GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



Mr. J. M. Crow, a bee-keeper who moved 

 to this city from Encinitas, San Diego Co., 

 has built his nest in the rough and rugged 

 canyon of the Little Tahunga, located his api- 

 ary there, and also has a good prospect for 

 developing a gold-mine. All good bee-keep- 

 ers are welcomed to the Crow's nest. 



REPORT OF INSPECTOR OF APIARIES. 



An Interesting Report. 



BY wm. m'evoy. 



During 1898 I visited bee-yards in the coun- 

 ties of Essex, Middlesex, Huron, Grey, Wel- 

 lington, Simcoe, Card well, Norfolk, Went- 

 worth, Lincoln, Peel, York, Ontario, and Vic- 

 toria. I examined 100 apiaries, and found foul 

 brood in 32 of them. Nearly every bee-keep- 

 er who had foul brood in his apiary wrote me 

 private letters about it, and, working on the 

 rule of doing to others as I should like to be 

 done by, I treated all such letters as if they 

 were marked strictly private, and always will. 

 By working along this line in a quiet way, and 

 helping the owners of the diseased apiaries to 

 cure their colonies, I have been able to find 

 out more about who had foul brood in their 

 bee-yards than could or will ever be found out 

 in any other way. I am very much pleased 

 with the way the owners took hold and cured 

 their apiaries, and particularly so with two 

 that were cured by two ladies in the county of 

 Simcoe. These two ladies did the best work 

 in the shortest time that I ever had done, and 

 with two of the worst foul-broody apiaries 

 that I ever handled. Scarcely one week ever 

 passes now without my receiving more or less 

 letters asking questions about foul brood and 

 dead brood of other kinds. I have also re- 

 ceived very many samples of comb with dead 

 brood in, and about seven out of every ten of 

 these were genuine foul brood. The most of 

 the letters and samples of comb with decayed 

 brood in, came from many parts of the United 

 States, and the others from bee-keepers in the 

 Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Sco- 

 tia 



About how long would foul brood be in a 

 colony before it would become very bad with 

 the disease ? was one of the questions asked 

 by several of the writers. I answered, saying, 

 sometimes not more than one week; in others, 

 over one year; but in most cases, less than 

 three months. Just how soon or how long it 

 would be before any diseased colony would 

 become very bad with foul brood would de- 

 pend entirely on how much or how little of 

 the honey was diseased. The honey, to be- 

 come diseased, must be stored first in cells 

 where foul-brood matter had dried down; and 

 when any honey is removed from such diseas- 

 ed cells to cells partly filled with sound honey 

 it will infect the latter also. Foul brood is 

 spread through a colony just in proportion to 

 the amount of diseased honey that is fed to 

 the larvae. I sent Mr. Gemmill out a part of 

 the time and he inspected 15 apiaries, and 

 found foul brood in three of them. I am very 

 much pleased to sav that neither Mr. Gemmill 



nor I had to burn one diseased colony. We 

 found all parties willing to cure, and gave 

 them a chance to do so. I believe that the 

 Province of Ontario has fewer diseased apia- 

 ries for the number kept than any other coun- 

 try in the world, judging by the number of 

 letters that I have received. For the very nice 

 way that Mr. Gemmill and I have been treated 

 by all parties while on our rounds through the 

 Province we return to them our most heartfelt 

 thanks. 



Woodburn, Ont. , Can., Jan. 10. 



[Foul brood must, some ten or fifteen years 

 ago, have made fearful headway in Ontario. 

 If I mistake not, a once leading bee-keeper is 

 partly responsible for this state of affairs. In 

 selling bees, it is said, he was not careful in 

 the stock he sent out. In fact, I have been 

 told that he said foul brood was so easily cured 

 it did not make any difference, as every one 

 could cure the disease in his own apiary. 

 Whether this is so or not, I can not say ; but 

 if true, his carelessness has cost the bee- 

 keepers of Ontario an immense sum of money. 

 Very fortunately, foul-brood legislation was 

 secured, and a careful and thorough inspector, 

 Wm. McEvoy, was secured to put into practi- 

 cal effect the foul-brood law. I am glad to 

 know, too, that an assistant, as c ireful and 

 conscientious, has been secured in the person 

 of F. A. Gemmill. Two better men could 

 hardly have been found throughout Ontario, 

 and it is safe to assume that, through their 

 untiring efforts, the disease foul brood will in 

 time be an almost unknown quantity. — Ed.] 



TRAVEL-STAIN. 



Propolis on the Cappings Due to the Travel of the 

 Bees. 



BY A. E. MANUM. 



Mr. Editor: — In Jan. 15th Gleanings I 

 find a very interesting article from the facile 

 pen of my good friend and benefactor Mr. J. E. 

 Crane. I read the article with much interest; 

 but as the conclusion he arrives at is at vari- 

 ance with my observations and my under- 

 standing of the nature of the honey-bee, I beg 

 to disagree with my friend on some of the 

 fine points he makes regarding the cause of 

 travel -stain. 



Although Mr. Crane lives only 12 miles 

 from me, where I could easily reach him in 

 person, I will, instead, and with your per- 

 mission, Mr. Editor, use Gleanings as a 

 ' ' cushion ' ' in the attempt to make a ' ' carom 

 shot " at my friend; and if I succeed in mak- 

 ing a hit I hope it will have the desired effect 

 in drawing him out still further on the sub- 

 ject of travel-stain. 



Knowing as I do that Mr. Crane is a verita- 

 ble encyclopedia in bee science, I feel sure 

 that, if he is hit hard enough to stir up his ire, 

 he will open his book of knowledge from 

 which all may read and receive further light. 



Mr. Crane asserts that the discoloration 

 often seen on cappings is not travel-stain 

 caused by dirty feet, as generally supposed. 



