152 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 



that queen-breeder to get better informed. 



2 I can't see any u-e in keeping royal jelly 

 from one season to another. But when you do 

 keep any, you should, of course, remove the 

 larvae. If you don't, they will either get cold 

 and die and decay, or they will eat up your 

 royal jelly and then die anyhow. 



Honey for Candy 



How long should honey be boiled for use in 

 queen candy? I notice in Professor White's 

 article, in October number, that the time seems 

 to have been lengthened since Dr. Phillips* 

 experiments a few years ago. 



CALIFORNIA. 



Answer. — The bacteriologists and entomolo- 

 gists have warned us for some time past of 

 the necessity of boiling honey for a half hour, 

 when it is used to feed bees. 



Dr. Burton N. Gates, Bulletin No. 75, De- 

 partment of Agriculture, 1908, page 29, "Bee 

 Diseases in Massachusetts," wrote: 



"It is safe to feed honey to bees only when 

 it has been vigorously boiled for at least a 

 half hour. . . . '* 



Dr. E. F. Phillips, "Treatment of Bee 

 Diseases," Bulletin 442, Department of Ag- 

 riculture, 1911, page 17, wrote: 



"Honey can safely be used for feeding bees, 

 provided it is diluted with at least an equal 

 volume of water, to prevent burning, and 

 boiled in a closed vessel for not less than one- 

 half hour, counting from the time that the 

 diluted honey first boils vigorously." This 

 authority repeats the same recommendation 

 in Bulletin 1084, of the same Department, 

 "Control of American Foulbrood," dated 

 March, 1920. 



On page 340 of the October number of this 



magazine, Dr. White wrote: "When the 

 spores from the scale material were suspended 

 in water and heated to boiling point (212 F.J 

 they were all killed in 11 minutes. A half 

 hour or more may be necessary when they 

 are in honey " 



In our own work, "The Hive and Honey- 

 Bee," Langstroth Revised, we have recom- 

 mended for years, paragraph 799, "when 

 cither honey or beeswax is heated to kill the 

 germs of foulbrood, to keep the liquid at the 

 boiling point for a couple of hours at least." 



A thing that we did not know until lately, 

 though we may have simply overlooked it, is 

 that tlie bacilli die more quickly in hot water 

 than in hot honey. See paragraph above from 

 Dr. White. It behooves all queen-breeders to 

 rather overdo the heating of honey, for noth- 

 ing will hurt a queen-breeder's reputation 

 more than to have it thought that he is 

 careless about such a matter. 



Fence For Apiary 



I am living on the outside of town, but in 

 the city limits I have only one neighbor 

 near rae. I am trying hard not to interfere 

 with anybody. 1 have at present 78 colonies 

 and am thinking of increasing to 160. 1 have 

 begun to make a high board fence and think- 

 ing of having a high fence all around them. 

 There is no shade in the bee-yard yet. Would 

 it be too warm in summer to have an almost 

 tight fence around them? Would you think 

 that the city could compel me to move the 

 bees? I have 5 lots where I have my bee- 

 yard, so I am not too near the road. 



WISCONSIN. 



Answer. — It would probably be rather 

 warm in the summer to have a tight board 

 fence all around your bee-yard. But this is 

 not indispensable. A wire netting 10 or 12 



feet high would be just about as efficient as 

 a tight fence. Bees will not fly through a 

 mesh one-half to one inch in diameter. At 

 least such a mesh is sufficient to induce them 

 to fly above it, so they get out of the way of 

 passing teams, etc. So we would suggest that- 

 you build a tight fence only on the windy 

 sides and use netting on all other sides. This 

 will avoid making the yard too hot in sum- 

 mer. We have seen such netting in use in 

 Peoria, with very good results. 



To sweeten a mean neighbor, give him a 

 jar of honey occasionally. 1 1 may seem hard 

 to do it the first time. But you will see his 

 face brighten, and the second time you give 

 him some he will be quite a different man. 



To prevent trouble with neighbors and 

 passers by, you should never handle your 

 bees without smoke Never allow any one to 

 jar a hive unless it has been previously 

 smoked, at the entrance first, and over the 

 combs when opened. There is no necessity 

 for cross bees. If some colony is unreason- 

 ably cross, change the queen in the spring as 

 soon as you can get one. Keep only pure Ital- 

 ian bees. They are much more gentle than 

 the common or black bee, or the hybrid. Make 

 it 3 point to have gentle bees. 



As to the city compelling you to move your 

 bees, that is out of the question. They can 

 have you fined, if your bees do any damage. 

 People who get stung by them may obtain 

 damages. But no law can be passed making 

 bees a nuisance within a city. It has been 

 tried before. But you should keep your bees 

 in such a way as not to make them obnoxious 

 to any one. It can be done by following 

 these suggestions. 



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