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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



during a fine early spring. It is evident, 

 therefore, that bees sometimes cure them- 

 selves under favorable conditions. 



Some years ago I bought two strong stocks 

 in early spring. The bees vi^ere vigorous, and 

 the large patches of brood perfectly healthy. 

 The hives being very old, I presently trans- 

 ferred the bees to new frames, and in doing 

 so I noticed that two or three of the rear 

 combs in each hive were solid with old candied 

 honey, where it had remained for several 

 seasons. Well, as soon as this was opened 

 up for brood-rearing, the larvae rapidly as- 

 sumed the usual appearance of the foul 

 pest. Evidently these bees had some time 

 been troubled with the disease, but had been 

 self-cured in the interval, so far as the combs 

 used for breeding were concerned, the old 

 store never being required. 



I remember an American writer once men- 

 tioned that a heavy flow of melilot honey 

 cured his diseased stocks. Some kinds of 

 honey may be more likely to aid the bees in 

 checking the pest, but the greater vitality en- 

 sured while honey comes in freely is likely 

 to have been the more important item in 

 freeing his apiary from the trouble. 



IMMUNITY. 



Finally there is the question of immunity. 

 I have traveled all along this line too, and 

 will describe one or two of many experi- 

 ments. Of two diseased stocks, one had a 

 Carniolan queen given it, and the other an 

 imported Italian. Each had a sixth slab of 

 candy along in April. By the time the young 

 bees were hatching freely from these queens, 

 no disease could be found in the combs. 



Several purchased stocks showing disease 

 in the spring were given queens from my 

 specially immune Italian strain. From a 

 short time after these bees were hatching, the 

 complaint rapidly declined, and the combs 

 were soon covered with a clinging mass of 

 bees, so dense as to hide the surface of the 

 combs. 



I have offered these examples hoping to 

 show that the disease can 6e cured without 

 destroying any valuable material whatever, 

 and even without medicine ; and therefore no 

 difficulty ought to be found in disposing of 

 the trouble by using, in addition to such 

 manipulation, so simple and effective an 

 agent as izal has proved itself to be, both as 

 a cure and preventive. 



ITALIANS VS. NATIVES. 



Recently you gave an extract from the 

 British Bee Journal, where the writer en- 

 deavored to show that the more prolific Ital- 

 ians would of necessity pile up greater masses 

 of dead and putrid brood simply because 

 they would attempt to breed more extensively 

 than the natives. Such a statement is theory 

 only, and is not founded upon actual prac- 

 tice. If the combs are occupied by foul mat- 

 ter, no more eggs can develop, even if de- 

 posited, until some of the cells are cleaned 

 out; and it is from the fact that Italians, and 

 especially such bees bred by selection for the 

 purpose, are more determmed to clean out 



the foul matter, that they gradually but surely 

 get the upper hand of it. If any bees are in- 

 clined to retain the rotting mass of brood it 

 must be the blacks, as they possess the least 

 energy in the direction of brood-rearing, and 

 are so little inclined to clear out the diseased 

 matter. 



BACILLUS ALVEI — NOTHING MORE NOR LESS. 



I can not find that there is any distinction 

 to be made between a malignant type and a 

 so-called mild case of foul brood. The only 

 difference is in the length of time it has been 

 neglected, and its wider scope for mischief 

 as it extends further throughout the combs. 

 The cure is the same in either case. 



PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS. 



With the izal treatment there is no need 

 to destroy any valuable material ; and any lot 

 not too far gone may be renovated, as shown, 

 by fresh combs of brood and bees, or by ex- 

 changing with stronger colonies. In other 

 cases it has been seen how, by disposing of 

 the old bees by swarming from the original 

 combs, as well as by removal of the queen 

 with or without swarming, the greatest assist- 

 ance is given to the owner in effecting a cure. 



rizal is a disinfectant like formaldehyde and 

 carbolic acid. It is highly recommended by 

 Mr. Simmins in his book, "A Modern Bee- 

 farm." So far as I know it is obtainable only 

 in England, although we have purchased a 

 small quantity for the purpose of testing. 



Regarding the general subject of foul brood, 

 there is much for us to learn, and, perhaps, 

 to unlearn. While Mr. Simmins' ideas may 

 not be entirely orthodox from the standpoint 

 of American practice, yet he has struck out 

 in some new fields that jt may be well for us 

 to investigate. — Ed.] 



WHAT COLOR SHALL WE PAINT OUR 

 HIVES ? 



Black, not White, Preferred; an Interesting 

 Article. 



BY ALLEN LATHAM. 



Though the advisability of painting hives 

 at all has been questioned, and not a few 

 bee-keepers advocate leaving hives unpainted, 

 whenever (if hives were to be painted) the 

 proper color has been inquired after, the 

 answer has invariably been, "White." I shall 

 try to show in this article that here we have 

 another instance in which error has been 

 upheld in the practice of agriculture. 



To understand why one color may be bet- 

 ter than another, and why black and white 

 are brought into opposition in this matter, 

 one must be familiar with the laws of absorp- 

 tion and radiation of heat. There is a law 

 in physical science which, put in simple 

 words, reads : "Good absorbers are good 

 radiators." This means that a surface of 

 such a color or texture that it readily gains 

 heat will lose that heat, or other heat, with 

 equal readiness. It is also true that a sur- 



