FEBRUARY 15, 1914 



123 



United States can hardly appreciate the 

 great benefits we are enjoying under our 

 national pure-food law supplemented by 

 our State laws. The adulteration of honey 

 here has praetieally ceased. 



The same correspondent, on page 133, 

 says, " Chemists to-day have no method by 

 which adulteration may in all cases be prov- 

 en." That may be true in Germany, on 

 account of the diversity of sources from 

 which their honey is gathered ; but it is not 

 true in the United States. Any packer is 

 taking a long chance if he adulterates honey 

 in this countiy. 



We especially recommend that our Ger- 

 man brethren get busy and secure a nation- 

 al pure-food law ; and, when once enacted, 

 we feel satisfied their chemists will be equal 

 to the occasion. Germany has men of science 

 who are second to none; and if they can not 

 detect all species of adulteration it is be- 

 cause they have not given the matter atten- 

 tion on account of a lack of a pure-food 

 law. 



E. R. root's trip to FLORIDA. 



We are just leaving for Baltimore to take 

 the boat for Jacksonville. After spending 

 a couple of days at that point we shall go 

 direct to Apalachicola where we have 300 

 colonies of bees, arriving there between the 

 16th and 17th. We shall remain at that 

 point for three or four days, when we shall 

 go to Bradentown, where A. I. Root is, 

 arriving there the 21st or 22d. We shall 

 remain in Bradentown for two or three 

 days, when we shall go to Stuart, Fla., and 

 from there go with Mr. W. A. Selser. We 

 expect to spend two or three days at that 

 point, visiting the territory in Mr. Selser's 

 launch. We will go on to Palm Beach, then 

 take another launch for a cruise of five days 

 down to tlie Keys, stopping at Pompana 

 and Miami. We expect to return to Medina 

 about March 10. 



We shall be accompanied by Mr. Geo. M. 

 Gray and wife, of Fostoria, old college 

 mates; and while we go on business and 

 pleasure, they will seek pleasure only. 



Our purpose in going south at this time 

 is to see what our bees on the Apalachicola 

 River are doing, and to determine whether 

 the scheme of moving a carload of bees 

 south to that point will prove profitable. 

 So far. our Mr. Marehant reports that every 

 thing is coming out according to schedule. 

 Just how many bees we shall bring back — 

 well, we will not say now. Let the future 

 tell. 



Our pui'pose in visiting the extreme south- 

 ern part of Florida is to determine whether 

 it will be possible to establish a queen-rear- 

 ing yard that can be maintained the year 



round, supplying queens any month of the 

 year. 



Of course, we shall be supplied with 

 cameras, and our readers shall have the 

 benefit of our investigations. Soon after E. 

 R. Root returns, H. H. Root will go down 

 to Apalachicola to be present duiing the 

 extracting season. 



the modern shake method of curing 



FOUL brood defective. 



The ordinary modified McEvoy method 

 for curing foul brood in brief involves the 

 process of shaking or brushing bees from 

 diseased combs on to frames of foundation 

 in a clean hive. Mr. A. F. Wagner, in tliis 

 issue, page 137, calls attention to the fact 

 that such treatment will result in bees 

 swarming out in many eases. Our own 

 experience and obsei'vation, as well as re- 

 ports from others, confirm the statement. 

 In some cases it means the loss of the colo- 

 ny, and perhaps in others the danger of 

 spreading disease to a bee-ti'ee or another 

 liive. 



Quite a number of our correspondents, 

 including Mr. Wagner, to avoid this swarm- 

 ing out have suggested leaving in an old 

 comb temporarily as a bait to hold the bees, 

 or, as Mr. Wagner suggests, putting in a 

 single frame with a starter in the diseased 

 hive; and after the bees have drawn it out, 

 and filled it with honey, remove all the 

 combs and substitute frames of foundation, 

 leaving the first frame as a bait to hold the 

 bees. To shake or bnish the bees into an 

 entirely different hive on frames of founda- 

 tion is such a radical change of environment 

 that swarming out is very apt to occur, 

 especially if the treatment is administered 

 during the middle hours of the day; and 

 even when practiced at night we have notic- 

 ed that the bees will often swarm out the 

 next morning. While we do not believe that 

 such bees when they swarm out carry in- 

 fection to other hives, there is a possibility 

 of it, especially where the act of shaking 

 causes them to gorge themselves with dis- 

 eased honey — honey that they may hold for 

 a day or two until they get into their per- 

 manent quarters. We believe the time has 

 come Avhen the orthodox treatment for 

 American foul brood should be modified in 

 such a way that there will be no danger of 

 absconding. 



OUR WINTERING EXPERIMENTS AT MEDINA ; 

 feeding HARD CANDY. 



We are wintering our northern bees in 

 two cellars. Those in the warehouse cellar 

 are being wintered along orthodox lines. 

 The temperatui'e is maintained i\ about 45 

 degi'ees without disturbance or feeding. 



