1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



427 



Special Bulletin No. 38. "Queen 

 Rearing," by G. C. Matthews, is Spe- 

 cial Bulletin No. 49. Those interested 

 can probably obtain copies by ad- 

 dressing the Division of Bee Culture, 

 State University, St. Paul, Minn. 



British Columbia 



I was serry to hear that Dr. Miller 

 had left us. He hoped for one form 

 of immortality; he gained a sure one 

 in the beekeeping world by his great 

 service to beekeepers. 



I signalized my tenth season as 

 bee inspector by taking a trip to 

 55 degrees north latitude. Say, I 

 saw for the first time in my life a 

 real honey country. I can see that 

 Bulkley and Nechacco Valleys at no 

 distant date will beat Southern Cali- 

 fornia in total production, and in 

 average per hive. Fireweed abounds 

 plentifully in the south of British 

 Columbia, but it is everywhere along 

 the Grand Trunk Railway — and it is 

 different, oh, so different. Botan- 

 ically, no; but in nectar and in gen- 

 eral effect — vastly different. 



F. DUNDAS TODD. 



Beekeepers' Congress in Trieste 



The annual congress of Italian 

 beekeepers met in Trieste, in the 

 "now redeemed" Austrian Italy, Sep- 

 tember 6 to 9. A commemorative 

 plate of bronze was donated by them 

 to the City of Trieste with the fol- 

 lowing inscription: 



"To the city faithful to Rome, re- 

 turned to the fatherland, the 6th 

 national congress of beekeepers, Sep- 

 tember 5, 1920." 



Seven of the leading Italian bee- 

 keepers there joined in mailing a 

 postal card to our editor, with their 

 "cordial salutations." 



A New Organization 



The Madison County Beekeepers' 

 Association was organized October 

 1, 1920, at the court house in Ed- 

 wardsville. 111. 



Mr. Alton L. Morgan, of Edwards- 

 ville. Chairman. 



Mr. Earl Waggoner, of Alton, Sec- 

 retary. 



Mrs. F. J. Meyers, of Edwardsville, 

 Treasurer. 



Mr. A. L. Kildow, Chief Inspector 

 of Apiaries, spoke on foulbrood; Mr. 

 Albert Waggoner, of Edwardsville, 

 on "Honey and Extracting," and Mr. 

 Alton L. Logan on "Standard Hives 

 and Fixtures." 



The Association met again about 

 November 15, to discuss the proper 

 way to winter bees locally. 



Skunks 



J. S. Beermaker, of San Diego, Cal., 

 writes that he was troubled with 

 skunks killing his bees. He placed 

 some strychnine on bacon beside the 

 hives and the skunks died within ten 

 feet. He states that the crop in his 

 locality was good the past season. 



Propolis for Incense 



The possible use of propolis for in- 

 cense in the Catholic churches is re- 

 called by L'Abeille of Quebec, in the 

 October number. A letter from Mgr. 



P. E. Roy, of Seleucie, states that it 

 has all the odoriferous properties of 

 incense and may be advantageously 

 substituted for the latter, in cere- 

 monies. AH beekeepers know that 

 propolis burns with a very sweet 

 odor. So does beeswax, and that is 

 probably why the Greek Catholic 

 churches of Russia use no other 

 luminaries. 



Water Paint 



From Illinois, A. Motraz writes in 

 answer to "Iowa's" enquiry, that 

 several years ago he bought and ap- 

 plied water paint to about 200 hives 

 and supers, but that it was unsatis- 

 factory. On hives exposed to the 

 weather, after a few rains it would 

 rub off on his clothes. 



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THE EDITOR^S ANSWERS 



We answer as many questions as space will permit, in order received. 

 When stamp is enclosed, the editor will answer by mail. We now receive 

 more questions than we can answer in the Journal. 



Vinegar From Honey — Granulation 



1. How do you make vinegar, from honey 

 or from the washings? 



2. Will white clover honey granulate in the 

 comb very soon? It is in sections, not broken. 



MISSOURI. 

 1. We give the method of making vinegar 

 about twice a year, in the question department. 

 Make your honey water heavy enough so it 

 will float an egg. The egg should show only 

 about the size of a dime above the surface. If 

 it shows more, add some water; if it shows 

 less, add some honey. Heat it so as to kill the 

 undesirable ferments that may be in it. Then 

 add some fruit juice, grape juice or fresh 

 cider. It does not require very much. The 

 liquid must be kept at a warm temperature, 

 say about 75 to 80 degrees. It will do at 70 

 degrees, but will ferment more slowly. It 

 first has an alcoholic fermentation, but it 

 soon sours if you allow the air to get to it. 

