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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1917 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



finds that, if one colony has the disease 

 badly, the one next to it will be diseased, tho 

 to a smaller extent, and the one next to 

 tiiat will show still less trace of it, until 

 finally colonies are reached that are in a 

 perfectly healthy .condition. Apparently 

 this proves that the disease is often spread 

 by the bees of one colony entering tlie hives 

 next to them. On this point all four of the 

 inspectors seem agreed. Mr. Stewart then 

 told that Geo. W. Haines had some golden 

 Italians that were badly diseased ; and dur- 

 ing inspection of that vicinity, an apiary of 

 black bees was found four miles distant. 

 These had traces of the disease in nearly 

 every colony; and among these black bees 

 were found some golden Italians that must 

 surely have been Mr. Haines', for there were 

 no other golden Italians in that part of the 

 country. Therefore they must have left 

 Mr. Haines' apiary and made their home in 

 an apiary four miles away. 



RESULTS OF THE DISEASE. 



Looking back over the last eighteen years 

 of experience with European foul brood — 

 the first two years of which were spent in 

 treating his own apiaries and those of his 

 neighbors — Mr. Stewart says that this dis- 

 ease has brought about much work for the 

 inspectors, but also certain benefits to the 

 beekeepers, as the elimination of the box 

 hives and the weeding-ont of the careless 

 and indifferent beekeepers. Also, by the 

 necessary renewal of combs and the intro- 

 duction of Italian blood, the disease has 

 transformed good beekeepers into still better 

 ones, and has thus increased the yield and 

 ((uality of honey production. 



BUYING BEES IN LOCALITIES HAVING EUROPE- 

 AN FOUL BROOD. 



In giving a parting word of advice con- 

 cerning European foul brood, Mr. Stewart 

 said, " Beekeepers should not buy bees from 

 localities where the disease is unknown, but, 

 rather, from places where the disease has 

 already existecl." 



FALL FEEDING. 



Mr. Stewart uses ten-frame Lang'stroth 

 hives, and plans to supply his bees in the 

 fall with enough honey to last until they can 

 be handled the following spring. Having 

 Italian bees, and producing comb honey, it 

 naturally results that the b?es store more 

 honey in the brood-chamber. 



The latter part of September, when the 

 bees seem inclined to stop breeding, he feeds 

 back all the unfinished sections, and so 

 stimulates the bees to renewed brood-rear- 



ing. On all the colonies that do not have 

 an abundance of stores he places these 

 supers, sejiarating them from the brood- 

 chambers by means of an enamel cloth with 

 a small opening thru which the bees can 

 reach the stores above. To hasten the 

 transfer of stores to the brood-chamber be- 

 low, the cappings in some of the sections 

 are broken. The rest of the partly filled 

 sections are yiiled up in the apiary and left 

 with a small entrance so that all the colo- 

 nies may help themselves (Mr. Stewart 

 mentioned that this sort of thing should be 

 done only in a locality where the bees were 

 free of (lisease). 



In reply to a question he stated that the 

 strong colonies do not take exclusive posses- 

 sion of the unfinished sections, but that 

 even the nuclei secure enough honey to stim- 

 ulate them and cause them to prosper. In 

 an apiary of one hundred colonies, there is 

 likely to be ten supers of unfinished sec- 

 tions. Since these are robbed but slowly, 

 there never results much excitement, alt ho 

 each colony is kept fairly active. 



No sugar syrup is fed; and so while some 

 buckwheat is secured, still it may happen 

 that there are not enough unfinished sections 

 to give them the desired amount of honey. 

 In this case he equalizes the honey in the 

 brood-chambers. During the autumn of 

 1916, Mr. Stewart's five hundred colonies 

 were fed about two tons of honey. This 

 was not so much to supply needed stores as 

 to insure added strength for the coming 

 spring. R. F. Holtermann. 



Brantford, Canada. 



Sprinkling the Loafers with Honey to 

 Check the Desire to Swarm 



Because of the frequent seasons when 

 conditions are right for excessive swarm- 

 ing, the problem of keeping this nuisance 

 down to a profitable working basis is one 

 that almost constantly confronts the bee- 

 keepers of this locality. 



Since ino;? I have used a simple means of 

 checking swarms. Much, however, depends 

 upon its application at the opportune time. 

 It is quite possible, with certain conditions 

 prevailing, tliat success may not always 

 follow. 



The honey-harvest conditions here may be 

 roughly divided into two classes. In the 

 first, unfortunately rare, the flow of nectar 

 is heavy and continuous. Brood-rearing is 

 often less than normal, and swarming is at 



