1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



581 



is the honey through which infection is car- 

 ried from one colony to another? 



It is said that, when bees from a healthy 

 colony rob a colony which is diseased, they 

 will carry the disease home. I do not doubt 

 that this is true; but I do doubt very much 

 that these bees carry home the disease in 

 the honey. Did not the bees clean the cells 

 before the honey was deposited? I do not 

 believe that bees deposit their honey in cells 

 containing any foul matter. They are too 

 cleanly for any thing like that. Mr. Doo- 

 little supports this when he says, in the 

 American Bee Journal for Jan. 4, page 9, 

 "I am confident that the bees always clean 

 all cells, in which they deposit honey, abso- 

 lutely clean before they store any honey 

 therein." If this is true, will they not also, 

 while ripening and sealing the honey, re- 

 move any germ^ that have entered it? 



Instead of the honey carried home by the 

 bees containing the germs, is it not possible 

 that these bees carry home minute particles 

 of the foul matter itself, which adheres to 

 their bodies while they are passing over the 

 diseased combs and over the bottom- board 

 of the diseased hive on to which latter the 

 cappings of the diseased cells which the 

 bees have torn open, as well as parts of the 

 larvas which the bees have tried to remove 

 and torn to pieces, have dropped? 



An old physician of my acquaintance, who 

 has been an extensive bee-keeper for more 

 than sixty years, believes that the disease 

 might spread when bees of a healthy colony 

 visit a flower which has just previously been 

 visited by bees from a hive containing foul 

 brood. 



It is further claimed that, if the honey ex- 

 tracted f r im infected combs be fed to 

 healthy colonies, the disease will be spread; 

 but does that prove that the honey contained 

 the germs be/ore it was extracted, or while 

 it was yet sealed in the comb? Is it not 

 probable that these germs were carried into 

 the honey by the uncapping- kc if e, which 

 had just passed through an infected cell, or 

 possibly the foul body of a dead larva in 

 that cell before it entered cells containing 

 honey? 



Again, while those combs were whirled 

 around in the extractor to throw out the hon- 

 ey, was it not then that some germs were 

 mixed with the honey running down over the 

 side of the diseased comb? Or possibly the 

 contents of some diseased cells were thrown 

 into the honey. Small wonder if such honey 

 is infectious! 



Supposing that the spores of Bacillus 

 alvei have really penetrated into the cells 

 containing honey, would not those spores 

 also die after the natural soil of the bacillus, 

 the brood, was all gone, and thus its source 

 of nourishment cut off? 



At all events, let us not be content with 

 any thing short of facts established by de- 

 liberate experimenting with the new meth- 

 od; and let no prejudice based upon theories 

 generally accepted keep us from giving it a 

 fair chance. ' ' The proof of the pudding is 



in the eating;" so in applying this treat- 

 ment we shall find the proof of its value. 

 New Memphis, 111. 



[Your points are all very well taken. It 

 is possible that sealed honey in the combs, 

 before man has had any thing to do with it, 

 is free from disease- germs. Your attitude 

 of taking nothing for granted is that of a. 

 true scientist. I respectfully urge that Dr. 

 Phillips bring this question before the bac-- 

 teriologist of the Department of AgriculturCj, 

 Washington, D. C.-Ed.] 



SOME MORE LIGHT ON SPRING MANAG- 

 MENT OF WEAK COLONIES. 



A Case in Point where the Alexander Method 



of Uniting a Weak to a Strong Colony 



gave Excellent Results. 



BY Q. A. PEARCE. 



In March 15th issue there is an article 

 from Mr. E. W. Alexander on the spring 

 management of weak colonies, with some 

 quotations from a former article of mine in 

 the Review, in which I state that I had 16 

 light and 16 very heavy colonies which I 

 united successfully. These, you will observe, 

 were not united till quite late, after I had 

 time to go through the yard and get a rec- 

 ord of the bees; but what seems to be want- 

 ed just now, and on which even Mr. Alex- 

 ander himself does not seem to be entirely 

 clear, is whether it will do to unite these 

 weak colonies with the strong as soon as 

 they are taken from the cellar; and as I had 

 some good experience along that line last 

 spring I will relate it. 



When I set my bees out quite early in 

 March last year, as is my habit now, it was 

 quite warm and nice, for a few days; so aft- 

 er the bees were all out I went through the 

 yard and lifted the hives to see if there was 

 any dangerously light, and to tuck t^hem up 

 nice and snug against any bad weather that 

 might come later. I soon came to a very 

 light colony which I supposed was dead; but 

 as I lifted the frames out I came to a little 

 bunch of bees, and a queen still alive. She 

 too looked pinched and small. There were 

 less than thirty bees. The hive that I had 

 just looked over before I reached this one 

 was very strong, and lots of bees boiling up 

 through the top, so I just picked this little 

 hive up without the bottom on it, and set it 

 on top of this strong colony, with an exclud- 

 er between, and I want to confess right now 

 that I did not have much faith that any 

 thing would come of it. The good book says, 

 you know, if we have faith as a grain of 

 mustard seed that we can remove mountains; 

 so it did not require much faith to lift that 

 little clump of bees and their queen on to that 

 strong colony; and as we never know any 

 thing till we try I thought I would try this 

 and see what would come of it. Now for 

 results : 



The bad weather soon came on, and I did 

 not do much with the bees for over three 



