1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



507 



Some have questioned whether or not the 

 Department at Washington was going to do 

 damage by sending out queens of this blood. 

 I do not think we need to apprehend any- 

 trouble from that point; for Dr. Phillips 

 plainly stated that these queens will be sent 

 only to responsible breeders who will agree 

 to conform to certain conditions. There will 

 be no excuse for such a breeder "tainting " 

 or "contaminating" his locality if he keeps 

 his Caucasian queens clipped, and perforated 

 metal over the entrances of all Caucasian 

 colonies. 



But you ask, "How about the queen- 

 breeder's customers?, some of them, per- 

 haps, careless?' ' There is danger here. How 

 this can be overcome I do not know; but we 

 must remember that no disaster followed 

 the introduction of the Eastern races of 

 bees, and yet some of them afe very unde- 

 sirable. 



But it is significant that the Caucasians 

 look so much like the black bees that even 

 breeders are confused. Yet this is not at 

 all strarge; for when Cyprians were first in- 

 troduced, there were many who could not 

 distinguish them from light colored Italians. 

 It is well known, however, that any one 

 who is reasonably familiar with the two 

 races has no trouble in drawing the distinc- 

 tion.— Ed.] 



ALEXANDER'S CURE FOR 

 A SUCCESS. 



BLACK BROOD 



BY PERCY ORTON. 



You are not mistaken as to the value of 

 Mr. Alexander's method of curing black 

 brood, as I have used practically the same 

 method for the past two years, as I will now 

 describe. 



In 1904 I had five colonies that were badly 

 affected with black brood. These combs 

 were given to them in 1903, and were full 

 sheets and wired. I dishked very much to 

 melt them up, as they were such perfect 

 ones; so I thought I would shake No. 1 on to 

 full sheets of foundation, place an excluder 

 of zinc on top of No. 1, and tier up the 50 

 affected combs on top of hive No. 1 and let 

 the brood hatch out; after, to fumigate the 

 combs and give back to colonies and see if I 

 could save them. I left them on top of hive 

 No. 1 for a month (from pure slackness). 

 When, one day, I looked the combs over they 

 were all cleaned out and the brood-cells 

 shone like a bottle. I decided to give them 

 back to colonies, and not fumigate. I did 

 so, and as healthy brood hatched from those 

 combs that were affected as you ever saw. 

 I was afraid to mention this to any one, as I 

 expected to be hooted at, at that time, so I 

 got two other colonies that had black brood 

 the past summer. I went through the same 

 operation, and the brood that was hatched 

 in the affected combs after treatment was 

 as healthy as was the first. 



I think Mr. Alexander's method the best, 

 as you secure all the unhatched brood and a 

 young queen in the same hive. 



I send you also a photo of ten queen-cells 

 that were raised between brood- combs that, 

 two years ago, were affected so badly with 



- jfc I I 



black brood that I could not get one queen- 

 cell to hatch. This proves that the combs are 

 free from the disease at present, 

 Northampton, N. Y. 



[This is the first testimonial proving the 

 efficacy of the Alexander treatment for the 

 cure of black brood. The whole secret of jt 

 seems to rest in giving the bees sufficient 

 time to cleanse and polish thoroughly those 

 cells ready for the queen to lay iri. — Ed.] 



THE 



ALEXANDER METHOD OF BUILDING 

 UP WEAK COLONIES. 



Will there be a Loss of Returning Bees wten 



the Upper Hive is Put Back ? What 



Becomes of the Drones ? 



Mr. Root:—l am greatly interested in Mr. 

 Alexander's article on strengthening weak 

 colonies by placing them on the top of strong 

 ones. I wish, however, that he would in- 

 corporate answers to two questions in his 

 next or a subsequent article. 



First, in the event of the upper colony 

 rearing drones, as it certainly will do ' if 

 growing strong by the treatment, what will 

 happen to these drones and to the colony 

 which rears them? All openings are to be 

 closed so that the only way of exit for the 

 bees of the upper colony is through the 

 queen-excluder and down through the lower 

 hive-body. In brief, this means that the 

 drones above the excluder will never get 

 out. They will die in the upper hive. Will 

 not harmful results follow from that? 



Second, when the upper colony is strong 

 enough to take care of itself, and is set back 

 on its old stand or upon another stand, will 

 not its loss of bees, occasioned by the field- 

 workers returning to the double hive loc-t- 

 tion, weaken it down to about the same con- 

 dition it was in at the start? 



I hope Mr. Alexander's plan solves this 

 troublesome problem, and I wait with in- 

 terest to read his further elucidation of it. 



Altoona, Pa., March 26. H. H. S. 



[Knowing that many would appreciate an answer 

 from Mr. Alexander on this point we sent this question 

 to him direct, and he replied as follows. — Ed.] 



In reply to H. H. S. and many others re- 

 garding our method of caring for weak col- 



