1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



445 



M7-. Root: — I will explain here that last season Mr. 

 "West was appointed bee-inspector until a civil-service 

 examination was held, which occurred July 29. He 

 passed at t»5.2 ; I at 9J.2, and W. D. Wright at 'J;1G, 

 while M. Stevens stood 85. (I think these figures are 

 correct.) Mr. Stevens, being a veteran, took prece- 

 dence over all of us, and Mr. We.st was also appointtd. 



These inspectors did some very effective work : but 

 the diseased territory was too large to be thoroughly 

 inspected without more help, so W. D. Wright and I 

 were appointed by the New York State Agricultural 

 Commissioner, and ordered to report at the commis- 

 sioner's office at Albany for work May 1. We accord- 

 ingly met Mr. Stevens and Mr. West at that time, and 

 spent two days in consultation with the State officials 

 (who, by the way, were very kind and courteous to 

 us) as to how the State should be divided, and ways 

 and methods, etc. 



I think it would be well to announce the territo y 

 assigned to each inspector, and I inclose a list of 

 alphabetically arranged counties in each inspector's 

 division. All communication in regard to diseased 

 bees should be sent to the inspector in whose division 

 the bees are located. Chas. Stewart. 



Samrnonsville, N. Y., May 4. 



In this connection perhaps it may be well to 

 state that extracted honey from colonies af- 

 fected with black brood ought to be boiled at 

 least one hour to "be safe. Hives should be 

 scalded or burned out, and bee keepers in the 

 infected regions would do well not to exchange 

 combs. Tools, smokers, bee-gloves, bee-veils, 

 bee-hats, and even the clothing that is used 

 around diseased colonies, should be disinfect- 

 ed before working on healthy ones. It should 

 be remembered that both foul brood and black 

 brood are very contagious, and the inspectors 

 of the State will do well to urge every pre- 

 caution. 



The most serious difficulty to be encounter- 

 ed will be ignorance as to the nature of this 

 contagious disease ; for I learned while in 

 New York that a few bee-keepers who had 

 black brood in the apiary, and knew they had 

 it, took no precaution about exchanging combs, 

 did not wash the hands, much less disinfect 

 smokers or clothing, because they did not 

 know that it was necessary. 



The honey from diseased colonies will do no 

 harm to human beings ; but I would suggest 

 that the production of comb honey in disease- 

 infected localities be discontinued, and that 

 extracted only be produced. It may be a 

 hardship to observe all these precautions, now, 

 but it will mean many dollars in the future, 

 even if it is a sacrifice now. 



MOVING A WHOlvE APIARY A SHORT DIS- 

 TANCE. 



In moving our out-yard to its summer lo- 

 cation, our men did not quite understand just 

 how I wished them located in reference to the 

 trees ; that is, they got them on the south side 

 of the trees, where the sun would strike them 

 with full force, instead of on the north side. 

 Notwithstanding the bees were working on 

 fruit-bloom quite heavily, I determined to 

 make an experiment, because I felt the bees 

 must be in the shade. I accordingly moved 

 each group of three, four, or five hives direct- 

 ly north about six feet, but took the precau- 

 tion to keep each hive in each group in the 

 same relative position it formerly occupied in 

 reference to the others. It was quite a " tug- 

 ging " job, but in the course of an hour I had 

 the whole apiary moved about six feet north- 

 ward. While I was doing the moving of the 

 hives in individual groups, there was some 

 confusion ; but after all the hives were moved, 

 taking in the whole apiary, the bees of the 

 several colonies flew to their hives the same 

 as before. 



It never would have done to move one group 

 without moving all ; neither would it have 

 been good practice to move one hive in a 

 group without moving the other hives ; that 

 is to say, if an apiary is to be moved a few 

 feet, every hive in the apiary should be 

 moved, and their same relative positions pre- 

 served. If there had been a great deal of 

 shrubbery in the yard, there would have been 

 no end of confusion in the flight of the bees ; 

 but in this case there was only the trees, and 

 these, as the results sho-wed, did not seem to 

 be the occasion of any great confusion. 



DOOI.ITTI.E CELI,-CUPS WITH I^ARGE OR RE- 

 DUCED BOTTOMS. 



A SHORT time ago I sent to Dr. Miller, who 

 has now begun active queen-rearing, some 

 cell - forming sticks. Quite a number had 

 large blunt ends, as illustrated in our last is- 

 sue, and the rest had ends reduced to the size 

 of a worker cell. I asked the doctor to try 

 both, and then decide which he thought was 

 the better ; and to-day I received a letter, or a 



NEW- YORK STATE BEE-INSPECTORS. 



