1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



295 



under proper conditions, I fail to find any 

 difference in them, each running into the oth- 

 er, and both equally fatal in a malignant 

 form, and are, I firmly believe, different forms 

 or stages of the same disease. You will prob- 

 ably say that I have never seen true foul 

 brood. But I will say that I have seen the 

 disease sweep apiary after apiary out of exist- 

 ence, and have not visited an apiary the past 

 year that was not infected, and yet right in 

 the midst of an epidemic I have seen the dis- 

 ease disappear like magic, and not return, 

 even after a lapse of four years. 



Now as regards section honey. Don't you 

 think the upper tier of boxes on p. 128, Feb. 

 15, is a libel on the profession ? Should I run 

 across a bee-keeper who, in even a poor sea- 

 son, could produce nothing better than shown 

 there, I should heartily advise him to soak his 

 head and brimstone his bees. 



I say it, and I say it emphatically, that, out 

 of a crop of 3000 lbs. of comb honey the sea- 

 son just past, my honey (sections) was filled 

 equal to that shown in the bottom tier. After 

 all the fine talk on grading honey, do you call 

 that top row any thing but second-class hon- 

 ey ? If you do, I should not want you to 

 grade or pack honey for me. I could not 

 hold my trade on it a single season. In the 

 shipments and sale of over 100 cases of honey 

 last year, not a case was disgraced with such 

 sections as are shown in the upper right and 

 left hand comers. The bee-keeper who will 

 furnish such honey for an honest comparison 

 richly deserves a leather medal. 



I would say, concerning sales the past sea- 

 son, that my crop was disposed of in less than 

 three daj'S, soliciting at more than 40 per cent 

 above local prices, orders for over 1100 lbs. be- 

 ing taken in less than two hours. 



Should such " sass " as this be appreciated, 

 you will hear from me again if I can spare the 

 time. I would say, in closing, I have missed 

 but one honey crop in twelve years. 



Baptisttown, N. J. 



[I have looked over this pamphlet, and to 

 my mind it is the best of any thing that has 

 yet been produced. Perhaps we can issue it 

 in cheap form, and along with it give a copy 

 of that excellent foul-brood law which has 

 given such good results in Wisconsin. If 

 this pamphlet were generally circulated among 

 bee-keepers it might stimulate an effort to se- 

 cure good foul-brood laws in every State. The 

 State of New York is very much in need of an 

 active foul-brood inspector — not that I claim 

 that foul brood is pretty well scattered over the 

 State, but there are certain sections where the 

 disease, unless checked, will soon be working 

 havoc. One would think that bee-keepers 

 ought to have gumption enough and interest 

 enough to know when they have the disease, 

 and, having found it, to cure it. The fact of 

 the matter is, there are hundreds and hun- 

 dreds who do not look into their hives until 

 toward the approach of the honey-flow, and 

 even after that they do not examine into the 

 brood-chamber the rest of the season. 



In regard to that honey in the upper tier : 

 In defense of Mr. Hutchinson I would say 



that the honey selected is a fair average of 

 what I have seen on the market, and what we 

 have been able to buy. Even Mr. Doolittle, 

 who defends the sections with the bee-ways, 

 thinks it more artistic than the honey in the 

 lower tier. If you have a method whereby you 

 can secure well-filled sections as good as those 

 of Mr. Aspin wall's or Danzenbaker's, in the 

 old-fashioned two-bee-way sections, you de- 

 serve a chromo — not saying that you can not 

 do it, for I believe you can. I should be 

 pleased to have you tell us something of your 

 super and of your method. We can stand 

 your "sass," especially when you do not put 

 it on any thicker. — Ed.] 



THE PAST SEASON IN MINNESOTA. 



Young Bees or Old for Going into Winter Quarters ; 



Foul Brood, and Curing the Same with 



Bisulphide of Carbon. 



BY C. DAVENPORT. 



The past season in this locality was one of 

 the poorest for honey that I have ever known; 

 still, it might have been much worse, as some 

 surplus was stored by strong colonies. Dur- 

 ing the season of 1896 there was an abun- 

 dance of white clover here. In fact, it was 

 one of the heaviest stands I ever saw. The 

 past season there was but very little of it that 

 blossomed, as it was, early in the season, 

 greatly injured by a species of small ant. 

 These ants were very small, but they made up 

 in numbers what they lacked in size. All the 

 pasture land in the rich bottom ground around 

 here was literally dug up by them to such an 

 extent that, although we had plenty of rain, 

 the grass in some of these pasture lands turn- 

 ed brown, the same as it did during the great 

 drouth we had here a few years ago. During 

 the fore part of July these ants disappeared as 

 mysteriously as they came; and, though the 

 white clover revived some afterward, it was 

 very dry all the fall, and the prospect for a 

 good stand of white clover next season is poor. 

 There is considerable basswood here ; but last 

 season, as for several years past, it was an en- 

 tire failure. From two yards the past season, 

 containing 241 colonies, spring count, they 

 averaged about 25 pounds of surplus per col- 

 ony — about two-thirds comb, the rest extract- 

 ed. About half of it was white, the rest am- 

 ber and dark; but very little of the white 

 would grade fancy. 



I had a chance to sell the bees in the out- 

 yard last fall, and, owing to the poor prospect 

 for next season, I let them go. I now have 

 153 colonies which were cellared the latter 

 part of November, most of them heavy with 

 stores, and all strong in bees. As there was a 

 fall flow, brood-rearing was kept up late, so 

 there was plenty of young bees, which, in the 

 opinion of many, will be a large factor toward 

 their successful wintering. But my own ex- 

 perience leads me to believe that late fall flows 

 and young bees have but little to do with suc- 

 cessful wintering, from many similar instances 

 which lead me to this belief. I will cite that, 

 in the fall of 1896, there was no fall flow. 



