GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



this country ; and it was Mr. Benton who 

 went through the jungles of India after Apis 

 dorsata, studied them in their native homes, 

 and sent back reports at various times in re- 

 gard to these and other species of bees. He 

 is probabh' more intimately acquainted with 

 the different bees of the world than any other 

 man li\-ing. At the present time he is con- 

 nected w4th the Agricultural Department of 

 general government, in the DiWsion of Ento- 

 mology. Mr. Benton is exceptionally well 

 educated, reading and speaking fluently sever- 

 al different languages. He is a fine conver- 

 sionalist and a direct and forcible speaker ; 

 and were it not for some unfortunate things 

 that have happened at recent conventions 

 (whether he was right or wrong I need not 

 discuss ) he would be one of the most popular 

 men in our ranks! 



There, I believe I have given all the names 

 than I can remember. There are some faces 

 among those above that seem familiar to me, 

 but at this time and place I can not locate 

 them for I am not good at remembering 

 names, especially if they are piled upon at 

 the rate of four or five a minute. 



This picture does not b}- any means repre- 

 sent all the leading bee-keepers who attended 

 the convention at Buffalo; but when I come 

 to review in my own mind the lives of a few 

 of our leading lights, I feel proud of our in- 

 dustry and of the men who represent it ; and 

 in my travels among bee-keepers I am more 

 and more convinced of the fact that they are 

 superior men and women. A large number 

 are leaders in some of our best professions. 

 No wonder, then, that the}' are shining lights 

 in the bee-keeping world. 



ROTTEN BROOD IN THE APIARY ; SENDING 

 SPECIMENS TO MEDINA FOR IDENTI- 

 FICATION. 



The foul-brood inspector for Ontario, Can- 

 ada. INIr. Wm. McEvoy, in the American Bee 

 Journal for June 17, makes the following 

 good points: 



For 17 years I have warned the bee-keepers to keep 

 all dead 'and putrid matter out of their colonies, so as 

 not to cause-foul brood; and while I have been warn-' 

 ing and holding up Death's head and the cross-bones, 

 the professional guessers, who were not practical bee- 

 keepers, have been encouraging the wholesale spread 

 of the disease bj' saj-ing that rotten brood in hives 

 would not cause foul brood. Such teaching as that 

 has caused thousands of bee-keepers to be verv- care- 

 less; and when the disease has broken out iii their 

 bee-yards, it was left to run its course to the ruin of 

 their apiarie.s, and all others in the same localities. 

 It is only the very few among manj- thousands of bee- 

 keepers who have succeeded in curing their apiaries 

 of foul brood after it got a good start in their bee- 

 yards, and the owners left to themselves to manage the 

 curing. 



It is certainly wise to err on the safe side; 

 and while rotten brood may not necessaril}- be 

 foul brood, nor be capable of developing into 

 that disease, yet it should alwajs be looked 

 upon with suspicion by the bee-keeper, espe- 

 cially if he does not know exactly what the 

 disease is. 



I have advised bee-keepers of late to send 

 us doubtful samples for identification. Of 

 course, such pieces of comb should be secure- 

 ly wrapped, preferably in paraffined or waxed 

 paper. If you can't get either of these, get 



some stout paper and grease it on both sides. 

 Never think of sending brood wrapped in 

 paper simpl}-, or in a paper box. After wrap- 

 ping as directed, slip it in a tin box, the comb 

 packed in cotton batting. This latter is tp 

 act as an absorbent should there be any drip- 

 ping. 



Two or three samples without the box came 

 to us with the paper soaked through and drip- 

 ping; but happih' the specimens were not foul 

 brood. We are quite willing to help our sub- 

 scribers all we can; but we do not wdsh to 

 place our own bees and our own interests in 

 jeopardy. 



Each sample of brood is thoroughly inspect- 

 ed, and a report is made in regard to its con- 

 dition b}- return mail. It is ni}- practice to 

 take a doubtful sample, go before the big 

 boiler-arches, open up the packet, smell it, 

 tear open the cells with a little sliver of wood, 

 and then toss the whole thing, package and 

 all, into the raging fire. We biurn all such 

 specimens, whether they prove to have foul 

 brood or not. 



One man was about to destroy his whole 

 apiary, thinking he had foul brood. At my 

 request he sent me a sample, and it proved to 

 be only chilled brood — brood that had died 

 owng to the cool nights prevalent in the lat- 

 ter part of May. I told him the bees were all 

 right, and to let them alone. How much we 

 saved this man the reader can figure out for 

 himself. 



I have given similar advice to several others, 

 and am walling to do it again ; but our friends 

 must not put us in jeopardy by putting up the 

 specimens carelessly. 



KEEPING HONEY OVER FOR BETTER PRICES. 



Mr. J. F. McIntyre, of Fillmore, Cal., who 

 was present at the Buffalo convention, told us 

 how he stored his honey in large storage- 

 tanks, and held it over for anpther season. If 

 the market prices did not seem to justify him 

 in disposing of it that year he held it over. 

 The honey-flow in California is very uncer- 

 tain. A good year is liable to be followed by 

 a poor one. It is the year following, possibly 

 a poor one, when honey is a scarce article, 

 that Mr. McIntyre unloads his crop at paying 

 prices. The white-sage honey is not inclined 

 to candy, and he finds it profitable for him to 

 store it over till prices suit him. He said he 

 could keep honey stored in his large tank 

 some two or three years without candying, and 

 he could afford to wait till the market went up. 



Some one, in the course of his talk at the 

 convention, asked him what his honey crop 

 was. Year before last he had one thousand 

 60-lb. cans of honey. It is well known that 

 California bee-keepers wholesale and retail in 

 square cans holding ()0 lbs. On account of the 

 di-\- climate, barrels and kegs can not be used. 

 Well, those thousand CO-lb. cans, or (30,000 

 lbs. of hone}-, was all produced from one apia- 

 ry. This apiar}' is located in a valley, and 

 comprises some 500 or GOO colonies. He nar- 

 rated how the bees would fly six and even sev- 

 en miles up and down the mountains. Those 

 long flights explain why so many bees can be 

 kept profitably in one apiary. 



