out of granulated sugar, and put 

 one pound of water to every 2 pounds 

 of sugar, then bring it to a boil. 



Where you find the disease in a few 

 good colonies after all honey-gathering 

 is over, do not tinker or fuss with these 

 in any way until an evening in October. 

 Then go to the diseased colonies and 

 take out every comb and put six combs 

 of all sealed or capped stores in their 

 place, taken from sound colonies, and 

 on each side of these all-capped combs 

 place a division-board. This will put 

 these colonies in first-class order for 

 winter, with little or no bother at all, 

 and the disease crowded clean out at 

 the same time. 



But some say that the disease cannot 

 be driven out so simply in the fall by 

 taking away the diseased combs and 

 giving the bees 6 combs that are capped 

 all over right down to the bottom of 

 the frames. It can and does cure every 

 time when properly done, and if you 

 will stop to think you will see quite 

 plainly that the bees must keep the dis- 

 eased honey they took out of the old 

 combs until they consume it, as they 

 cannot find any place in all-capped 

 combs to put it, and that will end the 

 disease at once. 



Many bee-keepers will no doubt say 

 that this fall method of treatment will 

 not work in their apiaries at all, be- 

 cause they would not have enough of 

 the all-capped combs to spare from the 

 sound colonies, even if they could find 

 some all-sealed. Very true ; but you 

 can very easily secure abundance of all- 

 capped combs by putting Miller feed- 

 ers on your sound colonies in the even- 

 ings in September, and feeding these 

 colonies all the sugar syrup you can get 

 them to take. Then in October each 

 of these fed colonies can spare the two 

 outside combs, which will be nicely 

 capped all over right down to the bot- 

 tom of the frames, and with these combs 



you will be provided with plenty of 

 good stores to carry out my fall method 

 of treatment. I finished the curing of 

 my own apiary in the fall of 1875 by this 

 sealed-comb treatment. All of my meth- 

 ods of treatment are of my own work- 

 ing out, and none of them ever failed 

 when properly carried out. 



Empty hives that had foul brood in 

 do not need disinfecting in any way. 



In treating diseased colonies never 

 starve the bees, because it unfits them 

 for business and makes them thin, lean 

 and poor, and is also hard on the 

 queens. I never starved any bees, but 

 always tried to see how fat I could 

 make them while treating them, by feed- 

 ing plenty of sugar syrup when the bees 

 were not gathering honey. 



If you have nice white combs that are 

 clean and dry, and that never had any 

 brood in them, do not destroy one of 

 these, as they are perfectly safe to use 

 on any colony of bees just as they are, 

 and are very valuable to any bee- 

 keeper. I have always saved this class 

 of combs for every bee-keeper. I have 

 always advised bee-keepers to convert 

 into wax all old combs that ever had 

 one cell of foul brood in them, and the 

 only article that will take all the wax 

 out of the old combs is a good wax- 

 press. As these will pay for them- 

 selves many times over their cost, I 

 urge the bee-keepers everywhere to buy 

 one. — Canadian Bee Journal. 



Woodburn, Ont. 



The 



Ups" and "Downs 

 of Bee-Culture 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



I do not believe there has ever been 

 a better time to preach perseverance 

 to the novices and beginners in bee- 

 culture than at present. No business 

 in the world is more apt to encourage 

 or discourage to excess, those who en- 

 ter it, than this occupation of ours. 

 When the honey crop is good, the bees 

 swarm freely, and the number of colo- 

 nies in an apiary increases rapidly, the 

 bee-keeper who has but a short ex- 

 perience thinks he has struck a mine 

 of the finest gold; but when the sum- 

 mer is too dry, and the bees decrease 

 in numbers, go into winter quarters with 

 a small force, and dwindle down in the 

 spring, he is very apt to conclude that 

 there is nothing in the pursuit worth 

 caring for. 



In an experience of some 40 years, 

 we have seen many of these ups and 

 downs. Some 25 years ago we had a 

 wonderful season for swarming. I was 

 then handling an apiary of about 60 

 colonies on shares, in addition to our 

 own 5 apiaries. These bees, located near 

 the Mississippi River bottoms had a very 

 nice range of fall bloom. They swarmed 

 until the number of colonies was almost 

 trebled, and many hives filled their su- 

 pers besides. The oldest son of the 

 family, then about 18 years old, con- 

 cluded that there was nothing to equal 

 bee-culture, and assured me that he 

 would go into the business in good 

 earnest the following spring. But the 

 winter was very severe. A number of 



