1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



505 



This is a safe way to move bees, and no 

 doubt Mr. Porter has moved without closing 

 the entrance; yet I shall always close the 

 hive when I move bees. 



In regard to moving bees, if they are in 

 the dark they are more quiet. It is the 

 light that keeps them excited. One year I 

 lost several swarms by covering the top of 

 the hive with screen wire, and leaving them 

 open to the light while moving. They clung 

 to the wire, and buzzed themselves to death. 



STARTERS VS. FULL SHEETS OF FOUNDATION. 



I have seen it stated in bee- papers that 

 starters are better to use in some cases than 

 full sheets of foundation in the brood- nest. 

 I have not seen any reason given, yet I have 

 read the statement many times. Now, will 

 you or some one who thinks he knows tell 

 why starters are better than full sheets at 

 any time or in any kind of frame? Full 

 sheets are surely much better for us here, 

 and I prefer them to combs unless the combs 

 are new. 



FOUL BROOD — CAN BEES REMOVE THE IN- 

 FECTION FROM COMBS CONTAINING 

 DISEASED MATTER? 



I was much surprised on reading the arti- 

 cle on foul brood by Samuel Simmins, of 

 England, in Gleanings for January 1 He 

 surely can not expect any one who has had 

 experience with foul brood to credit his con- 

 cluding statement. Many years ago I lost 

 100 colonies from foul brood. I went all 

 through and cut out every bit of diseased 

 brood, buried it, and when the disease ap- 

 peared again I cut again, but could not get 

 rid of the disease. It appeared to be cured 

 at times; but after a time it appeared once 

 more. I lost the whole lot, and I am satis- 

 fied that only by giving new foundation, and 

 getting rid of the old honey can the disease 

 be cured. Mr. Gibson's article, which fol- 

 lows that of Mr. S. , is not quite so radical. 

 Did Mr. Gibson's bees clean out that rotten 

 stringy mass? did they carry it out of the 

 hives in their honey-sacs or in their pollen- 

 baskets, or did they eat it up? Now, Mr. 

 Editor, you say in a footnote to Mr. Gib- 

 son's article, if all such combs be removed, 

 extracted, and the honey boiled, then you 

 can see how, if the combs be given back, 

 the bees would clean them up and remove 

 the infection. Now, please tell us how the 

 bees would remove the infection. We are 

 liable to get foul brood here, and wish to 

 learn all we can, if we can cure foul brood 

 by simply extracting the honey. But do 

 you think you could extract the foul brood? 

 or do you think the bees would carry the 

 diseased matter out of the hive? I suppose 

 it is understood that bees will not uncap 

 sealed brood. 



I would dig a deep hole and bury the 

 frames, honey, and brood. Last fall a man 

 near Fallbrook, having his whole apiary af- 

 fected with foul brood, sulphured his bees, 

 then extracted the combs and set them out 

 for his neighbors' bees to clean up. The 

 bee- men in his neighborhood were much ex- 

 cited over the matter; and yet if there was 



any truth in the articles mentioned he was 

 doing no harm whatever. No one here can 

 see why he thought it necessary to kill all 

 his bees. 



I have received great benefit from the 

 ABC and Gleanings, yet I fear the arti- 

 cles written by Messrs. Simmins and Gibson 

 may do harm, and your footnote makes the. 

 danger greater. 



Lilac, Gal. 



[I believe your argument in favor of s 

 screen to shut oif light from the bees while 

 bemg moved or hauled is excellent; for I 

 have always noticed that bees will cluster 

 where the light is most intense, especiallv 

 when confined. "^ 



The main argument in favor of starters in 

 place of full sheets is that of economy In- 

 cidentally It has been urged that the effect 

 ot starters is to force the bees sooner up 

 into the sections where there are full sheets 

 of foundation, and where, also, there are 

 bait- combs. With a good flow of honey a 

 full sheet in the brood-nest may be drawn 

 out in 24 hours. If the queen does not im- 

 mediately occupy it with eggs, the bees are 

 liable to put honey in it, while if only start- 

 ers were given the work of comb building 

 below would be slower, and the work in the 

 sections correspondingly accelerated. Un- 

 derstand that I am not stating this as my 

 own argument, but an argument that has 

 been presented in favor of starters. 



In your comment on the articles by Sam- 

 uel Simmins and Mr. Gibson you possibly 

 overlooked the fact that it was urged that 

 the colonies be made gueenless for some 21 

 days. Bees, they claim, will clean house 

 cleaning their combs perfectly clean, possi- 

 bly removing germs also if they have time 

 enough. I am not a sponsor for the treat- 

 ment recommended by Mr. Simmins; in fact 

 I do not subscribe to all the statements 

 made by Mr. Simmins or Mr. Gibson, as 

 shown by my footnote at the time.— Ed ] 



NAMING BEES. 



The Difficulty of Telling the Difference between 

 Blacks and Caucasians. 



[Some weeks ago we received three cages of bees from 

 Mr. J. M. Davis of Spring Hill. Tenn.. accompanied by 

 a letter asking that for the purpose of experiment, we 

 give the names of the bees as well as we could by look- 

 ing them over in the cages. We were then to send 

 A *T *?vf.°T °*>^'' queen-breeder, with a like request 

 After this brief explanation the reader will be able to 

 understand the letters that follow.— Ed.] 



Mr. J. M. Davis:— I am in receipt of your 

 letter, with samples of bees. I suspect that 

 one lot is Camiolan, another common blacks 

 and another Caucasian; but which are which 

 is a little difficult to determine, as they are 

 so nearly alike; but in my judgment they 

 are as follows: 



No. 1, blacks; No.22, Camiolans: No. 3. 

 Caucasians. 



The difference between blacks and Cauca- 

 sians IS so slight from specimens that I have 

 seen that it would be very difficult to deter- 



