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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Get a large barrel — a 59 or 60 gallon size will 

 do. Prepare a base or pedestal for the barrel to 

 rest upon, lying down. Have the base just high 

 enough so that a water-bucket can reach under the 

 end of the barrel, which, in position, has the bung 

 on top. Then get a cheap metal washpan (any old 

 one will do) and cut or punch a round hole in the 

 bottom of it. Get a hollow wooden-bung stopper (your 

 merchant will give you one that comes ready made 

 in the ends of a roll of wrapping-paper). Now tack 

 this to the bottom of your pan so that you will have 

 a good funnel, which you will place in the bunghole 

 of the barrel. Then cut out a piece of screen wire 

 and lay it across the pan to act as a strainer, and to 

 keep out insects and debris. A little melted paraffins 

 or wax will fasten it in place. 



The barrel or cistern is ready for use. I might 

 add that it should be placed on the shady side 

 of the beehouse, where the sun will not shine on it, 

 or, better still, under the house, if the house is 

 high enough from the ground, which it should be. 

 A small auger-hole in the lower end of the barrel, to 

 be closed with a soft wooden plug, will make a fine 

 faucet. You are now ready to fill your barrel with 

 nice clean rainwater that will automatically serve 

 you from every refreshing shower of rain. 



It is not necessary to go to the expense of metal 

 guttering. Two six-inch boards nailed together to 

 catch the falling water at the eaves of the roof will 

 do, and four six-inch boards will, when nailed vo- 

 gether, make the box or tubing to conduct the water 

 from the gutter down to the barrel. 



As you draw out water to drink, or wash up the 

 floor and fittings of the beehouse, which should be 

 kept clean, the water will be replenished by the 

 very first rain while you may be at home, or at an- 

 other yard miles away. 



In the hot summer time here in Alabama the 

 water will get slightly warm in the middle of the 

 day; but by the next morning it will be cool and 

 sweet again. One barrel like this will make you a 

 spend-thrift with water — always ready just when 

 and where you need it most. In fact, that barrel 

 will supply a small family with nice wholesome 

 drinking-water. 



Letohatchie, Ala. W. N. Randolph. 



Origin of Foul Brood. 



On page 670, Sept. 1, Mr. J. E. Hand says that 

 bees wintered out in the open with good stores of 

 pure honey (not sugar syrup) will be strong and 

 healthy. He implies that sugar syrup and indoor 

 wintering tend to European foul brood, paralysis, 

 spring dwindling, etc. ; and later, on page 671, he 

 says cellar wintering frequently terminates in Euro- 

 pean foul brood. I am of the opinion that he is 

 slightly mixed here. Black bees are supposed to be 

 very easy victims of foul brood, and Italians more 

 resistant. Blacks have been left to follow nature's 

 plan or to the care(?) of the box-hive beekeeper, 

 while some strains of Italians have been cellar 

 wintered for generations. Why is foul brood worse 

 in the tropics than in the more temperate climes? 

 There the bees winter outdoors, have flights nearly 

 every day, and in many tropical localities the honey 

 harvest is on in our winter. 



I am with the editor when he says it is no harder 

 on bees to evaporate sugar syrup than to do the 

 same work on natural nectar. 



Foul brood does not spring from dampness, bad 

 air, etc., but from a germ, as all our chemists know. 



Georgetown, Del. Geo. W. Louder. 



make frames and run wax out on a wet board as a 

 substitute for foundation through the delay in ship- 

 ment of supplies. 



I have a good location for bees here. I have had 

 a continuous honey-flow since last May up to this 

 time (April, 1914), from several varieties of euca- 

 lypts, acacias, and other honey and pollen bearing 

 plants. I purchased a colony of Italians which 

 has increased to ten since last September, all on self- 

 spacers, 10-frame L., full depth, and all storing in 

 supers. 



I do not know the buzz of an angry bee nor the 

 hum of a robber. My apiary has a northern aspect, 

 with a crescent-shaped ridge at the back, heavily 

 timbered, thus protecting on east, south, and west. 



With the exeception of settlers' blocks on the creek 

 this part of the country is wild. Until a few months 

 ago, wild horses (Brumbies) were running about 

 here, but are all taken in hand now. There are 

 varieties of acacia here, so thick in growth that a 

 dog cannot bark in it. Most of the timber is iron- 

 bark, a splendid railroad timber, and large areas are 

 reserved. 



I am sending a sketch of a device to beat the 

 ants where troublesome. I have found it good, but 

 rather expensive, so I have decided to exterminate 

 them at first hand to save further trouble. 



The principle is that spiders take up their location 

 in the tins, and the cobwebs prevent the first ants 

 from finding the bees. Beat the first and you beat 

 the lot. First 4 posts 4 ft. 2 inches long; 2 cross- 

 pieces 12 ft. long, 6 inches wide, 4 inches thick; 4 

 petroleum-sans ; tops to be cut out of cans to tele- 

 scope over posts. Cross-pieces can be spiked on the 

 tops of posts without leaving ant-holes. I have tried 

 tar in cups around the posts ; but the heat causes a 

 skin to form on the tar in three or four days. 



James Porter. 



Brush Creek, Australia, April 24. 



In the Wilds of Australia. 



I agree with Wesley Foster's remarks, last para- 

 graph, page 166, March 1, in every detail. A person 

 has to turn to his tools at times ; for instance, when 

 a supply dealer has not been prompt. I have had to 



Coating for Metal on which Bees can Crawl. 



Please tell your readers how to treat metal so that 

 bees may be able lo crawl out of a vessel made of 

 tin or any other kind of metal. Last fall we had a 

 hundred feeders made after the fashion of the Doo- 

 little feeder, but we had them made of galvanized 

 iron. Bees drown in them too easily. How can we 

 treat the inside of the metal in such a way as to 

 enable the bees to crawl out ? How would it do to paint 

 the inside, and sprinkle sand over the paint before 

 it hardens. I have no doubt but that an article 

 along this line will be appreciated by many bee- 

 keepers. 



Mount Airy, N. C, May 7. J. E. Johnson. 



[It is rather difficult to put a durable coating on 

 metal which will enable bees to crawl up as easily 

 as they do on wood. On this account sheet metal, 

 which, besides being somewhat more expensive than 

 wood for making a feeder after the pattern of the 

 Doolittle division-board feeder, is also somewhat ob- 

 jectionable on account of the bees drowning, as you 

 say. Possibly painting the inside of the feeders, 



