650 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



but I never should like to run a business in 

 that way. 



In the above I have called your attention 

 to the three worst troubles in producing comb 

 honey, and I have also givea you a practical 

 way of overcoming them. 



About twenty-six years ago I sold nearly 

 three tons of comb honey that was produced 

 in this way to a dealer for two cents a pound 

 above the market price, on account of its 

 fine appearance. It is the same in produc- 

 ing comb honey that it is with extracted. 

 You must adopt methods whereby you can 

 combine a fine quality with a large quantity, 

 and then you are on a straight road to suc- 

 cess. If I should ever again return to the 

 production of comb honey the above method 

 is the one I should most decidedly adopt. 



When I was running my bees for comb 

 honey we had no practical feeders as we 

 have now, whereby honey can easily be fed 

 to our comb-honey- producing colonies; nei- 

 ther did we realize how easy it is to have an 

 abundance of choice young queens early in 

 the season to supersede our old queens with. 

 Had I kno^vn then as I do now how easily 

 these two important factors can be acquired 

 I would not have changed from comb honey 

 to extracted as I did; for I am sure there is 

 more money in producing a choice grade of 

 comb honey, as I have described, than there 

 is in producing extracted honey. 



There are some other suggestions I should 

 like to make to comb- honey producers, which 

 I hope to find time to do in the future. 



Delanson, N. Y. 



[Mr. Alexander has generally been sup- 

 posed to be an extracted-honey producer; 

 but it appears from what he has written 

 that he has had many years' experience in 

 the production of a fancy article in comb. 



In the foregoing he has given some sug- 

 gestions that will work well with any plan 

 of comb-honey production. For example, 

 his method of feeding colonies extracted 

 during a lull in the flow could be adapted to 

 the Doolittle system now being described in 

 these columns; that is to say, I see nothing 

 in the way to interfere with that plan. 



We have had a good many articles de- 

 scribing feeding back; but so far as I re- 

 member these all had reference to a period 

 following the honey- flow. But Mr. Alexan- 

 der shows how this method of feeding back 

 can be practiced to advantage even during 

 the honey-flow, and yet at the same time en- 

 able the weak colonies that are usually prac- 

 tically worthless for comb honey to contrib- 

 ute according to their capacity to the comb- 

 honey crop. 



So many of Mr. Alexander's methods have 

 been favorably commented on that I feel he 

 is a particularly safe man to follow; and I 

 hope some of our readers, at least, will test 

 the plan and then at the close of the season 

 tell us how it works. 



It should be noticed that, when Mr. Alex- 

 ander speaks of " clamps," he means comb- 

 honey supers or section-containers. In some 

 of the Eastern States such devices are very 



often referred to as "clamps." They may 

 cover just half of the hive or the whole of 

 it. In the former case they are generally 

 used in pairs. —Ed.] 



FOUL BROOD. 



The Izal Treatment. 



BY S. SIMMINS. 



Refering to page 104 of "A Modern Bee- 

 farm," those who possess a copy will find 

 the following general methods of treat- 

 ment: 



1. To begin with, never spray or sprinkle combs hav- 

 ing large quantities of healthy brood with any disinfec- 

 tant. Place them near the outside, and so treat when 

 all living brood has hatched out. 



2. In commencing to treat any very weak diseased 

 stock (seeing that this treatment obviates any destruc- 

 tion of combs where there are sufficient bees) first of 

 all, give the said colony a full comb of hatching brood. 

 If this can not be done, then burn comb, frames, and 

 bees at night, first smothering the bees. 



3. Treatment with izal solution.— 'No feeding is nec- 

 cessary in summer. Have a change of hives, and wash 

 out each week (three times will generally suffice) with 

 solution of one teaspoonf ul to two quarts of water. At 

 the same time, saturate the whole of the quilting, and 

 continue this once a week until satisfied all is well. 



4. If desired to feed. — Use only half- teaspoonf ul to 

 12 lbs. of sugar made into syrup. 



5. The water supply.— One teaspoonf ul of izal to ten 

 quarts of water. 



In warm weather the saturated quilting is 

 put on without wringing out the excess of 

 moisture; but in late autumn and early 

 spring the cloths may drain a little before 

 being replaced. If quilts are not in use, 

 then by all means use one for the time be- 

 ing, even if it is only a thin folded sack. 

 This, being saturated with the solution, im- 

 mediately checks infection, and when the 

 hive sides are also wet with the same, the 

 plague has little chance of extending its 

 ravages; and, in fact, its area is rapidly re- 

 stricted. 



In autumn there is no better plan than 

 that of feeding rapidly with syrup medicat- 

 ed as above, until the combs are almost solid 

 with such stores. The rapid storing causes 

 a high temperature and raises the vitality 

 of the bees, so that they will clear out every 

 vestige of foul matter, while the cells are 

 occupied by medicated food, which ensures 

 healthy brood in the very cells where but 

 recently only diseased matter was present. I 

 Then following on into the spring, with re- | 

 turning warmth and the new development 

 of brood, the workers still draw upon that 

 stored food which is death to the dreaded u 

 Bacillus alvei. 



Where the disease is prevalent this plan 

 of feeding heavily in autumn, and again in 

 spring, if needed, will be found to do away 

 with any possibility of serious loss. The 

 great thing is to raise, in the first instance, 

 the greatest possible vitality in the workers; 

 indeed, I can assure my readers that, under 

 the stimulus of a rapid incoming of either 

 honey or syrup, the average domesticated 

 honey-bees will dispose of all visible evi- 

 dence of foul matter, without medication in 