 When it is quite well fermented you can 

 hasten the acetic fermentation by adding a 

 little vinegar or vinegar-mother. 



2. Comb honey rarely granulates, unless it 

 is one of the thick grades, like heather. 

 White honey doe not usually granulate in 

 sealed cells, unless the bees sealed it before 

 it was ripe. I remember peddling some clover 

 honey, in the comb, in January. Some of it 

 was oroken in the trip and leaked down into 

 the crate. I brought it back home and put 

 it away in the honey house. Three days af- 

 ter, that leaking honey was granulated, al- 

 though the other was still liquid. 



You may keep it either in the crates, or 

 even on shelves, just so you have it in a dry 

 place away from too much cold, light or dust. 

 It is not likely that you will have any trouble 

 with granulation. 



Disease Killing Queens 



We are sending under separate cover a sam- 

 ple of brood which is diseased and we have not 

 been able to decide what it is. Could see no 

 trace of it a month ago, but now, at the be- 

 ginning of a honey flow, it has commenced to 

 show. The workers have killed 12 queens out 

 of 59 stands. This yard was moved about 30 

 miles about a month ago. Would that make 

 any difference? WYOMING. 



Answer. — The small sample received con- 

 tained a number of healthy pups which had 

 evidently died in transportation. One bee had 

 hatched and was alive still. There were 4 

 or 5 cells of deep-colored pollen and 3 dead 

 larvae which ha \ evidently died of disease. But 

 these were not similar to the larvx that die of 

 foulbrood, as they were not rotten, but rather 

 dried up. 



We are not experts, but from the knowledge 

 we have of brood diseases, we would call the 

 disease that killed those larvz "sacbrood,*' for 

 there were none of the appearances of real 

 foulbrood. 



However, I would recommend that you send 

 sample of the diseased brood to Dr. E. F. 

 Phillips, at the Bureau of Entomology, at 

 Washington. They will send you bulletins 

 that will help you in curing diseases of bees. 

 Sacbrood is not infectious, and if we surmise 

 rightly, it will probably diminish and finally 

 disappear. 



As to the bees killing their queens, there is 

 something incongruous about this. Perhaps 

 the bees have a touch of paralysis and the 

 queens died of this. The moving ought not 

 to be the cause of any trouble. 



Since it is very difficult to pass on dead 

 brood fiom so small a sample, after 5 days of 

 travel, we urge you not to depend too much 

 on this diagnosis, but investigate further.The 

 folks at Washington have means which we 

 do not possess of distinguishing diseases. 



Cost of Moving 



1. Do you think it would pay to ship about 

 16 colonies of bees in car with other goods, to 

 Michigan or Wisconsin? 



2. About how much would it cost to ship 

 carload of bees and other goods from Illinois 

 to Michigan, or Wisconsin? ILLINOIS. 



Answers. — 1. That depends upon what you 

 can sell your bees for at your place and buy 

 others at your new location. H the purchase 

 price be as little or less than the selling price, 

 then it would not pay to move them. Indeed, 

 it might be better not to move them if you 

 had to p-y a little more for the new than you 

 could sell the old for, because the risk and 

 trouble of hipping is to be considered. Of 

 course, I am supposing that the new are in ev- 

 ery way as good as the old. 



2. I've no sort of an idea. There might be 

 a thousand different answers to the question, 

 depending on the distance to different points. 

 Your station agent ought to be able to tell you 

 about it 



Moths 



What is the best way to store frames of 

 comb from one season to the other without 

 the beemoth getting them. We will have about 

 1,500 frames, as we will have to remove them 

 from the bees. LOUISIANA. 



Answer. — In the Northern States, there is 

 but little difficulty in preserving combs through 

 the winter, as the cold destroys the eggs and 

 larvae. But in the Southern States, and espe- 

 cially as far south as Louisiana, it is neces- 

 sary to use great care. 



They should be stored in a moth-proof build- 

 ing. You can probably make a rough board 

 house moth-proof by lining it on the inside 

 with tarred paper. The windows and doors, if 

 open, must have screens. To make sure of 

 destroying the moths that are probably in the 

 combs at the time of putting them away, the 

 cheapest method is to burn enough brimstone 

 in the room to kill the flies in it. If the su- 



