388 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



In the report of the Vermont Bee keepers' 

 Convention it is said that Mr. Boardrnan 

 sprayed 75 trees with 60 gallons of wattr and 

 \y z lbs. of Paris green. He thus secured 150 

 barrels of apples He sprayed the first time 

 just as the buds began to open, and the second 

 time just after the blossoms had fallen. 



% 



Mr. J. H. Tichenor, of Crawford Co., Wis., 

 believes that we should do all we can to get 

 farmers to keep at least a few colonies of bees. 

 His first reason is that farmers are learning 

 that they must spray their fruit-trees, and in 

 so doing are slaughtering bees by the whole- 

 sale. If every other farmer owned one colony 

 each, just a hint to them that they might kill 

 all of their bees would be sufficient to prevent 

 this evil. 



Cogitator laments the advent of a batch of 

 new spells at the hands of Mr. York ; but 

 'Tater says he is too old to get rid of his ortho- 

 graphical prongs now ; but adds he is not too 

 old to find fault, and does find some with the 

 word "thoro." He thinks the word should 

 be left alone or spelled "thuro." He ob- 

 serves, "Don't rile us with what impresses 

 the eye as a bran new \_bra fid-new ?] word, 

 with its first vowel masquerading in the place 

 of another vowel." 



ili 



Some one asks Dr. Miller if he ever becomes 

 tired of answering questions. He 1 kes to do 

 so when the questioner is present so all the 

 bearings may be understood ; but when cor- 

 respondents ask questions in such a way that 

 he can hardly tell what is meant, "that tired 

 feeling " comes on. Sometimes the penman- 

 ship is so poor that he can hardly make it out. 

 But as a whole he seems to enjoy the work 

 Few of his readers realize the amount of work 

 he puts on his department of " Questions and 

 Answers." 



At the Vermont convention Mr. Leonard 

 said it was not all the dark honey that was 

 made the first of the season. He had some 

 honey spoiled by the bees bringing in some- 

 thing to stop cracks with, just as the season 

 was closing. He did not know where it came 

 from, but thought it was the same as the last 

 run of sap — the honey that was gathered last. 

 It was sometimes colored by the bees using 

 old comb and capping, and sometimes by the 

 bees taking honey out of the brood nest, and 

 carrying it upstairs. It was not caused by the 

 bees walking on it, as he had left the honey 

 on till time to pack for winter, and it was nice 

 and white. 



vi/ 



Mr. F. L. Thompson says, in the Piogres- 

 sive, "Sad experience has taught me that, all 

 things considered, it is not the best policy to 

 follow the leaders, but to cultivate an inde- 

 pendent judgment in the matters which touch 

 the pocketbook." Mr. York shows up the 

 fallacy of that by adding, " As Mr. Thompson 

 is one of the leadeis, some will probably make 

 a near application of his teaching by not fol- 

 lowing his present advice." I know by cor- 



respondence the light esteem in which Mr. 

 Thompson seems to hold all rules concerning 

 spelling, punctuation, prosody, and syntax. 

 Really, I do not believe he would unqualified- 

 ly indorse the multiplication table without 

 first putting a coat of varnish on it, or some- 

 thing of that sort. But it's a fortunate thing 

 for us that Mr. T. is very well qualified to act 

 as an independent worker, even if one can not 

 indorse all he says. 



ib 

 Concerning barrels for honey, a honey- 

 dealer writes to the editor: " A barrel is a very 

 unsatisfactory honey-package for the man 

 who handles it in the last instance. Nineteen 

 times out of twenty the barrel must be taken 

 apart to get the honey out." In reply to this, 

 Mr. York says he has often ' ' wished that 

 those who put up their honey in barrels could 

 be compelled to buy and handle such honey 

 for a while. After they have had a little ex- 

 perience with the stuff leaking out, and a 

 number of pounds soaking into the wood — all 

 the loss, of course, to come out of their own 

 pockets — we believe they would be done with 

 putting honey into barrels or wood of any 

 kind. Tin is the thing for a honey -package. 

 In some instances half a cent a pound more 

 can be secured for honey in tin." 



FOUL-BROOD GERMS. 



The Difference between Spores and Bacilli; some 

 Misconceptions Corrected ; the Latest Method of 

 Treating Foul Brood as it is Practiced in Eng- 

 land ; Various Antiseptics Considered ; Washing 

 Out Foul-broody Combs with Water under Pres- 

 sure a Dangerous Practice. 



BY THOS. W1I. COWAN. 



Since I wrote to you on this subject I have 

 received Gleanings for April 15, and in it I 

 find tw T o letters in reference to which I should 

 like to make a few remarks. Mr. Harry S. 

 Hov\e, writing with regard to the several boil- 

 ings in order to secure the sterilization of hon- 

 ey, points out that " the spores of Bacillus 

 alvei do not develop in honey, nor can they 

 live in honey except in the spore condition." 

 I would agree with this entirely if it were re- 

 stricted to honey in a norma/ condition. But 

 it would indeed be a bold person who would 

 venture to say that honey is always in this 

 slate, and that it can not be in such an abnor- 

 mal condition as to form a suitable medium 

 for the germination of spores of bacilli. We 

 know the living spores remain dormant, and 

 bacilli can not grow in honey, because in a 

 normal condition it has an acid reaction; but 

 should it, from any cause, become even slight- 

 ly alkaline, there would then — if other condi- 

 tions obtained — be no hindrance to their ger- 

 mination and development. It was with a 

 view to the possibility of such a condition that 

 I wrote advisedly in my last letter respecting 

 several boilings of honey — "supposing a nu- 

 trient medium to exist in the honey, the unaf- 

 fected spores would germinate into bacilli, 

 and could be destroyed in the next boiling." 



