1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



33 



side of their hives. He then went to the 

 druggist to ascertain for what purpose sal- 

 icylic acid was generally used, when he 

 w ;h told, principally to Keep canned fruit. 

 He tasted of the acid, winch made him 

 cough violently. Having a heavy cold at 

 tin' time, it relieved him, however, a 

 made him feel better. Now, Mr. Bertra 

 reasons thus : Sallcj lie acid destroys fu 

 gus or germs of souring in fruit and dis- 

 solves and loosens slime secretions In ottr 

 body. He claims it has a beneficial effect 

 en our nervous system, anil shows to the 

 physician the degree of a cold or ever- 

 heating in a patient, lie says the disease, 

 can he prevented by a timely use of medi- 

 cine, lie dusted over his brood combs the 

 raw pulverized salicylic acid — repeated it 

 several times, and his Infected colony was 

 cured of foul brood in the fall. His other 

 colonies had taken the disease, and com- 

 menced to carry out dead larva?, butagood 

 dusting with the acid cured them all. The 

 following season he made the same obser- 

 vation, brood became chilled and died, but 

 before foul brood had made any headway, 

 he applied the acid and cured the affected 

 colonies. Mr. Bertram's resume is that 

 chilling is the cause of foul brood, and 

 that the application of the proper medicine 

 in time, prevents the contagion. 



Mr. Bertram says that May disease 

 makes its appearance in spring, and is ap- 

 parently caused by over exertion. The 

 muscles of the wings became over taxed 

 and lame, and he gives salicylic acid as a 

 good remedy for it. For the btnefit of our 

 German-reading friends, I recommend the 

 original lengthy document. 



Enthusiasm, so essential to success in 

 every business, appears to be especially 

 the characteristic of the successful bee- 

 keeper, and to him does the old saying, 

 ■'no roses without thorns" particularity 

 apply. Sharper than a thorn, or even a 

 bee sting, is the discovery by him of foul 

 brood among his bees. 



There is, also, not a more social nor con- 

 fiding class of men than bee-keepers. 

 They will tell you all they know about 

 their pets, and, as a friend remarked, "dif- 

 ferent from other fanciers, they will tell a 

 little more, if any." Against this enthu- 

 siastic " little more" we have to guard oc- 

 casionally, and exercise our own judgment 

 all the time and in everything. 



Perhaps no keener disappointment could 

 occur to a bee-keeper than the discovery 

 of foul brood in his apiary. I mean the 

 contagious disease which is called "foul 

 brood," the origin of which is not known, 

 as yet, to any one of us, further than that 

 it is imported fromEurope, where itexists 

 to a large extent, and where a bee-keeper 

 gets it from another apparently without a 

 cause, who then ascribes it to a something 

 as chilling or starving of brood, when, in 

 fact, the sole agent was a visiting bee 

 from a hive 2 or 3 miles off, or some visit- 

 ing drones coming in with the fungus on 

 their feet. I do not mean the dead brood 

 we often find in the cells decayed and 

 creating a stench, and which is removed 

 as the colony gets stronger, when the old 

 combs, cleaned out by the bees and again 

 used for rearing of brood and storing of 

 honey, remain as good as any. Every bee- 

 keeper of only limited experience can 

 make himself acquainted with this inno- 

 cent disease, which is often brought on by 

 a cold night in spring, when the bees are 

 forced by the instinct of self-preservation 

 to draw up into a more compact cluster, 

 exposing thereby part of their brood. The 

 so exposed brood chills, dies, decays, and 

 is then removed as stated above. No par- 

 ticular harm is done, only that perhaps a 

 superficial observer is made to feel very 

 comfortable on the disappearance of foul 

 brood (?) in his apiary. "The poorer the 

 season, the more foul brood, the better the 

 season, the less foul brood," said, very in- 

 nocently, one of our brethren not long 

 since in the Bee Journal. 



