1886 



GLEANINGS IN Bee CULTUHE. 



m 



I i-emoved those two queens, and put others in 

 their places, and the whole cause was removed. 



As a proof that it waS the heat in the boxes that 

 caused the foul brood in the first instance, I will 

 g'ive my experience again, as late as 188"). 



A very warm day, my Ix'os were swarming- at a 

 tremendous rate. I had tlnee swarms then in the 

 air, when another swarm started to come out. I 

 wished them to wait a few minutes, that I might 

 care for the first three, and 1 put a board partly 

 covered with wire screen ovtrahole as large as a 

 man's hand with fingers and thumb straiglitencd 

 out, over the portico, fastening the bees in. 

 While caring- lor the swarms that were out, I was 

 detained longtr than I rxpccttd; and when I 

 returned to the hive where I had shut the bees in, 

 I found the honey riiiiniiig- out at tlie bottom on to 

 the ground. I removed the screen-board, took the 

 hive into the shade, opened the whole hive to the 

 air, but it was too late; part of the bees were then 

 dead; the others, though they eould move a little, 

 died very soon. 



Within the hour I put bees (no queen) on to these 

 frames of brood, as a test whether this state of 

 things would produce foul brood or not, within 

 five days all the unsealeil and part of the scaled 

 brood was a putrid mass, which the bees could 

 never remove. 



Now, from mj' past experience T think it safe to 

 say that foul brood often originates in the apiai-y 

 where it is discovered, by the careless operator, 

 who leaves the brood from hives exposed to the 

 scorching rays of the sun,' thereby scalding the 

 larvae in such numbers that the bees can not re- 

 move them in time to escape the dreaded disease, 

 foul brood, by the brood becoming a putrid mass. 

 After a time the dead larvie dry down, and the 

 bees remove a part of it, then the queen lays in the 

 same cells, and surely the larvie will die and lo 

 come a putrid mass, the same as the tirigt. Usually, 

 before the operat<ir discovers that he has foul 

 brood, he has changed combs, or in some other 

 way has got into other hives; then the qiir^liint. 

 How did I get foul broodV H. D. Mason. 



Fabius, N. Y., Aug. 20, 1886. 



Friend M., your sujj;Q,esLi( ns would be 

 good had it not been well proven tiiat I'oiil 

 brood is a plant, and can no more start spon- 

 taneously—/, t'., without seed— than can a 

 hill of corn. Dead brood may start putrefac- 

 tion, and this may i)resent niucli the api»ear- 

 ance of foul brood, but the seeds of foul 

 brood must be i)rtsent or it will never be 

 foul brood at all. I scanned your communi- 

 cation with much interest to see if you did 

 not, somewhere, mention whether or not 

 friend Betsinger has recently had foul brood 

 in his apiary. 



CELLAR WINTERING AND SUB-EARTH 

 VENTILATOR-PIPES. 



DISCUSSED BY Ml{. HUTCHINSON AND DR. M[M,EH. 



fRIEND MILLER:— I was very much interested 

 in your articles on cellar wintering. 

 1. Let me ask you if two or more small sizes 

 of tile laid in the same trench would not be 

 better than one large tile, simply for this rea- 

 son: There would be greater opportunity for the 

 influence of the earth's warmth upon the air. The 

 distance around a four-inch tile, where it comes in 



contact with the earth, is about one foot, while its 

 carrying capacity is represented by 163 gallons per 

 minute. An eight-inch tile has a surface of about 

 twenty-four inches, only twice that of a fourinchi 

 yet its carrying capacity is represented by 923 gal- 

 lons per minute, or nearly six times as great. Do 

 you see? Of course, the expense would be greater 

 in using several small tile. 



3. In your experiment in stopping hp your fout'- 

 iuch tile, how far in from the innel- mouth cf the 

 tile did you put your thermometer, far enough sd 

 that the warmth from the cellar would not affect iti* 



3. Have you ever noticed how miiny degrees the 

 air is warmed in passing through your tile. Of does 

 it differ'? 



4. How did you learn that 100 ft. was long enough 

 for your foui- Inch tile':' 



5. Your stoves are not in the same apartments as 

 are the bees, are they? 



6. Do you use them to cause ventilation or to 

 warm the cellar, or both? 



1. Why isn't your cellar warm enough Without 

 them? 

 8. At what temperature do you keep it? 

 I presume I have asked enough for one time. 



Fraternally yours, W. Z. HutchinsoNi 



Rogersvillc, Mich. 



Dr. Miller replies to the above ; 



1. Two or more tile of a given capacity will warm 

 the air more than a single tile of the same capacitj', 

 as explained in the question, provided that length 

 of pipe has not been reached where the tempera- 

 ture of the air in each case has become that of the 

 surrounding earth. In this case, of course, the 

 smaller tile would have no advantage. 



I had at one time decided to lay two tiles in the 

 same trench, to have the advantage of raising the 

 air to a higher temperature; but upon further 

 thought and experiment I concluded 1 could more 

 satisfactorily and cheaply aceomplish the same 

 thing another way. An eight-inch tile will cost less 

 than two four-inch tiles; and to make it bring the 

 air to the same temperature, all that is necessary is 

 to partly close the aperture where it enters the cel- 

 lar, so as to make the air flow in at the same rate of 

 speed at which it flows in the smaller tiles. In this 

 case you would have the advantage of being able at 

 any time, if you so desired, to open up the pipe to 

 its full capacity and flush out all the air of the cel- 

 lar. I think now of putting a ten-inch tile in the 

 drain for my shop cellar; for, no matter how large, 

 it can at any time be closed down to the capacity of 

 a small tile; but if a smaller tile is laid it can not 

 be enlarged. 



3. The thermomf ter was thrust into the pipe as 

 far as possible without putting it beyond reach to 

 draw it out again. I hardly think the warmth of 

 the cellar would have much efl'ect upon it, as the 

 contents of the whole tube would freely mi.x. 



3. The number of degrees the air is warmed in 

 jjassing through the tile depends mainl3' on the out- 

 side temperature. One day the air may be warmed 

 five degrees in passing through, and the next day 

 twenty degrees. The air enters the cellar, say 

 at 38°; if the outer air is 3;,°, the air is warmed 

 5°. If the outer air the next day is lb° it must, of 

 course, be warmed 30° to enter at 38°. In other 

 words, the air enters the cellar at about the same 

 temperature from day to day, no nuUter what the 

 weather, and there is no perceptible change with 



