AUGUST 1, 1914 



573 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



ITMAY 



Marengo, 111. 



P. J. HOEVEL, p. 476, I fumigated many 

 combs with bisulphide of carbon, used them 

 afterward, and never saw a sign that it hurt 

 them for brood or honey. 



Rev. H. S. Tritsch's sermon, p. 561, is 

 tine. But instead of quoting '' deliver us 

 from evil," why not " from the evil one," as 

 in the American Revision? Isn't that Medi- 

 na congregation entitled to the best there is? 



Were any of you veterans ever caught 

 without your glasses when you wanted very 

 much to read a little bit of fine print? Next 

 time make a pinhole in the corner of a card 

 or piece of paper, hold it very close to one 

 eye, and it will help you out. 



Joseph Gray says, ' take from a strong 

 colony a comb with the queen, put it in the 

 upjjer story over the excluder, leaving the 

 remainder of the brood below, and a queen 

 will be reared and mated below, and there 

 will be no swarming. Will it work with 

 others ? 



P. C. Chadwick^ you think preference 

 for a certain kind of honey is a matter of 

 education rather than of taste, p. 491. Isn't 

 it both? I produce little but white-clover 

 honey, and my son was educated in that di- 

 rection ; yet he prefers dark fall honey to 

 the best clover. My wife prefers clover, 

 while one of her sisters, with the same edu- 

 cation, thinks buckwheat far superior. 



Adrian Getaz suggests that those who 

 question my giving only 20 days for workers 

 to develop should not overlook the fact that 

 if they have known bees to take longer time 

 the cases may have been exceptional. From 

 various reasons bees may not always main- 

 tain the requisite 98 degrees in the cluster, 

 and in any but very hot weather the outer 

 part of the cluster must be cooler than the 

 rest. I'm submitting the question again to 

 the bees, and I wish others would. 



E. H. Carr asks how European foul 

 brood is first introduced into a hive if my 

 theory be correct that it is continued by the 

 nurses eating larvse freshly diseased. This 

 last, I think, is the usual way. In excep- 

 tional cases a spore may occasionally get 

 into the baby's food some other way. When 

 a diseased colony is robbed, the foul germs 

 are in abundance, and it is nothing strange 

 that some are carried by the robbers; and 

 of these a single one happening in a babv's 

 dinner is enough to start the whole business. 

 Please remember, however, that my theory 

 is only a theory, and I'm ready to abandon 

 it whenever a better theory is oti'ered. [It 

 , is quite certain th^t European foul brood is 



not carried in exactly the same way as 

 American ; but on the other hand it is cleai-- 

 ly evident that it may originate in precisely 

 the same manner. We shall be glad to get 

 reports from those who have had experience 

 with the Euroi^ean type, detailing how that 

 disease is communicated. — Ed.] 



Arthur C. Miller's splendid article, p. 

 495, and the editorial, p. 485, reminds me 

 that imbedding heated wires originated " in 

 this locality " with Miss Emma M. Wilson, 

 and some may like the original plan. The 

 foundation having been put into the wired 

 frame, hold the frame, wired side down, flat 

 over the blaze of a gasoline-stove. With one 

 hand move the frame so as to let the blaze 

 follow the line of the wire, while at the same 

 time the tips of the fingers of the other 

 hand are lightly pressed upon the founda- 

 tion immediately over the blaze. The wax 

 heats so slowly that it is little affected, while 

 the wire heats so rapidly that it melts its 

 way into the foundation, where it immedi- 

 ately cools as the frame moves along. The 

 result is that wax closes up over the wire. 

 just as if it had gi'own there, leaving a 

 perfect job. Practice will teach how rapidly 

 to move the frame, and how close to hold it 

 to the blaze. [Miss Wilson was probably 

 the first to use the plan that is both neat 

 and quick; and we wonder that it has not 

 been used more generally. There is nothing 

 superior to it except electricity. — Ed.] 



W. P. Fritz wants to know how I manage 

 to have the fifth super on before July 1, and 

 whether I use combs drawn last year. I use 

 only a single section or bait with drawn 

 comb, and that in the first super. But the 

 fifth super on doesn't mean that five supers 

 are filled, by any means. The supers are 

 given one at a time as I think they may be 

 needed; and by the time the fifth super is 

 given it is something like this : Next to the 

 hive is a super half full or less, then one a 

 little more advanced, then two that are filled 

 but not entirely sealed at the outside, then 

 one entirely empty on top, or perhaps with 

 just a start made in it. If the flow should 

 suddenly stop, I'd be in a bad fix. But there 

 is a wealth of clover bloom, and I'm not 

 afraid to risk a good deal. All but the top 

 super are well filled with bees; and when I 

 show my confidence in the bees by giving 

 them big room they seldom betray that con- 

 fidence. The wonder is that they have done 

 as well as they have, considering that there 

 has been so much cold weather, and it's been 

 wet, wet, wet. [It has been hot and dry, 

 di'y, dry here. — Ed.] 