It is a consoling feature, indeed, to ob- 

 serve from their expressions that a large 

 number of our good bee-keepers who 

 know, as yet, nothing of this dread disease, 

 that contagious foul brood does not pre- 

 vail to any very great extent. It shows, 

 also, that we have a chance yet of master- 

 ing the malady, if we mean business. 



On a former occasion, I attempted to 

 state the difference between the " real " 

 foul brood and this "harmless" foul 

 brood, as it may be called, and that the 

 former is by no means a result of the lat- 

 ter. I had ample proof to justify my as- 

 sertion, aud so stated it (see Bee Jour- 

 nal, page 502, November, 1879). If I ever 

 doubted my conviction, I had the best 

 chance of thoroughly testing the matter 

 again this summer. 



Several lots of bees sent me last spring 

 from friends in the South, arrived here in 

 bad condition. Some colonies had all the 

 brood smothered in every frame, which 

 looked in capped and uncapped cells, so 

 much like the real foul brood that it came 

 near deceiving me. It had the shape and 

 about the color, but removing the decayed 

 larva with a pin, it pulled out complete. 

 It had a skin around it, unlike the larva 



killed by the contagion, in which the skin 



decays almost at the same time with the 

 body. Satisfied that no trouble would 

 arise, and in order to test the matter more 

 thoroughly, 1 tilled a number of second 

 stories of strong colonies with these 

 frames Of decaying brood. Friends came 

 to see me, and, walking down between 

 two rows of hives, one remarked : "What 

 stench is that?" "It comes from that 

 hive," said the Other, extending his nos- 

 trils, and stooping down to one of those 

 hives prepared by me. At my request to 

 see if they could scent another hive of 

 that sort, "they succeeded. So strong an 

 emission I had never observed from a hive 

 containing the real foul brood. However, 

 my combs were cleaned a few days after- 

 wards and used again for brood-rearing 

 and honey-storing, with the same safety as 

 any. 



If you observe closely this harmless, per- 

 ished brood, it will not take you long to 

 tell the difference between it and the real, 

 or malignant foul brood. I think it nee 

 essary to describe it as thorough as possi- 

 ble, no matter if I do differ with the ma- 

 jority of our brethren or not, who appear 

 to think that they know something about 

 the matter. They may be convinced of 

 their error before they know, and it is my 

 object here to put you on your guard, as 

 "1 came through the mill," which gave 

 me not a little labor and expense. 



You will remember that 1 had cured last 

 year a number of hives afflicted with the 

 disease, and my apiary was clear of it in 

 the I all. 1 was generally prompt in dis- 

 infecting every infected and emptied hive 

 before I left it, but one. It was left near 

 a window with the entrance closed, ready 

 to be disinfected at some leisure hour, and 

 forgotten. 



Last spring I was coming past the hive 

 and found a large number of my bees 

 around and in the same. The entrance- 

 block had been removed accidentally, and 

 the scent of the hive had drawn on the 

 bees, which were without any forage, at 

 the time. The hive was shut up and the 

 bees inside starved to death, knowing that 

 those which had returned to their hives 

 already had taken home with them the 

 bacteria, causing foul brood, and I was 

 bound to let no more bees escape. It 

 proved as I had expected it would. A few 

 days afterwards, 1 found in several combs 

 of weak colonies a few larva? killed by the 

 fungus carried in on the feet of the bees 

 coming from the infected hive. The lar- 

 va? had already turned into a brownish 

 mass with unmistakable signs of the dis- 

 ease, but apparently not far enough ad- 

 vanced to have thrown out bacteria or 

 spores. I cut out those infected cells, 

 gave all the combs a good sprinkling of 

 salicylic acid with the atomizer, and no 

 signs of the disease were noticed after- 

 wards. Two full frames of brood from 

 another hive where diseased larva? were 

 more numerous were burned, which, with 

 agood sprinkling, saved the colony. Three 

 very strong colonies, however, had so 

 many cells with diseased larva? that I 

 should have been sure to have overlooked 

 some, had I attempted to treat them as I 

 did those weak colonies mentioned above. 

