1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



805 



Look out for our next issue. It will be a 

 regular boomer in size and general subject- 

 matter. 



Our readers' attention is directed to the 

 very low clubbing offers we make elsewhere 

 in this number. Don't fail to look them all 

 over carefully, as we can save you money. In 

 many cases we can furnish you some agricul- 

 tural paper and Gleanings both for a whole 

 year at the price of either alone. In other 

 cases a slight advance on the price of one of 

 them buys both of them. 



REFORMED SPELLING. 



We are getting quite a number of responses 

 or votes in favor of the shorter spelling in 

 Gleanings. So far not a single dissenting 

 vote has been received. Mr. M. D. Andes, of 

 Bristol, Tenn., writes : "At first I was oppos- 

 ed to the changes ; but after reading the 

 American Bee Journal for a time I rather like 

 it. I would approve of the changes suggested 

 by N. E. A., on page 762." It looks now de- 

 cidedly as if our subscribers would favor the 

 changes suggested. 



At present I do not think it would be wise 

 for us to go so far as the American Bee Jour- 

 nal does, although in time we may see our 

 way to go the whole figure. Considering the 

 varied class of printing we are doing for other 

 people, such a change would involve an end- 

 less lot of work in proof-reading, and doubt- 

 less many mistakes. 



NEW YORK'S INSPECTOR OF FOUL BROOD. 



Our readers will remember that within a 

 year a foul-brood law, modeled somewhat 

 after the plan of the one that has accomplish- 

 ed such good results in Wisconsin, was enacted 

 by the legislature of New York. It provides 

 that, when a case of foul brood is discovered, 

 complaint shall be made to the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture, who shall thereupon appoint 

 some person to go and inspect the bees, and, 

 if diseased, provide for the necessary cure. 

 But, unfortunately, this law was passed or 

 amended, rather, after the commissioner had 

 made out his estimate of the funds he would 

 require in his department ; and although foul 

 brood is or has been found in some sections of 

 New York, there are little or no funds avail- 

 able by which competent persons can be sent 

 to make the necessary inspections and carry 

 out the regulations provided by law. 



Mr. N. D. West was appointed inspector, 

 and has, I believe, at his own expense, with 

 possibly some assistance from the State, been 

 making inspections, and doing what he could 

 to stay the ravages of the disease. He finds 

 that some of what is thought to be foul brood 

 is something else — a diseased or pickled brood. 

 Specimens of this have been sent to the gen- 

 eral government to be examined by the Bacte- 



riologist in the Department of Agriculture ; 

 and other specimens have also been sent to 

 Bacteriologist Dr. W. O. Howard, of Fort 

 Worth, Texas, and in a short time we shall 

 know just what this new disease is. 



In the mean time it is to be regretted that 

 there are not now funds by which a thorough 

 canvass of the State can be made by competent 

 persons to hunt up the disease and see that 

 the law is enforced ; for it provides that any 

 bee-keeper having the disease in his apiary, 

 who "shall sell, barter, or give away any 

 honey, bees, or appliances from said diseased 

 apiary, or expose other bees to the danger of 

 said disease . . contrary to this law" is 

 "guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be pun- 

 ished hy a fine of not less than $30 nor more 

 than $100, or by imprisonment." 



In the mean time, the bee-keepers of any 

 district that is troubled with this disease, or 

 with any disease, should co-operate, and, if 

 necessary, raise a fund so that the inspector 

 can visit the locality and make those who are 

 disinclined to obey the law come to time. 



Later. — I have just received a letter from 

 Bacteriologist Howard, of Texas, in which he 

 says he has examined, microscopically, several 

 specimens of affected brood sent from New 

 York, and that none of them are foul brood, or 

 in any way related to that disease It is an 

 entirely new malady, differing from pickled 

 brood. Dr. Howard is not ready yet to make 

 a complete report, but will do so later for 

 Gleanings. In the mean time it is of the 

 highest importance that the bee-keepers of 

 York State know the result of the experiments 

 thus far, as it may save burning of colonies, 

 and possibly of whole apiaries, for what is 

 supposed to be foul brood, but which is not 

 that disease at all. The fact that this new 

 malady is in many cases reported to disap- 

 pear of itself — a thing that real Bacillus alvei 

 never does — rather confirms Dr. Howard's 

 diagnosis. In the meantime bee-keepes of 

 New York are to be congratulated that at 

 least some of the affected brood is not the 

 dreaded foul brood. 



THE APIARY OF VERNON BURT \ APPLE-TREES 

 IDEAL SHADE FOR AN APIARY. 



On page 798 of this issue will be seen a 

 half-tone from a photo of the Burt yard. 

 Large old-fashioned apple-trees form the prin- 

 cipal shade except where the apiary has 

 grown so large as to crowd out beyond the 

 delightful coolness under these trees. As Mr. 

 Burt has all his queens' wings clipped he is 

 not bothered by being obliged to climb these 

 trees to get his swarms. As I have before ex- 

 plained, when a swarm does come forth he 

 removes the brood-nest, places a hive with 

 empty combs or foundation on the old stand, 

 sets the super formerly on the old hive on the 

 new one ; lays the caged queen at the en- 

 trance, and goes about his work. 



These large spreading trees, the limbs of 

 which are scarcely six feet above the ground, 

 form a most delightful shade — an ideal pro- 

 tection from the rays of the sun, according to 

 my notion. Perhaps two dozen large trees 

 protect very nearly a hundred of his colonies; 



