474 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Junk 15 



traded any honey, and I hear very much said about 

 small hives being the best for comb honey, but I 

 knew the value of large hives and very strong colo- 

 nies of the very best strain of Italian bees. 



NAPHTHOI, BETA AS A GERMICIDE FOR BACIL- 

 LUS ALVEI. 



Scientist H. W. Brice, the skilled micro- 

 scopist who has been carrying on a long series 

 of experiments in examining Baci/lus alvei, 

 and testing the value of various germicides, 

 has been giving the results of these experi- 

 ments in a series of articles in the British Bee 

 Journal. I have already referred to him as 

 having stated that it is very difficult to destroy 

 foul brood in tbe spore form by boiling. In 

 an article in said journal of May 4, he tells 

 how he tested the value of the various germi- 

 cides ; and among them naphthol beta seemed 

 to be one of the most effective and at the same 

 time harmless, so far as human beings are con- 

 cerned. Other drugs are perhaps as effective, 

 but they are dangerous for bee-keepers to 

 handle. " Carbolic acid, in crystals, did not 

 seem to be as active an agent as naphthol beta. 

 These results were arrived at in testing the 

 strength of the several agents on Bacillus al- 

 vei, but not on spores. Speaking of the power 

 of spores to resist high temperature he says : 



Boiling is almost useless as at present carried out. 

 In fact, I found it necessiryto permit some time to 

 elapse between successive boilings, to allow the 

 spores to germinate tetween each operation. For 

 this purpose a medium must be present of some kind, 

 as without this even successive boiling of hives is 

 mainly unsatisfactory. 



SEPARATOR AND NON-SEPARATOR HONEY. 



Ox page 461 of this issue we show eight 

 sections of honey produced in the apiary of 

 Geo. Gould, Rocky Ford, Col , an illustration 

 of which appears on pages 470 and 471. These 

 eight sections were taken from a 24-lb. ship- 

 ping-case of honey that was produced at the 

 Rocky Ford apiary and sent here. Mr. 

 Gould uses a separator in every other row of 

 sections in his super. As a result of this, 

 some of the sections are evenly and nicely 

 filled, and others are too fat or too lean. I 

 would call attention to the illustration show- 

 ing the four sections produced with separators 

 and four without, the bottom row belonging 

 to the latter, as will be plainly seen. These, 

 while being well filled, are too full, and no 

 doubt were completed without separators. 

 They overrun in weight, and do not present 

 the even appearance of those in the top row. 

 All the honey in the case was snow-white, and 

 of very fine flavor, and were it not for the de- 

 fect named in some of the sections this case 

 of honey would be almost perfection itself. 



It would seem to me that Mr. Gould could 

 get more money for his honey if he would 

 put a separator between each row of sections 

 while on the hive ; for in some markets, at 

 least, those bulged combs would go at a dis- 

 count; and occasional handling to determine 

 its quality, selling price, etc., would result in 

 abrasing some of the surfaces of the comb. 

 When this were done, the whole case of honey 

 would be knocked down a cent or two in 

 price because it would be classed as broken or 

 leaking honey. 



SHADE FOR BEE-HIVES; APPEE - TREES VS. 

 SHADE-BOARDS. 



In the Bee-keepers' Review for June, the 

 editor shows in the frontispiece what he con- 

 siders to be a well-shaded hive. It is an ordi- 

 nary Heddon with three comb-honey supers 

 on top, and a shade-board, or covering, pro- 

 jects over the front of the hive (a foot or more, 

 perhaps) about like the vizor of a cap over 

 one's face. The illustration showing this ar- 

 rangement represents a hive, I should judge 

 from the shadow, facing the east ; or at least 

 the shadow itself comes down two-thirds of 

 the way over the front of the hive. The 

 shade-board does not project over the back, 

 perhaps, over four or five inches ; and when 

 the position of the sun is reversed, or at the 

 opposite point in the heavens, the back end of 

 the hive would, I should think, receive the full 

 rays of the sun, except the very small portion 

 protected by the rear four-inch projection of the 

 shade-board. On the shade-board is a stone and 

 a Bingham smoker — the latter not being requir- 

 ed, of course, to hold the board on the hive. 



The ideal shade for hives, to my notion, is a 

 good old-fashioned apple-tree, or a fruit-tree 

 of any sort with low spreading branches about 

 six or eight feet from the ground. The trees 

 do not leave out, usually, until after the time 

 when the direct rays of the sun would do more 

 harm than good ; and during the time when 

 the trees are fully leaved is the very time when 

 the bees need shade. In the rear of almost 

 ever}? country home there is an orchard of 

 some sort ; and this is my ideal place to put 

 the apiary, because it affords comfort both to 

 the bees and to the apiarist. There are no 

 shade-boards and heavy stones to manipulate 

 every time the hive is opened, and no time to 

 waste ; and, what is more, the hives are com- 

 pletely shaded, except, perhaps, early in the 

 morning and late in the afternoon, when the 

 ravs of the sun are very mild. We have used 

 shade-boards here ; but when we can get trees 

 we prefer them. A. I. R. formerly preferred 

 grapevines nicely trellised up ; but as these 

 involve so much labor in taking care of them, 

 and as the shoots grow so rapidly, and throw 

 out sprawling obstructions over the front of 

 the hive, I have personally formed a decided 

 dislike for them. 



Now, a hive can be located in an apple-or- 

 chard by its relative proximity to the trees so 

 that the sun can strike the hive up to nine or 

 half past, and again at half-past three. If the 

 locality is in a warm climate, -the hive can be 

 set back a little more under the shade so the 

 direct rays of the sun will not strike the hive 

 after eight o'clock in the morning and before 

 five o'clock at night. 



Our plan at our basswood-orchards, where 

 we have low spreading basswoods, is to group 

 the hives in fours and fives. This arrange- 

 ment gives all four plenty of shade, and saves 

 a lot of running to and from one hive to an- 

 other. Why, it is just comfort to sit down on 

 one hive and work at the other, with tools — 

 screwdriver, smoker, super, etc. — all lying be- 

 fore the hive. Of course, if any of the group 

 are tiered up pretty high, then the sit-down 

 act can not very well be performed. 



