GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



OCTOBKR, 191' 



c 



E. G. Baldwin 



IN the July 

 numb er, p. 

 547, r e f er- 

 enee was made 

 to the appear- 

 ance of the 

 American type 

 of foul brood on 

 the East Coast. 



Subsequent verifications from Washington 

 have proved that it is, beyond doubtj the 

 American type, not the European. Apro- 

 pos of the need developed for a good, 

 eflficient, and safe method of treatment, in 

 view of the situation, the articles that treat 

 personal experiences in fighting the pest 

 make very interesting reading to all bee- 

 men situated on that coast. The article by 

 J. Dundas Todd, American Bee Journal, 

 p. 156, is timely and refreshing. It ad- 

 vocates burning the hives, bees, combs, and 

 all, much as Dr. Miller has advocated in 

 previous articles, when the number of in- 

 fected colonies is small. Mr. Todd urges 

 a roaring fire, sides of hole in the ground 

 heated redhot, from a mass of gloAving em- 

 bers in the center, work after dusk, and sul- 

 phuring of the bees before operations be- 

 gin. He burns hives and all. He can do 

 ten hives in an evening, he declares. The 

 editor of the American Bee Journal, in a 

 footnote, urges saving the hives, then burn- 

 ing the insicles with a torch, and destroying 

 only the combs, bees, honey, and brood. It 

 is the latter modified plan that we shall try 

 to encourage in dealing with this disease on 

 the East Coast; and we urgently advise all 

 beemen, in the infected district, to examine 

 all their colonies, and then treat heroically 

 all that are found to be infected. Infec- 

 tious diseases in the South are seldom as 

 fatal or virulent as in the North. It is 

 to be hoped that this may prove true of 

 foul brood also. 



Swarm prevention is the topic well han- 

 dled by J. E. Crane, in Domestic Beekeeper, 

 p. 253. The gist of the article is this: 

 Begin early in season ; start bees early in 

 sui>er by placing there combs with some 

 brood in them. Remove the brood from the 

 brood-chamber often, and place in above, 

 giving combs or foundation below. Keep 

 this up till signs of swarming are over, or 

 the season waiTants belief that no more 

 danrer of swarming exists — plenty of ven- 

 tilation from first to last. The above is 

 for extracted honey, of course. For comb 

 honey, the treatment includes removal of 

 brood early, at first signs of swarming, but 

 then placing them on other (weaker) colo- 

 nies, instead of in an up])er story on the 

 same hive; young vigorous queens, and 



Our Neighbors' Fields r 



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tJ 



K 



sl'.ade and venti- 

 lation. [The ar- 

 ticle is well 

 \v o r t h careful 

 study. We have 

 always f o und, 

 in working for 

 extracted honey, 

 that it is a good 

 plan to remove combs of brord from the 

 lower chamber, and place them in the upper 

 story or storiiS above an excluder. Be sure 

 to " include the excluder." Otherwise noth- 

 ing seems to be gained, for the bees consid- 

 er the two stories as one. Mr. Crane em- 

 phasizes the excluder. Similar features are 

 incorporated in an article by E. S. Miller, p. 

 266, same journal. — E. G. B.] 



An extract from a speech delivered in the 

 Senate of the United States by Hon. Chas. 

 S. Thomas, of Colorado, entitled The Tar- 

 iff, the Sugar Trust, and The War. We 

 quote, p. 13 : 



" In my section of the country, Mr. Presi- 

 dent, sugar companies occupy a peculiar 

 advantage. They have capitalized not only 

 the taritf and capitalized the future in their 

 common stock, but, as I directed the atten- 

 tion of the Senate two years ago, they have 

 also capitalized inequalities in transporta- 

 tion rates, all of them working to the dis- 

 advantage of the consumers in the beet- 

 producing region. There is a close and in- 

 dissoluble connection between the great 

 transiiortation companies of the United 

 States and those huge industries which dom- 

 inat.e almost every avenue of human effort 

 and enterprise. Thru the conjunction of 

 the control of big business with the control 

 of transportation lines thruout the countn', 

 competition becomes an impossibility. 

 Equal rights to the channels of trade for 

 legitimate competition no longer exist." 

 [Mr. Thomas here raises a vital question, 

 and makes most far-reaching assertions. 

 As my old professor used to say, " Interest- 

 ing if true." Mr. Thomas claims to have 

 the data to prove his assertions. — E. G. B.] 

 * * * 



INTERCHANGEABLE BEEKEEPERS' SUPPLIES. 



" Why cannot the different manufacturers 

 of supplies get together and cut the rabbet 

 of the hive body the same depth and width 

 .... when the frames of the different 

 makes will interchange with bodies of dif- 

 ferent manufacturei-sf asks Ed. Townsend, 

 in Domestic Beekeeper, p. 304. [We are 

 approaching standardization in apiculture 

 every year; but much yet remains to be 

 done. The note sounded here is timely. — 

 E. G. B.] 



