580 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



MayI 



worked for extracted, I find a sentiment 

 that has gone the rounds of the bee press 

 altogether too long. Let us look into the 

 matter a little. In the first place, I think 

 we can all agree that, to produce a first-class 

 article of either comb or extracted honey, 

 one must have his colonies sufl[iciently strong 

 so that every part of the hive, including the 

 supers, should have a good covering of bees. 

 It is hard to conceive of any thing more det- 

 rimental to the welfare of the colony than 

 the practice of giving a weak colony an up- 

 per story when they have only enough bees 

 to work nicely their one-story (brood-nest). 



We will now suppose our white-clover 

 season is open. The little colony will not do 

 much in its upper story the first week, they 

 having room in the brood-nest to keep them 

 busy during this time. Now they have their 

 brood-nest full, watch them as they begin 

 to move up into the upper story. The first 

 attempt will be made during the middle of 

 the day, while it is warm; then they go be- 

 low during the night or cool weather. Now 

 this process of working above, while it is 

 warm, and leaving the surplus receptacle 

 during the night or cool periods, will be re- 

 peated more or less, depending upon the 

 weather and the length of time it takes for 

 the little colony to breed up to a normal con- 

 dition. At any rate, their first upper story 

 will be produced under the conditions named 

 above, where there is a portion of the sur- 

 plus honey that the bees leave during cool 

 nights or otherwise unfavorable weather. 



Now, right here is a point I wish to em- 

 phasize; and that is, any part of the surplus 

 honey, while on the hive, if allowed to re- 

 main without a good covering of bees, will 

 get poorer every day it is left; for a hive 

 without bees to fill it full, that portion which 

 is without bees is one of the dampest places 

 one can imagine, and, of course, would be 

 the worst place one could store honey. 

 Now, if this is a fact, how could one expect 

 a weak colony to produce good ripe extract- 

 ed honey? 



Then there are the colonies that have cast 

 swarms. Their surplus receptacles should 

 be given to some swarm that is in condition 

 to take care of it; for a colony that has cast 

 a swarm is in much the same condition as 

 the weak swarm mentioned above. 



In producing extracted honey the same 

 system should be followed as in the produc- 

 tion of comb honey; i.e., it must be finished; 

 for. take my word, the time is coming when 

 the market will demand finished extracted 

 honey as well as finished comb honey, and 

 that means to leave it on the hive until it is 

 all capped, and cured before extracting. 



The weak colonies can be united at the 

 commencement of the honey season, so as to 

 make all strong, as these weak colonies can 

 be used to make up winter loss, or increase, 

 as one may desire. 



Remus, Mich. 



[These points'^are ^all well taken, and I 

 hope those who 'have 'been deluded by the 

 heresy of weak~colonies for extracted will 



read what our correspondent has to say. 

 Be it known he is one of the largest pro- 

 ducers in Michigan. — Ed.] 



THE ALEXANDER METHOD OF CURING 

 FOUL BROOD. 



Is it Not a Mistake to Suppose that Bees 

 Store Honey in Cells Containing Disease- 

 germs? 



BY J. G. BA.UMGAERTNER. 



The articles by Mr. Simmins and Mr. Gib- 

 son, pages 22 and 23, on the possibility of 

 curing foul brood by the Alexander method 

 for curing black brood, have interested me 

 exceedingly, especially since foul brood has 

 been in this vicinity the past season, and is 

 quite likely to make its appearance again 

 this year. Twelve colonies of my bees had 

 contracted a disease which, according to all 

 indications, was genuine foul brood, and had 

 the McEvoy treatment administered prompt- 

 ly. Since I have read the reports of suc- 

 cessful eradication of the disease by the 

 Alexander treatment I regret that I did not 

 make at least an attempt to winter some of 

 my diseased colonies so I could have applied 

 this new treatment. For, if nothing more, 

 it would have been a most interesting ex- 

 periment, and it is by experimenting and 

 putting matters to actual test that the truth 

 is sifted out and knowledge gained. How- 

 ever, my neighbor has still some colonies 

 which were pretty badly infected last sum- 

 mer; and if they outlive the rigors of win- 

 ter I shall make it a point to obtain permis- 

 sion from their owner to try the new treat- 

 ment on them. 



Now, as to the doubts you express, Mr. 

 Editor, in your footnote to the two articles 

 named above: "Honey is known to be a me- 

 dium for carrying foul brood. Supposing 

 that the germs of this disease are in honey 

 that is sealed up in combs in the hive under 

 treatment, if the bees clean out the brood- 

 combs containing the dead matter, wha' is 

 to prevent reinfection of the new brood fed 

 on this honey? We have demonstrated time 

 and again that honey from a diseased hive 

 will carry the infection to another one per- 

 fectly healthy." This was the stumbling- 

 block I could not get around when, after 

 reading Mr. Alexander's description of his 

 cure for black brood, I tried to decide for 

 mjself, in thoughts, whether or not those 

 twelve colonies, whose combs, brood, and 

 honey I destroyed, could have been cured the 

 same way. After many hours of studying 

 over this question, especially in view of the 

 testimony given by Messrs. Simmins and 

 Gibson, I confess that my faith in the doc- 

 trine that the sealed honey in the brood- 

 combs of colonies having foul brood contains 

 the germs of the disease, and will carry the 

 infection further, has become severely 

 shaken. How do we know that reinfection 

 may take place through the honey which is 

 in the hive? And how do we know that it 



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