your case without quibble, and quote from 

 the postum advertisement, " There's a rea- 

 son." A colony badly diseased is so de- 

 pleted that it does not swarm. So the 

 swarm must come from colonies lightly af- 

 fected, or not at all. If a colony be lightly 

 affected, the break in brood-rearing caused 

 by swarming will be equivalent to the de- 

 queening treatment for European foul 

 brood, and so we would naturally expect 

 little or no disease in swarms lodging in 

 trees, nor for that matter in hives. 



How do we account for the disease at- 

 tacking that colony that was healthy in the 

 tree, and became diseased when given a 

 clean outfit in a hive? Just the same as we 

 account for the first appearance of the 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



disease in any colony, either in hive or tree. 

 Simply that the disease-germ was carried in. 

 That's all there is to it. 



Those blacks in an unpainted hive for 

 six years, then diseased in a painted hive — 

 bless your heart, my bees were healthy in 

 unpainted hives more than 40 years, and 

 then took sick in the same unpainted hives. 

 Paint or no paint has nothing to do with it. 



Why is the disease worse in eight-frame 

 hives than in larger hives? Rightly managed, 

 there is no need it should be so; but if it is, 

 it is because the colonies are weaker in the 

 smaller hives, and so less able to resist the 

 disease. 



Marengo, 111. 



NO PAINT VEIRSUS PAINT; WHAT CAUSES EOT OM DECAY IN WOOD? 



Rmlbljer Bands for Tramsferriiii 



BY E. J. LADD 



How long ago it was that the A. I. Root 

 Co. sent their first shipment of Simplicity 

 hives to Portland, Ore., I do not know; but 

 one of these first ones was sold to a man at 

 Camas, Wash., and has been occupied lo ! 

 these many years by bees, and it was the 

 writer's privilege to transfer this colony of 

 bees into a modern ten-frame Root hive. 



This colony was bought by a friend, an 

 enthusiastic amateur, and when moved was 

 discovered by cutting through a dense 

 growth of wild vines that completely cover- 

 ed and hid it from view. An ax and prun- 

 ing-shears were effectively used, and after 

 removing many feet of heavy vines the hive 

 was found under leeway of an old rail fence 

 that was also completely hidden. How bees 

 ever got through that tangled mass is a 

 wonder. 



For some time the weather had been wet 

 and cold; and when exposed to daylight this 

 hive was wringing wet and saturated — was 

 without cover other than its own, and it 

 was split, but patched up tight with pro- 

 polis. On inspection we found the bottom- 

 board rotten, but had been nailed, and the 

 hive was apparently in good condition. On 

 lifting, we found it very heavy; and after 

 weighing we found it weighed 174 lbs. We 

 closed it and put a sound board under it, 

 and placed it in the auto. It was taken to 

 Portland, and transferred as an object les- 

 son for the above-noted amateur. We be- 

 lieve it was the best stand of bees we ever 

 handled — well-marked hybrids, and condi- 



tion perfect. The combs were built across 

 the frames, but straight. The job took 20 

 minutes. Only one new frame needed to be 

 filled with pieced combs. The rest were filled 

 completelj' with fine clean combs without a 

 trace of mold anywhere. Rubber bands 

 stretched around eacli end of the frames 

 and combs made them safe and sure. Did 

 you ever try the band? 



The condition of the hive was superb — - 

 not a trace of rot or decay. Though not 

 painted, it was as sound as a dollar. Mine 

 painted and protected are no sounder, and 

 combs frequently mold. Explanations are 

 in order, " paint vs. no paint." I doubt if 

 this hive saw real daylight for 15 or 20 

 years except in winter, or was ever thor- 

 oughly dried out, as the thicket was so dense 

 no one would suspect its occupancy. The 

 former owner says he saw it only in the 

 winter, when the vines were bare of leaves. 



Portland, Ore. 



[Where wood is kept constantly wet, with 

 no intervals of drying out, it will keep sound 

 almost indefinitely. Timbers in ships that 

 have been sunk for a century are still sound 

 and good. What rots lumber is alternate 

 wetting and drying, and shrinking and 

 swelling. In the case of the hive cited, the 

 use of paint would have made no difference. 



Rubber bands for transferring are veiy 

 liandy — much better than strings or strips 

 of wood. They have been mentioned before 

 in these columns. — Ed.] 



