1170 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



unless the hives are so neglected that bees 

 from healthy colonies are allowed to rob 

 weak or dead fonl-broody colonies. Honey 

 from the extraeting-supers will seldom pro- 

 pagate the trouble. Extracting combs clean- 

 ed up by the bees and placed away dry will 

 not cause foul brood thereafter. Hive- 

 bodies that are i)erfectly dry and clean will 

 not spread the disease if used for clean 

 stock. Frames from Avhich the comb has 

 been boiled in a melting-vat are safe to use 

 again, and need not be destroyed. 



American foul brood need not discourage 

 any one Avho attends i^roperly to the bees. 

 It will ruin a neglected apiary if time 

 enough is allowed. 



The wintering problem is the question of 

 greatest importance with us. Dysentery 

 will destroy more bees than foul brood on 

 the average. It reduced an apiary of 140 

 colonies to one of 30 for me in one winter. 

 Foul brood never was that bad in my ex- 

 perience. So far as legislation is concern- 

 ed, it would be an easy matter for an official 

 to forbid a beekeeper to sell a nice crop of 

 honey that had been produced in an infected 

 apiary; but if the official should happen to 

 discover it in his own j^ard the case would 

 look different. Laws not founded on com- 

 mon sense will not be enforced in this coun- 

 try. _ / - 



Bridgeport, Wis. 



THE REASON FOR THE DRONE -LAYING QUEENS 



BY A. C. AMES 



On my inspection trips among beekeepers 

 over the state I find some complaint in 

 regard to queens purchased from queen- 

 breeders, turning out to be drone-layers. 

 The complaints have been directed against 

 men whom I am personally acquainted with, 

 and whom I know to be among our very 

 best queen-breeders. It is possible for a 

 well-meaning queen-breeder to send out un- 

 intentionally a drone-laying queen as an 

 untested queen. 



To illustrate: I wish to describe a case 

 that occurred in my home yard this season. 



I had produced a batch of fine cells and 

 used one to requeen a colony that had a 

 failing queen. In due time the cell hatch- 

 ed, and on one of my visits home some 

 three weeks later I found the queen to be 

 laying; and as she was a very fine-appear- 

 ing queen I took it for granted that that 

 colony was in good condition or soon would 

 be. On account of being away from home 

 almost continuously I am sometimes unable 

 to give my bees the attention they should 

 have. 



On my last visit home (Sept. 22) I 



Home of O. B. Griffin, Caribou, Me. 



