1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



929 



There was no new comb made in supers 

 while the bees were working on sweet clover, 

 and my comb honey is not tainted; and this 

 honey from heartsease is as fine as I ever tast- 

 ed. The bees quit the sweet clover when the 

 heartsease comes in bloom; but the sweet clo- 

 ver was a good thing to tide them over the 

 drouth. Without it I should have had to feed 

 in midsummer. 



M}' failure with crimson clover was not on 

 account of being so far north. The trouble 

 was to get a "catch," or a stand after the 

 catch, on account of dry weather killing the 

 young plants. It never gets as cold here as it 

 does at Medina, or even at Cincinnati. I found 

 the same trouble as far south as Central Ken- 

 tucky, where I have a farm in the famous 

 Blue Grass region. I have tried to get my 

 tenant there to sow crimson clover instead of 

 rye, for plowing under, but without success — 

 too hard to get a stand. I now have a very 

 fine catch here, sown in standing corn in Au- 

 gust. The rains came at just the right time, 

 and kept coming to keep it growing — first 

 good stand in four j'ears. Don't you think 

 I am persevering ? I think it catches better 

 when sown with the chaff on. It holds the 

 moisture. I don't think it wdl winter-kill, 

 but may freeze out in spring, and be killed on 

 account of wet land. 



I am pleased with my experiments with 

 sweet clover. Cut when young, and fed to 

 cows, in stall, they ate it greedily. It will 

 bear cutting two or three times or more. 

 I plowed some under in my joung peach- 

 orchard, and planted late sweet clover. Turn- 

 ing under such a large amount of tops and 

 roots can't help being beneficial. I am satis- 

 fied there will be no trouble to prevent its 

 spreading where I don't wish it — not more 

 than other clovers or weeds. 



Pelee Island, Ont. , Can. 



[Why, friend S., you have given us a. tre- 

 mendous recommend for sweet clover. I have 

 many times wondered why it would not give 

 several cuttings like alfalfa if cut at just the 

 right stage of growth ; and now you tell us it 

 may be cut two or three times or more ; and 

 when you say you are satisfied there would 

 not be any more spreading from it than with 

 other clovers, you have said about all that I 

 have claimed. In regard to the quality of the 

 honey, I should certainly say you have made 

 a mistake unless you assure me that this dark 

 unpleasant honey had the taste and smell of 

 the sweet-clover plant. One need never be 

 mistaken about sweet-clover honey, as both 

 taste and smell declare what it is. Once upon 

 a time we got two kinds of clover seed mixed 

 — that is, the labels became exchanged, so 

 that we did not know which was which. By 

 smelling first of one and then of the other I 

 decided, as plainly as any label could decide, 

 which was sweet clover. Now, I have never 

 seen any sweet- clover honey that was dark- 

 colored or unpleasant to taste. I can imagine 

 that the raw honey, before it had been un- 

 capped, might have a rank taste. I am told 

 that, in the vicinity of large cities, it has a 

 dark color on account of the coal smoke that 



settles on it ; but, if I am correct, this does 

 not spoil the beautiful pure sweet that well- 

 ripened sweet-clover honey always has, so far 

 as I know. — A. I. R.] 



FOUL BROOD. 



Questions Relating to. 



Z)r. C. C. miller: — Having read your replies 

 to sundry questions in Gleanings, I conclud- 

 ed to add to your troubles in that direction. 

 The question of foul brood and how to cure it 

 is uppermost in the minds of a great number 

 of bee-keepers at present ; and although there 

 are several books written on the subject they 

 do not seem to cover the ground sufficiently, 

 especially by leaving the mind in doubt by 

 saying too frequently if or alinosl ahtays. 



Well, to come to the point I submit the fol- 

 lowing questions ; and if you do not feel in- 

 clined to answer them yourself, will you kind- 

 ly submit them to some other wise man who 

 has had experience witli said disease ? 



On. I. — Suppose you have foul brood in 

 your apiary, and that the bees were at the 

 starvation-point — /. c , having no honey in the 

 hive, and have to be fed ; would it be necessa- 

 ry to destroy all the combs, including those 

 that never had brood in them ? or will it do to 

 take only all the brood away from all combs 

 that ever had brood in them, destroy them, 

 and feed the bees sugar syrup ? 



On. 2. — In following out the McEvoy plan, 

 after giving the bees strips of foundation in 

 order to set them to building comb, must all 

 the frames be destroyed, including those that 

 the bees have not worked on at all, keeping in 

 mind that the bees have no honey previously, 

 in which the disease could spread ? 



On. S-- — After melting out the combs in the 

 wax-exlractor {a la McEvoy), can the frames 

 be used over again ? If not, why use the hive 

 (and not the frames) without further disinfec- 

 tion than the sunlight ? 



On. 4. — Is the disease in the honey the bees 

 carr}' in their honey -sacs or in their blood ? 

 M. R. KUEHNE. 



Pomona, Cal., Oct. 17, 1898. 



[The following is Dr. Miller's reply to the 

 above. — Ed.] 



1. In a matter of so much consequence, the 

 only safe advice must be to destroy all. There 

 is a possibility that combs that have never had 

 brood in them might be left with safety in 

 some cases. When the disease is first contract- 

 ed there is a limited time in which no spores 

 have been developed, and nothing but the ba- 

 cilli present. Keep in mind that foul brood is 

 due to the presence of a microscopic plant. Ba- 

 cillus alvei. The growing plant is a bacillus, 

 and the seed is a spore. Compare it, if you 

 please, to the thistle. A thistle is growing in 

 a field, and you ask me whether, if you re- 

 move the entire plant, roots and all, there will 

 be danger of any further spread of the thistle 

 disease. The answer will be that it depends 

 on the stage of the disease. If the plant is 

 not yet in blossom, or if in blossom and no 



