732 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



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Can Foundation Carry Disease ? 



About the middle of May I inspected my bees for 

 foul brood. Four colonies were found diseased. 

 Two of them were in a very weak condition, so that 

 it seemed best to unite them, and, later, to shake 

 them on full sheets of foundation. The third col- 

 ony was dequeened, and the fourth was shaken on 

 full sheets of foundation. These are now In good 

 condition. 



Daring the latter part of May. and through June, 

 several swarms issued. Some of these were hived 

 on drawn combs, and others on full sheets of 

 foundation. In August they were again Inspected, 

 and it was discovered that the three that had been 

 hived on full sheets were infected. 



My neighbor caught a swarm of bees 'he previous 

 summer, and hived it in an ordinary box. During 

 fruit-bloom this year he called on me to transfer 

 them. No trace of disease was evident at that time. 

 They were transferred on full sheets of foundation, 

 from the same batch that I used for my own bees. 



These bees built up well during the summer; but 

 in August, when 1 examined them, they were in- 

 fected. 



So far as we know, these colonies did not rob 

 other bees, as there was no robbing In my yard: 

 and my neighbor, having but one colony, was not 

 annoyed In this way. There are some bees scatter- 

 ed through the country within a mile and a half or 

 two miles, but the condition of these Is not known 

 to us. 



The infected colonies that were transferred In 

 May were shaken on a different lot of foundation 

 than the June swarms and my neighbor's colony. 

 These facts have led me to think that the full sheets 

 of foundation may have been the cause of the dis- 

 ease, together with the knowledge that some bee- 

 men render their combs in solar wax-extractors, 

 the heat of which Is probably not sufficient to kill 

 the germs. 



Thayer, Ind., Oct. 80. A. De Koker, Jr. 



[if diseased combs were rendered in a solar ex- 

 tractor, and foundation made from the wax with a 

 hand mill, we can see that it nnuhi be possible for 

 such wax to carry the disease, although we regard 

 the possibility as exceedingly remote. Sunlight 

 alone is a powerful disinfectant, and then the wax 

 has to be heated again before sheets can be made, 

 even by the dipping process. 



Foul Ijrood may exist even in bee-trees; and since 

 a little robbing might not be noticed by the apia- 

 rist, it is easy to see how the exchange of infected 

 honey (the medium by which the trouble is known 

 to be carried) could spread the disease broadcast. — 

 Ed.] 



Gnats ; do Bees Start Quicker in Comb or Extract- 

 ing-supers ? 



Dr. C. C. Miller: — Do flies and gnats do any harm 

 In a colony of bees? Last sijring, in looking over a 

 new swarm I was surjjrised to see foundation that 

 had not been drawn out covered with black gnats : 

 and now I see them quite thick around the en- 

 trances of the hives. They vary in size from gnats 

 to common files. Are they an enemy of the bees, 

 or Is It just a freak abode for them ? 



Will the bees start work in a super with full 

 sheets of foundation in the section boxes as soon as 

 they would In an extracting-super with only foun- 

 dation ? 



Everett, Wash., Oct. 17. Grover Hays. 



[Dr. Miller replies:] 



I don't believe gnats do any harm unless It be to 

 annoy the bees by their mere presence. Probably 

 there is something to attract them, although one 

 can hardly think of any thing to attract them in 

 undrawn foundation unless honey or something 

 else attractive has been used as a lubricant. 



Sometimes the bees will commence work imme- 

 diately upon foundation ju.st as soon as It is given. 

 In which case there would be no difference. Some- 

 times they are more slow about it. in which case 

 they would be likely to begin sooner in the extract- 

 Ing-super than in a section-super with the sections 

 separatored. The difference might lead to the re- 

 sult, in some cases, that work would be begun on 

 extracting-combs, and not at all in supers. But a 

 proper bait should always be used, and a bait will 

 be accepted as readily in one as in the other. 



The Disposal of Cappings. 



