JUNE 15, 1916 



493 



SETTLED IK THE SADDLE. 

 From remote history bees have been known to choose O'dd places for a home; but it remained till 

 recently for a swarm of bees to " settle " on the saddle of a bicycle. The illustration shows a swarm that 

 took posse&sion of the seat of a bicycle on one of the main business streets of Whittier, Cal., on a recent 

 summer afternoon. The time of day was a busy one, and the usual passing of pedestrians, shoppers, autos, 

 and other vehicles was going on. The bees alighted in front of a confectionery stor«, and completely cov- 

 ered the seat of the owner's wheel. A curious crowd soon gathered, but kept at a very respectful distance. 

 A beeman brought a hive and soon coaxed the little workers into it. Milo Hunt, 'Whittier, Cal. 



about two feet in front of the stand, and 

 the new clean hive set in its place with six 

 frames removed from the middle of the 

 hive. One attendant carefully raised the 

 cover, and another the old comb that had 

 been inserted. One thump on top of the 

 hive-body dislodged all bees, which fell into 

 tlie hive, and the newly drawn comb was 

 removed by a third attendant from the hive- 

 cover into a covered pail. A few strokes of 

 a Coggshall brush (for no thin honey pre- 

 vented the shaking of the bees) i-emoved the 

 bees from the old comb, v/hich was placed 

 in a tight box fitted with a cover. 



This new wax and the frames were re- 

 moved to the cellar as fast as the box and 

 pail were filled. Then all bees were dump- 

 ed into the clean hive, and the cover placed 

 on. I lost a few queens, but not many — not 

 enough to pay for the time and trouble, and 

 risk from exposure in hunting them up. 



About 12 days from the first shaking, the 

 weak colonies (now very strong) on whicli 

 brood had been tiered, were shaken. The 

 combs were all stacked in the cellar. The 

 procedure previously outlined was followed, 

 the second shaking occurring four days 

 after the first. This finished the job, and 

 ought to show satisfactory results. I no- 



ticed no recurrence last summer; but I 

 found four eases in the outyards from 

 which diseased bees had been hauled home. 

 This season's inspection will be the test of 

 last sea.son's treatment. 



As the editor suggested, I looked after 

 the neighboring apiary a mile away, having 

 the appointment as deputy state inspector, 

 and found a very serious condition, wliich 

 perhaps accounted for the very unsatisfac- 

 tory results of my 1914 treatment. Out of 

 47 colonies I found 25 diseased, most of 

 them fairly reeking. A brother with 17 

 colonies just over the division fence had 7 

 colonies out of 17 diseased. All infected 

 colonies were burned, and the ashes buried, 

 and all old hives and old combs on the 

 premises were destroyed in the same way. 

 The strange feature of this experience is 

 that these men who claim to have handled 

 bees for thirty years, and claim to know all 

 about foul brood, did not even know that 

 foul brood existed among their bees until I 

 called on them. I found old infected hives 

 standing open, combs scattered in all direc- 

 tions — an ideal condition for the spread of 

 the disease. 



Last season, in the two counties com- 

 prising my district I inspected some sixty 



