138 



GLEAI^INGS IN BEE CULTURE 



starter. In two dajs I removed every thing 

 except this starter which had by this time 

 been drawn out, and perhaps contained 

 some honej'. I i^laeed this starter to one 

 side of tlie hive and filled in with full sheets 

 of comb foundation. Every thing that was 

 removed was taken care of by extracting the 

 honey from the combs and then melting the 

 combs into wax. One or two days later 1 

 removed the starter, and in some instances 

 the comb next to it also. By this treatment 

 95 per cent and over were cured, and there 

 was no absconding. 



Some say, " Why not cage the queen to 

 prevent absconding? " I will say that 1 

 have had them abscond and leave the queen. 

 And, more than that, the bees were so con- 

 fused or excited that they would swarm out 

 and form into two or three different clusters, 

 and either try to enter, or actually enter, 

 other hives in the apiaiy. 



Others say that we are bound to have the 

 disease as long as the trees contain wild 

 bees, or some farmers have only one or two 

 neglected colonies. To the first I will reply 

 that I have yet to meet the first man who 

 ever mentioned that he had found foul 

 brood in a bee-tree. I do not say it isn't 

 there; but did you ever see a bee-tree being 

 robbed out by other bees? In case they get 

 foul brood and die, the moths are generally 

 there before any thing else. The danger 



from this source is not great. From the 

 other source, of course, the danger is great- 

 er, but not generally as great as imagined, 

 as bees that are not much disturbed are 

 hardly ever robbed by other bees; and 

 should they die by becoming queenless or by 

 disease, the moths soon have every thing. 



Another means of spreading this disease 

 is when the honey from diseased colonies is 

 sold to retail trade and the empty cans are 

 thrown where bees can clean out the con- 

 tents. It would be a good plan to make a 

 law making it compulsory for each to mark 

 or stamp each can, stating that the honey 

 was taken from bees containing foul brood. 

 I believe tliis last, if it could be enacted, 

 would rid the counti-y of foul brood quicker 

 than any thing else. 



El Centro, Cal. 



[We agree with nearly all that our cor- 

 respondent says, except that we believe it 

 would be impossible to get a law passed 

 compelling a i^roducer to mark all honey 

 from foul-broody apiaries, for honey so 

 marked would be almost unsalable. The 

 average consumer, knowing nothing of the 

 nature of the disease, would consider honey 

 from a hive containing foul brood unfit for 

 table use. 



As to whether swarms may cany foul 

 brood, see editorial. — Ed.] 



FROM NORTHERN OHIO TO NORTHERN FLORIDA 



BY J. E. MARCHANT 



This venture was undertaken by The A. I. 

 Root Co. in order to determine the advisa- 

 bility of shipping a carload of bees from 

 Ohio to Florida, a distance of fifteen hun- 

 dred milas, Avith the prospect of making an 

 increase of 100 per cent, and perhaps a fair 

 crop of honey. 



Six days prior to the time this shipment 

 was made, a severe blizzard raged in that 

 section of Ohio, covering the ground with 

 about two feet of snow, making it necessary 

 to dig the hives from under the snow. The 

 raib'oad being blocked by snow it necessitat- 

 ed a delay of five days before shipment. 

 For shipment we used a ventilated refrig- 

 erator car. The bees were loaded in the car 

 with the frames running the sam.e way as 

 the car, with three rows on one side and 

 two on the opposite, with a narrow passage- 

 way between, and four tiers deep. They 

 were kept in place by means of a frame- 

 work of 1 X 8 boards reinforced by a rail- 

 ing, and a stanchion of 2 s 4's, which, with 

 the thickness of the cleats on the bottom- 

 board, and the thickness of the screen on 



top, left a space of eight inches between 

 every two tiers, this making it possible to 

 water every hive in the car. The hive-covers 

 were stored in any i^lace where it was possi- 

 ble, in order to economize room. 



My sleeping accommodation consisted of 

 a cot, which I was unable to use, placed in 

 the alleyway. Dining-car accommodation 

 not being available, it left me many a time 

 with a hungry stomach. Upon leaving Me- 

 dina I took a supply of eatables which 

 lasted me till I got to Nashville, Tenn. There 

 I walked the length of the train, some sixty 

 cars, and half a mile beyond, and had the 

 l^leasure of paying twenty cents apiece for 

 some small railroad sandwiches. During this 

 flip a few breakdowns occurred, which ne- 

 cessitated sawing occasionally some boards 

 and drivang nails. The motion of a fast 

 freight made tins operation somewhat dis- 

 agreeable, as it made it as easy to hit the 

 thumb as the nail. 



Soon after leaving Birmingham, Ala., a 

 portion of the staging broke, compelling me 

 to stop over at Montgomery for repairs. 