In the Nov. loth issue for 1908, p. KiSl, I gave a de- 

 scription of a cheap and easily constructed cap- 

 ping-melter. The continued use of this melter has 

 demonstrated that it Is a good one for an apiary of 

 moderate size. I have learned a few things in the 

 operation of the machine which may be of use to 

 some who have not as yet tried this method of 

 handling their cappings. Because of the fact that 

 I drain my cappings when the white-honey har- 

 vest Is on, there Is not very much honey left in 

 them to go through the melter. When extracting 

 the fall crop, which Is dark, and is sold to the 

 cracker-factories, I run the cappings directly Into 

 the melter. My melter Is made by placing one 

 pressed-ware dlshpan inside of another a size larg- 

 er,- holding them apart one Inch by means of little 

 bridges soldered in by the tinner, this one-Inch 

 ST)ace being for the water. I work this on a Harri- 

 son blue-tlame oil-stove. A small tlarae Is not suf- 

 ficient, for the cappings melt quickly and pass out 

 through the tube which runs froin the Inner pan. 

 The important kink Is to know when to shut down 

 and clean the pan. The black slumgum will accu- 

 mulate, and It Is not good policy to run all day, as 

 we did at first, without cleaning it out. Let the 

 melter drain down close, then use a large spoon to 

 take out the black residue, which should be placed 

 In a receptacle to go into the rendering-vat. It Is 

 the cooking of the honey In this slumgum that has 

 a tendency to color and give the honey a bad Havor. 



Here In Wisconsin we can seldom get the late 

 amber honey extracted without using a good deal 

 of heat. M'e stack our supers In the shop and keep 

 the temperature up to 90 or 95 all day. Where this 

 Is done, the ordinary uncapplng-knlfe works very 

 well, and the honey comes out quite clean. 



Bridgeport, Wis., Nov. 2. Harry Lathrop. 



Will Bees Start Cells if their Queen is Merely Caged 

 in their own Brood-chamber? 



I want to get queen-cells early next spring to 

 divide with. Will the bees make queen-cells If I 

 cage the queen and leave her caged In her own 

 hive? 



If I have to take the queen out to get the bees to 

 make queen-cells, what can I do with her? Will 

 they kill her if I cage her over another hive of 

 bees? If 1 can cage the queen and leave her In her 

 own hive, will T have to Introduce her when I go 

 to turn her out? or can I just open the cage and let 

 her out? 



If 1 have to cage the queen over some other hive, 

 will I have to introduce her when I go to put her 

 back to her own hive? 



Courtenay, Fla. L. LaRoche. 



[You will have no difficulty In getting queen- 

 cells started if you cage the queen In another hive; 

 but you can not be very sure of getting bees to 

 start cells if you cage their old queen In the mid- 

 dle of the brood-chamber. They will start cells 

 sometimes If this Is done, but not very often. For 

 this reason it would be better to cage her In an- 

 other hive, placing candy In the cage with her, for 

 you can not always be certain that the strange bees 

 will feed her. 



Some follow the plan of caging the queen of a 

 swarm when, for some reason or other, the swarm 

 will not remain In the hive where placed, and In 

 some instances cells are started. While we are not 

 sure, we rather think that the bees of the newly 

 hived swarm would be more likely to start cells 

 under such conditions than those of a normal col- 

 ony where nothing else had been done except to 

 cage the queen on one of her old combs. — E;d.] 



Drone Brood Found above an Excluder in Combs 

 that had Contained No Eggs. 



Mr. Samuel Simmins questions, Aug. 1, 1910, p. 

 481, whether bees move eggs. I had three or four 

 cases this year that seemed very unusual to me. I 

 put half-depth extracting-supers on all colonies in 

 the spring as fast as they became strong enough to 

 take them. In each case queen-excluders were I'Ut 

 on at the same time: but later I found a small 

 amount of drone brood — perhaps three or four 

 square Inches— in three of the extracting-supers of 

 three colonies. There was at no time any queen or 



