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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



I tarn expecting to fill my sections with full sheets 

 (or nearly full) of foundation. Would you advise 

 full sheets in sections ? how would you put it in ? 

 My trade is all home trade. Possibly it would not 

 be advisable to use full sheets. 



There is some difference of opinion in regard to 

 bottom-starters in the height and the distance be- 

 tween top and bottom starters. What do you advise? 



Should I attach the upper starter to the sides? 

 Should they crowd the sides very close ? 



Waterloo, la., Feb. 6. Ed. E. Rich. 



[For shallow extracting-frames the thin brood- 

 foundation is often satisfactory, although the bees 

 seem to work on the thicker foundation a little more 

 readily. 



It is not practicable to put in full .sheets, even in 

 shallow frames, as they come nearer the bottom-bar 

 than Vi inch ; or otherwise, when the foundation 

 sags, as it will slightly, there must be some room at 

 the bottom to prevent buckling or a bowing-out of 

 the comb. 



We do not recommend rosin for fastening founda- 

 tion in sections, as the line of rosin is likely to be 

 cut out when the honey is being cut out of the sec- 

 tions for the table, and this edge of rosin on one 

 side gives a bitter taste. However, it may profitably 

 be used when foundation is being put into extract- 

 ing-frames or brood-frames by the melted-wax plan. 

 Different beekeepers have different proportions of 

 rosin and wax. The rosin takes a rather firmer hold 

 on the wood than the wax alone, and it also is a 

 little cheaper to use. We do not recommend much 

 paraffin in the mixture, although if considerable 

 rosin is used some paraffin may be substituted with- 

 out bad results. 



When getting foundation drawn out, it is custom- 

 ary to use an entire super of foundation at a time, 

 especially if you use full sheets. Some, however, 

 alternate the foundation between fully drawn combs 

 to get them drawn out more evenly. 



If you use full sheets of foundation in the sec- 

 tions it really pays to fasten it with melted wax an 

 inch or so from the top on each side, to prevent the 

 tendency of the sheet swinging over when the bees 

 cluster on one side, so that the comb is attached to 

 the separator. 



A very satisfactory compromise between the small 

 starter and the full sheets is a large V-shaped start- 

 er, the lower point being in the middle from left to 

 right, of course. Many beekeepers use such starters 

 with great satisfaction. It is nearly the natural 

 shape of the comb when built without foundation by 

 the bees. 



When double starters are used, the lower starter 

 should not be over % inch in width, and the space 

 between the top starters and the bottom starters 

 should not be over H inch for best results. — Ed.] 



Immunity from European Foul Brood 



" If European foul brood should rage in a certain 

 locality a few millenniums (possibly a few decades) 

 I should expect the survivors to become nearly if 

 not quite immune," says Dr. C. C. Miller, page 720, 

 Sept. 15. By this am I to understand that I shall 

 have become very aged, or, indeed, an old-timer (?) 

 as a ghost before I can notice this immunity ? If 

 this is so, there is no consolation here. But accord- 

 ing to my experience it is not quite so bad. It has 

 been like this: 



It was eight years ago when the disease appeared 

 in my yard for the fi)'st. There were a few colonies 

 already affected when I first saw it ; but very soon 

 the entire apiary of over 50 colonies succumbed. 

 This rapid and general spreading was a marked 

 characteristic of the disease at that period. Last 

 year, again, there was a time in early spring when 

 one condition, at least, was similar. The quantity 

 of the disease in the yard was seemingly about the 

 same. There were, say, but two or three colonies 



affected, and these in early spring. But there was 

 this difference — the disease this time did not spread, 

 while the few colonies affected rid themselves of if 

 later on. What a great change! Has foul brood 

 ceased to be foul brood ? 



The third year during this trouble I brought to 

 the home yard about 20 colonies from the adjoining 

 county. Although these colonies were healthy at 

 first, they did not remain so very long. All became 

 diseased. But here is the point: The virulence of 

 the disease was greater in these new colonies than in 

 the old, and the new were not as amenable to treat- 

 ment as the old had become. Again, all environ- 

 ments otherwise seemed to be similar in the instances 

 cited. Therefore it follows that the change had 

 happened in the bees themselves. 



I am glad to say that I have seen the end of the 

 trouble, or at any rate I did not see a vestige of it 

 last summer. In view of this great change, what 

 about the robber or the nurse bee as a primary cause 

 in the spreading of the disease? Hardly consistent. 

 It is quite obvious that there is some other factor in 

 this trouble, of more importance, that time only 

 has been able so far to prevail against. Will some 

 one please tell me what was the matter with the 

 robber bee and the nurse that they were not on their 

 job in my apiary last summer while they had then 

 as much material to work on as they had eight years 

 ago ? No : if the disease depends on the robber or 

 on the nurse we should never get rid of it, as these 

 are constant factors. 



As a matter of fact, in a yard that is already 

 foul-broody, robbing is not such a menace as it has 

 been taken to be. Instead of extending the boun- 

 dary of the affected area it limits the same by elim- 

 inating the weak colonies and making the strong still 

 stronger — a condition much desired in a foul-broody 

 apiary. I do not mean when I say this to encourage 

 robbing. I merely say it to encourage the apiarist 

 so that he will not worry about a little of it if it 

 should happen. D. Robert.s. 



Plymouth, Ind., Oct. 12. 



[Your bees may be immune, as you say; but are 

 you sure that your stock, seven or eight years ago, 

 had not degenerated? It would not be unreasonable 

 to suppose that your present bees, being of strong 

 vigorous stock, might be much better able to resist 

 the disease. — Ed.] 



What Hives to Use — Something about T. B. 

 Terry 



I am nearly 60 years old (or young), and am 

 just starting to keep bees. I feel that I have lost a 

 great deal by not starting sooner. On last election 

 day I bought three colonies in soap-boxes, and on 

 Thanksgiving day I packed them nicely in chaff in 

 a piano-box brooder. Now, next spring I want to 

 transfer them to modern homes, increase this year 

 to about five colonies, and eventually to ten, but 

 no more. 1 want all the surplus I can get this year, 

 as well as in years to come — comb honey only. 



I want to get five hives and other necessary sup- 

 plies soon. I have decided just what I want of 

 every thing except the hive. As to that, I cannot 

 decide, and that is why I am wi'iting you. I have 

 read carefully "The Buckeye Hive," and it looks 

 good to me; but the difference in cost is an item to 

 me. My personal adviser in bee culture is a farmer 

 who has about 50 dovetailed hives, and he advises 

 me to get nothing else. He tells me Dr. Miller, 

 Doolittle, Alexander, and all the successful beemen 

 use single-walled hives. 



I am taking a correspondence course from our 

 Stale College, and they advise single-wall hives. 

 Now, would you advise me to get the Buckeye for my 

 location and conditions, comb honey only, never to 

 exceed ten colonies ? No natural swarming, as I am 

 away every day except Sundays and holidays from 

 7 A. M, to 5 1'. .^r. Location, I presume, is about 



