750 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



0£T 15. 



I place a sheet of manilla paper on the bot- 

 tom of the case, and tack across this paper, at 

 right intervals, thin strips of wood l /% inch 

 thick by about ~/ & inch wide. The sections 

 rest on these strips at the corners, which 

 raises them }i inch above the paper which 

 holds all drip; these slats are sawed from edg- 

 ings and waste lumber, and cost next to 

 nothing. The paper costs six cents a hun- 

 dred sheets cut exact size. 



For years I have made a practice of cover 

 ing my honey with a sheet of cotton cloth 

 while in transit. This sheet is billed with the 

 honey, and returned to me for future use. 

 This covering protects the cases from cinders 

 and dust which enter the car while in mo- 

 tion, and insures a case at its destination clean 

 and neat in appearance instead of one be- 

 grimed with dirt, the no-drip case contribut- 

 ing to this end. 



If the jou. nals would keep before their read- 

 ers the necessity and advantages of sections 

 well cleaned and assorted, sending nothing to 

 market but such as will be pleasing and satis- 

 factory to the consumer, and packed in a neat 

 well-made case, kept neat and clean by no- 

 drip cases and cloth cover, so that our goods 

 shall be regarded as desirable to handle by 

 the trade, a matter clearly in the interest of all 

 producers, they will be conferring a great ben- 

 efit to our industry. 



Cherry Valley, N. Y., Sept. 11. 



[I would explain that this article is the re- 

 sult of a series of letters that have passed be- 

 tween Capt. Hetherington and myself. I had 

 heard that a sort of diseased brood was mak- 

 ing rapid headway in certain sections of New 

 York ; and in order to get reliable information 

 I wrote to a number of the prominent bee- 

 keepers, including Capt. Hetherington, and of 

 the latter I also asked if it were not true that 

 he was the originator of the tall sections and 

 no-drip shipping-cases. The article above is 

 in reply. 



That foul brood has got a start in some por- 

 tions of the State of New York there can be 

 no doubt, as Harry Howe, bacteriologist for a 

 time at the Corneil University, after examin- 

 ing specimens, pronounces them genuine cases 

 of foul brood — Bacillus alvei. Most of the 

 others he says are of a milder form — perhaps 

 pickled brood, but a different form of germ 

 life, and probably not the same disease. It is 

 this latter that seems to have visited certain 

 localities in the State, and which has disap- 

 peared ; for, as nearly as I can ascertain from 

 others in these places, this new diseased brood, 

 while similar to foul brood, lacks two or three 

 of the important symptoms ; namely, the glue- 

 pot odor, the peculiar ropiness, and generally 

 the characteristic color. The odor, when no- 

 ticeable, has something of a sour, yeasty, fer- 

 mented smell. 



This peculiar disease (pickled brood we will 

 call it) will go through an apiary and then 

 disappear of itself, even when no treatment is 

 administered. It seems to be somewhat con- 

 tagious ; but, like influenza and other mala- 

 dies of a like character, it leaves the patient 

 (the bees) somewhat the worse for wear. 



I have procured a sample of this brood and 

 forwarded it to Dr. Howard, the author of a 

 work on this subject, and a bacteriologist, at 

 Fort Worth, Texas. From the preliminary 

 examination he was able to make, he did not 

 call it foul brood, nor did he think it was the 

 pickled brood he had described in his book ; 

 but I am expecting a report from him soon, 

 when he will tell us more of its real character. 



I have had some little correspondence also 

 with Mr. Benton in reference to getting gov- 

 ernment aid in the investigation of this new 

 malady, and it is no little pleasure now to re- 

 pot t that the Department of Entomology is 

 preparing to investigate this disease, and has 

 asked for samples of pickled brood or other 

 diseased forms for the purpose of examina- 

 tion. Mr. Benton belongs to the Department 

 of Entomology, and will have a good deal to 

 do with the matter. That he has interested 

 the powers that be, in this matter, at all, is a 

 matter of congratulation; and we now feel 

 that this disease which has been cropping out 

 here and there all over the United States will 

 at least be thoroughly studied, and, if possi- 

 ble, its cause and cure known. 



Of the captain's connection with tall sec- 

 tions and no drip shipping-cases I shall have 

 something to say editorially elsewhere. — Ed.] 



THE SEASON IX CALIFORNIA. 



Scarcity of Honey; Alfalfa a Future Honey-plant; 

 Shade for Bees ; Spiders and Ants as Moth- 

 destroyers; Loss by Fire; an In- 

 teresting Article. 



BY R. WILKIN. 



In 1898 my 600 hives of bees, after my spend- 

 ing $400 or more on feed for them, were, like 

 others in the country around me, reduced in 

 numbers nearly a half, being in the dry moun- 

 tain region of Newhall, Los Angeles Co., Cal. 

 The remaining hives were exceedingly poor 

 and weak. In March, 1899, many of our bee- 

 keepers being confronted with the practical 

 certainty of a worse season than the previous 

 one, moved to wet or irrigated lands to save 

 their bees. I took my 340 two-story hives of 

 bees, and nearly as many with empty combs, 

 and the outfit for a home and apiaries (two 

 carloads), to the alfalfa -fields of Famoso, Kern 

 Co., where the snows on the Sierra Nevada 

 Mountains usually furnish water sufficient to 

 water the great San Joaquin Valley. But the 

 snow was lighter than usual, and the unusual- 

 ly cold season prevented its flow of water until 

 in June, so there was a meager growth of alfal- 

 fa and a corresponding amount of honey pro- 

 duced. 



I closed the season with 325 hives of bees 

 and iy 2 tons of choice extracted honev which 

 I sold there f o.b. at 6)4 cts. But I tried three 

 days later to buy 15 tons of water-white honey 

 at 7 cts. to fill an order from an Eastern firm, 

 but I could not get it to suit. 



This year the producer takes part in dictat- 

 ing terms of sale, so his whole crop has to go 

 together, light and amber. I notice the honey 



