1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



267 



Eight extra pages. 



M. H. Mendi.kson, in writing of the situ- 

 ation in California, says : 



There will be a big loss in bees in this State, and the 

 loss by stockmen will be very great. This is claimed 

 to be the dryest year for over 34 years. Many a good 

 man will lo.se all he has made by many yeais' hard 

 labor. M. H. Mendleson. 



Ventura, Cal., March 11. 



It looks now as if there surely would be no 

 California honey of any consequence, of the 

 1898 production ; and a good deal of the '97 

 honey that was held over to sell this season 

 will have to b2 used to feed back to colonies 

 to keep them from starving. 



MISOUOTI.VG. 



Why will some of my good friends so per- 

 sistently misquote what I have said about the 

 fence and plain seciion ? One friend implies 

 that I have said there would be absolutely no 

 peek-holes or corner-holes in the new sections. 

 I should like to have that person point out 

 the sentence or sentences wherein I have used 

 such language. Again, another corrects me 

 by telling me that the plain section and fence 

 are not new, but older than the hills. Those 

 of our readers who have read carefully what I 

 have written know that I have said repeatedly 

 that they are almost as old as any thing we 

 use in beedom. Why will other folks set up 

 a man of straw, call it my man, and then 

 proceed to knock it over — zvitli clubs I uiyself 

 have furnished ."' 



FOUL BROOD FROM ROTTEN BROOD. 



Wm. McEvoy, Foul-brood Inspector for 

 Ontario, Canada, has maintained, and still 

 insists, that "foul brood is a disease that is 

 caused by the rotting of uncared-for brood." 

 I have held that dead brood, either by chill- 

 ing, overheating, or starvation, would not of 

 itself cause the disease; that there would have 

 to be, in the first place, the germs, and from 

 these germs would arise foul brood ; in other 

 words, that corn would not grow where no 

 corn was planted. While I still think so, I 

 am willing to admit that there is much of 

 truth in Mr. McEvoy 's statements; namely, 

 that dead or rotten brood may be a favorable 

 medium for the germs of Bacillus alvei to 

 work in, in the same way that good rich 

 ground will grow celery better than poor 

 ground. If there is any truth in the statement 

 that foul brood proceeds from dead brood or 

 rotten brood, it is because there are already 

 germs in the hive; and these germs, finding 

 lodgment in the dead brood, give rise to the 

 disease, when, if the brood were all healthy, 

 they would not be able to make a start. 



that the great majority can not do so, it may 

 not be amiss to suggest that plain sections 

 may be better adapted to be used without 

 dividers than the old bee-way .sort. Why? 



When A. I. R. was visiting W. K. Morrison, 

 of Devon.shire, Bermuda, the latter talked a 

 good deal about using sections in supers with- 

 out separators; and now that plain sections 

 had come to the fore, they were just the thing. 

 I do not know pensonally just how he would 

 dispense with the separators, but I suspect by 

 putting them in supers (say T supers, for in- 

 stance), sections spaced about ^., inch apart, 

 without any separators or fences between 

 them. According to Mr. Morrison's idea, a 

 row of plain sections right along together, 

 having even edges, and without any separators 

 between them, would give almost the same 

 condition that exists in the brood-chamber. 

 There would not only be no separators be- 

 tween the sections, but there would be con- 

 tinuous passageioays from one section to an- 

 other. 



I have been talking with Mr. Chalon Fowls, 

 of Oberlin, O., who is visiting us to-day ; and 

 while he has never tried it he seems greatly 

 interested in the plan. He for years produced 

 his comb honey without separators, in old- 

 style sections. He liked the new plain sec- 

 tions, but would prefer to use them without 

 separators or fences, and I explained to him 

 how it could be done. One ot the methods 

 suggested was to use the old-style double-tier 

 wide frames that many have in their garrets 

 or barn-lofts. Into these put the plain sec- 

 tions, and space them exactly in the center; 

 hang them carefully in the super, without any 

 separators or fences between them, and, 

 presto! we have a lot of thick brood-frames, 

 as it were, divided off into four compartments, 

 which the bees will regard, possibly, very 

 much as so many extracting-combs, having 

 cross-sticks, we will say, running perpendicu- 

 larly and horizontally through the frames. 



Now, please do not get the impression that 

 the new fence is the all-important thing or fad 

 of the day. The fence is only secondary in 

 importance. It is the plain section that seems 

 about to revolutionize the present methods of 

 comb-honey production. For those who must 

 use separators, then of course the fence, or 

 something equivalent, will have to be used. 



Personally, I don't believe it would be prof- 

 itable to dispense with separators or fences in 

 luost localities ; and this reminds me that 

 locality has every thing to do with the matter. 

 If the honey-flow comes in spurts, with a let- 

 up and a rush, then dividers of some sort, to 

 my notion, would have to be used. If, on the 

 other hand, it is slow and continuous, without 

 any spurts, then, with the right management, 

 they may, perhaps, be dispensed with. 



NO-BEE-WAY SECTIONS ADAPTABLE TO THE 

 NON-USE OF SEPARATORS OR FENCES. 



Some bee-keepers somehow manage to get 

 along without separators, and, while admitting 



ASPINWALL'S SECOND - QUALITY HONEY IN 

 PLAIN SECTIONS. 



Shortly before that characteristic engrav- 

 ing appeared in the Bee-keepers' Revieiv, show- 

 ing honey in plain sections and honey in bee- 

 way sections, and which we reproduced in our 

 columns on page 128, I wrote to Mr. Aspin- 

 wall, asking him to send us a photo showing a 



