1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



893 



had eaten iniR-h were like insane men. and some 

 like pfi-sons dying. They lay upon the ground 

 in consequence in great numbers, as if there had 

 been a defeat, and there was great dejection. 

 The next day no one was found dead, and they 

 recovered their reason about the same hour that 

 they had lost it on the ju'eceding day. and on 

 the" third and fourth days they rose up as if 

 they had taken physic." 



[We have had this account before: but as it 

 isjof more than general interest, occurring so 

 many centuries ago, we ai'e glad to give place to 



it.] , 



ARE THE yUEEXS FKOM FOUL-HKOODY STOCKS 

 DISEASED ■? 



I have always been under the impression that 

 the fonl-brood bacilli were to be. and have been, 

 found in the reproductive oi-gans, etc.. of some 

 ijueens taken from diseased stocks; but the fol- 

 lowing fi'oin a lettei' of Dr. Lortet's. in the May 

 number of the Revue Internationale^ shows me 

 tliat this is not his opinion: 



During the latter montlis of the past year and 

 this spring- I liave received from some of your 

 courteous suliscril)ers six queens taken from uii- 

 <loubtedly foul-ljroody liives. I have been able, on 

 these females, tt> veritly tliat which I liave abeady 

 stated Ijefove; viz., tliat tlie e^rgs are liealtliy; 

 neither tlie ovaries nor ovules contain bacilli. I 

 believe, then, to be able to state once more that 

 foul brood is not transmitted by inheritance, but 

 •only liy direct contact with the infected animal, or 

 by injecting' nutriiive suiistances containing foul- 

 brood liacteria.— Or. Lnrtet. 



I think your opinion on the above, which is of 

 so much imjjortance in the treatment of foul 

 brood, would be of interest to bee-keepers. — T. 

 D. Schofleld. Alderly Edge. 



The editors of the British Bee Journal reply: 



The quotation our correspondent gives luis not 

 escaped our observation, but we have not thought 

 it necessarj- to notice it, because we do not think 

 it is conclusive tnat (jueens do not sometimes 

 become diseased. It only shows that the six 

 <iueens examined liy Dr. Lortet were healthy. 

 Although it is lielievcd that (lueens may be dis- 

 ea.sed, it liy no means follows that evei-y queen is 

 so. Hilbert found, out of twenty -five queens, 

 only three diseased. He also found that sucli 

 queens given to healthy stocks i)rt)duced the disease 

 in these stocks, and that it was very difficult and 

 almost impossible to cure the disease while such 

 queens were present. Ju.st as every bee does not 

 become disiased in a foul-broody hive, and as 

 ■every human being does not contract cholera 

 although exposed to its Intluence, so, we take it, 

 there is immunity from the disease with some 

 queens. Strictl.v speaking, we can not say that 

 ■every queen of a foid-bi'oody hive is necessarily 

 diseased, nor can we say that every queen is exempt 

 from the disease. The great hope of stamping out 

 foul brood exists in the fact that it is not heredi- 

 tary, and, in cases where foul brood is difficult to 

 cure, the queen may reasonably be suspected to be 

 diseased, and should be destroyed, as it is hopeless 

 to effect a perfect cure while such a queen is pres- 

 ent. — British Bee Journal. 



[Of the 7.5 or 80 cases of foul brood that we 

 had in our apiary some three or four years ago. 

 nearly all of which were treated on the starva- 

 tion plan, and in all which the queen was re- 

 tained the disease never reappeared, where we 

 had observed due caution, putting the bees into 

 clean hives, on frames of foundation. On about 

 a dozen, for the sake of experiment we put the 

 bees back into old hives, on frames of founda- 

 tion, but did not scald them. In all of these the 

 disease reappeared, showing that the spores of 

 foul brood must have resided in the old hive, 

 and hence the reappearance of the dreaded 

 malady. Now, the singular point here is. that, 

 in all of these foul-brood cases, where treated 

 right, not one of the queens had the disease, or, 



at least, her colony long after treatment was 

 perfectly healthy. In the United States we 

 would conclude that, if the fatal germs were 

 ever present in the ovary of the queen, the 

 cases where this may occilr are very rare in- 

 deed.] 



BIG MODEL OF A HONEY-BEE. 



The model of a honey-bee, measuring AV.. feet 

 from head to sting, and 6 feet across the wings, 

 has been received jfrom Paris by the Biological 

 Department of the University of Pennsylvania. 

 It is intended for the instruction of the students. 



The insect is perfectly articulated, and the 

 wings, head, thorax, and abdomen can be taken 

 apart with the lingers. Moreover, the head 

 may be opened so as to display the brain with- 

 in. Every organ, artery, sinew, and tissue has 

 been delicately reproduced, and the bee is to be 

 dissected at lectures, by Prof. Charles S. DoUey, 

 for the information of the students. Emlle 

 Deyrolle is the maker of this singular model. — 

 American Bee Journal. 



HOW CAX WE DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF STOCK.S 



IX 60 DAYS IN EARLY SPRING AND 



SUMMER? 



I have 4.T hives of bees, mostly in Root Sim- 

 plicity hives, and I want to double that number 

 at the beginning of the honey season next year, 

 which usually commences about the 10th of 

 ;May, and oui' bees commence to raise brood 

 largely about (iO days before that time, and I 

 have brood-combs for only what bees I have. 

 Now, would it be cheaper for me to buy bees at 

 about four dollars per colony, or divide and use 

 full frames of foundation, and feed sugar syrup, 

 to have it drawn out and stimulate breeding by 

 the time the surplus season commences? Is 60 

 days too short a time to double both bees and 

 combs in, and have ihem very strong ? I run 

 them mostly for extracted honey. 



Smithfield, Texas, Oct. 30. A. C. Brown. 



[If you lived in a northern locality we should 

 say that you could not make double the in- 

 crease; but as you live in Texas we can not say 

 what you might do. Much depends upon pol- 

 len sources, and what weather you had during 

 the 60 days. Having good weather, plenty of 

 natural pollen, and a little honey coming in, it 

 might be possible for you to double the number 

 of your stocks by spreading the brood, provid- 

 ing you had good queens. We would suggest 

 that a better policy would be to increase the 

 strength of the individual colonies as much as 

 you can without increasing the number. A 

 rousing big colony will do far better than a cou- 

 ple having just half the strength. The problem 

 that bee-keepers should try to solve is, not to 

 see what they can do with a large number of 

 colonies, but to see what they can accomplish 

 with as sinall a number as possible of rousing 

 heavy ones.] E. R. 



TOBACCO S.VIOKE FOR INTRODUCING. 



How do you load your smoker with tobacco, 

 for smoking bees to prevent the recently intro- 

 duced queen from being balled ? 



Osage. HI., Oct. 13. C. M. Thornton. 



[We have on hand tobacco dust that we use 

 for killing lice on plants. We i)ut about a 

 handful of this dust into a Clark, along with 

 the other fuel; light, and we are ready for 

 smoking. After all the queens are caged in the 

 hives we go around toward night and blow- 

 about a dozen good whiffs of smoke in at each 

 entrance. Don't do this during the middle of 

 the day or you will be likely to start robbing, 

 for the smoked bees are temporarily drugged.] 



