160 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 1. 



to 50 every warm spell. I would try it. With 

 rae I consider a temperature of 4r.'° to be the 

 best for a cellar: but I would say that the tem- 

 perature which is best is the one in which the 

 bees are the most quiet. That may not be the 

 same with you that it is with me: therefore I 

 would advise you to keep watch closely: and 

 when you find where the bees are the most 

 quiet, control the temperature ju-sf there as 

 near as may be ever afterward". Bees will be 

 quiet in a much higher temperature during 

 November and December than they will be 

 during March; therefoi'e the cellar that will 

 cool oft a little as the winter advances is much 

 the best, providing it will not rise when the 

 weather begins to warm up in the spring. If 

 the bees are quiet in the cellar, do not remove 

 them till the elm and soft maple are in bloom, 

 about April :20 in this locality. Set them in the 

 cellar on the approach of cold weather, say 

 Nov. 10, and you will not be far out of the way. 

 Borodino, N. Y., Feb. 12. (i. M. Dooi.itti>e. 



FOUL BROOD, 



IKIW TO Bl'KN THE CASES WITHOUT DANGER OF 

 IXFEf'TION TO THE HIVES. 



I tried every remedy you told me of. but found 

 nothing that Would effect a permanent cure' I 

 would be much encouraged after applying a 

 remedy for awhile, but it would soon be as bad 

 as ever. I became perfectly disgusted with the 

 whole business, and nearly decided to quit it 

 entirely. I then had 36 colonies. INIarch. 188it, 

 and 16 of them had foul brood. Some of them 

 were so bad I could smell them 20 feet from the 

 hive. I knew it would be only a shoit time be- 

 fore it would be in the rest. So I decided to try 

 what virtue there was in fire. Don't laugh at 

 me. and say, "That man Keith is foolish." I 

 had become somewhat desperate. Every thing 

 in the bee line was going to the dogs, so I had to 

 try a desperate remedy. I dug a hole opposite 

 each aflfecled hive, a little larger than the size 

 of the hive, about 1^' feet deep, and filled the 

 hole half full of small split pine. Then I took 

 three hives off the bottom-board, and placed 

 them in the hole. I did this after sunset, and 

 put tire in the hole, and soon the hives, bees, 

 frames, and honey were all in flames, and they 

 made a good lii-e. " ^Vhile I was watching them 

 burning, my wife said it was a pity to lose the 

 hives. It was bad enough to lose the bees, but 

 to lose both was too bad. I agreed with her. I 

 got my smoker and filled it up with nice dry 

 wood, and got it in full blast, and put a hand- 

 ful of pulverized suli)hur in the smoker, and 

 went to the other affected hives and killed the 

 bees with the smoke, then I put dead bees, 

 combs, roney. and frames in tlie tii'e, and bui-n- 

 ed them up. Then I had the hives well scrap- 

 ed, then scalded with water, then well fumi- 

 gated with sulphur: so. at my wife's suggestion. 

 I saved 13 hives: and by the process mentioned 

 I am ejitirely clear of foul brood. I have not 

 seen the least indication of it since March, 18s;i. 

 And I believe it is the only effectual way to I'id 

 an apiary of the disease. I have now 37 colo- 

 nies in good condition, apparently healthy, and 

 I hope to inci'ease to .50: then I shall have as 

 many as I want, and hope to make a good crop 

 this year. Now. friend Root, if you can sug- 

 gest a better remedy for foul brood, let me hear 

 from you. J- J. Keith, u 



Louisville, Ga., Jan. 1.5. 



[It is not necessary to kill the bees. We have 

 cured all we had that were diseased, with the 

 exception of a few that we at first destroyed 

 with tire, by scalding the hive with boiling 



water and putting the bees in clean hives on 

 fi'ames of foundation. After the bees have con- 

 sumed all the honey in their sacs in comb- 

 building, they are free from the last vestiges 

 of foul brood. If you discover that you have 

 one or at most two cases at the start, it may b(^ 

 advisable to burn them as you describe.] 



PAINTED MUSLIN VS. TIN FOR COVERS. 



SUGGESTIONS FOU THE DOVETAILED HIVE. 



On page (59, muslin versus tin covers are men- 

 tioned. You are the man who advanced this 

 idea way back in the 70's in Gleanings. Then 

 as now such covers were a success with us. 



*A MUfTI CHEAPEI! COVER. 



Muslin on a wooden stretcher, or frame, por- 

 tico like, with two coats of paint, is an excel- 

 lent cover, but it will not stand hailstorms. 

 The cover of the Dovetailed hive is just the 

 thing for a painted muslin protection. Then 

 the hive has the needed shade in summer, and 

 will be water-proof. 



You should make some improvements yet on 

 the Dovetailed hive and closed-end frames. 

 The end- pieces of the frames should be i^ inch 

 from the hive. The frames should not rest on 

 the bottom-board: it will be a moth-nest if they 

 do. Could you not send a frame-rest with each 

 hive? This rest can be made of half-inch 

 Oi'^iW Jioop iron or steel. The main object in 

 setting the end pieces of the frames back 34 

 inch is to have a cooler hive in summer and a 

 warmer one in winter. Queen-excluders should 

 have quarter-inch passage-ways on the ends 

 also, to enable the bees to ascend and descend 

 from the super. 



The other day I had a Bay State hive shipped 

 by Mr. H. x\lley. Indeed, it is a neat and su- 

 perior hive. It may become a pet hive with all 

 bee-keepers who keep bees on a small scale. 

 For others, too many screws! I can handle all 

 sections in a Dovetailed super before an ordi- 

 nary bee-keeper will have cared for one frame 

 i n the Bay State super. It may be because I 

 am a hard Democrat, or that the Bay State hive 

 has too many fixings. A bottom-board should 

 be one plane — all hills and valk^ys should be 

 avoided — and I fear the Bay State hive has 

 these uneven faults in some degree. 



Rev. Stephen Stenger. 



St. Meinrad, Ind., Jan. 30, '91. 



[Yes, I knew the senior Root used painted cloth 

 years ago: but the Junior Root wished to as- 

 certain whethei' they were used anywhere 

 with success noir. So far the testimony for the 

 iniinted muslin vs. tin has been favorable. If 

 it will answer for outside winter cases to set 

 over in lieu of tin. it will not only be much 

 cheapei', but far bettei-. Tin is too good a con- 

 ductor of heat and cold: and some of our out- 

 side cases, on examination, showed early this 

 fall that great drops of water had collected on 

 tlic under side of the tin. To remedy this. I put 

 Simplicity covers on top. and that fixed it. 

 Well. now. painted muslin is a good ho» -con- 

 ductor of heat and cold, and, if sufficiently dur- 

 able, will be better than the tin. See? Both 

 the tin and muslin will have to be painted: but 

 the cloth holds the i)aint better than tin. As to 

 expense of matiu'ial. the cloth would cost about 

 one-fifth as much as the tin, making the ex- 

 pense of the outside cases from 35 to 333-:, per 

 cent less. But some will say. tin will be cheap- 

 er in the long run. Very likely, for regular 

 hive-covers: but for winter cases the cloth will 

 be warmei'. Of course, either the tin or cloth 

 should be supported by % lumber beneath. 