 A radical measure was necessary. Con- 

 sequently, I brushed all the bees from 

 their combs into comb foundation, and 

 fed them with the salicylic acid as de- 

 scribed at our last year's meeting in Cin- 

 cinnati, which has proved successful in 

 every instance, and to which I have no 

 improvement to make to-day. See Bee 

 Journal, page 534, November, 1S80. 



It beingunpleasant and without a benefit 

 to the average reader to repeat matters so 

 often, I refer interested parties to the re- 

 spective pages of the Bee Journal as 

 stated above, or to my little pamphlet, 

 " Practical Hints to Bee- Keepers," con- 

 taining full particulars in regard to the 

 disease, with other interesting matter, 

 which I will mail to anyone for 10 cts., the 

 expense of publishing and postage. 



Dr. E. Parmly, N. Y., offered the 



following, which was adopted : 



Resolved, That the thanks of this 

 Convention are tendered Mr. D. A. 

 Jones, of Ontario, for the valuable in- 

 formation he lias so freely imparted, 

 and the interest he has awakened in 

 the present and former meetings by 

 giving his experience and views on so 

 large a range of topics. 



Rev. L. Johnson paid an eloquent 

 tribute to the Convention. 



J. C. Peden extended an invitation 

 to the members to visit hint at his 

 home in Lawrenceburg, Ky. 



Judge Andrews addressed the Con- 

 vention on fall honey in Texas. 



A communication from E. E. Hasty 

 on " The origin of our present races of 

 bees," was read. 



[We are compelled to postpone the 

 publication of this article for want of 

 space.] 



A communication was read from C. 

 II. Lake, Baltimore, Md., describing 

 his "old reliable - ' bee hive, now on ex- 

 hibition. 



Dr. Dillurd, of Lexington, Ky., was 

 invited to address the Convention. 

 The Doctor, in response, said he was 

 not now engaged in bee-keeping, but 

 anticipated Be would be again, as he 

 did not know how he could get along 

 without them. 



The committee on exhibits made 

 the following report: 



C. F. Mutta, Cincinnati, Ohio, shows two line »ll- 

 metal honey extractors of hla own manufacture, 



which for style and workmanship appear to be 

 very complete. 



J. M. Oavis, Springhill, Tenn., shows a honey car- 

 riage, which ia so perfect in all its parta that liny 

 bee-keeper who runs for extracted honey cannot 

 afford to do without it. 



Charles II. Lake, Baltimore. Md., shows bis Old 

 Reliable double-wall hive, accompanied by an ex- 

 planatory letter. 



('. II. Deane, Mortonsville, Ky., shows the Star 

 (.'hall hive, ao perfectly arranged in all its parts 

 that no one can fail to be struck with its wonderful 

 completeness ; also a division board and feeder 

 combined ; he also shows a new feature in connec- 

 tion with section-storing, which surpasses any- 

 thing of the kind in connection with a Langstroth 

 hive, either one or two stories ; the case holding 

 the sections has no top bar, and they are so ar- 

 ranged that they can be tiered up either in the top 

 story or in the body of the hive, and combines all 

 the necessary arrangements simple and complete. 



Mrs. Frances A. Dunham, Depere, Wis., exhibits 

 one of her celebrated comb foundation machines. 



T. F. Bingham shows a tine display of his unri- 

 valled smokers ; alsosomeof theBingham& Heth- 

 erlngton uncapping knives. 



J. M. C. Taylor, Lewistown, Md., shows a very 

 fine Italian queen ; also a beautiful albino queen 

 with handsome bees. 



D. A. Pike, Smithsburg, Md., exhibits some hand- 

 some Italian and albino bees, also a Syrian queen 

 mated with an albino drone. 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown, Augusta, Ga., shows some 

 beautiful Cyprian and Syiian bees; also some 

 crosses between Cyprians, Cyrians and Italians, 

 proving clearly that, he exercises great care in 

 breeding. 



D. A." Jones, Beeton, Ont., exhibits four tine Sy- 

 rian and five Cyprian queens; also two Italians 

 crosaed with Cyprian and Syrian dronea on hia bee 

 islands. 



T. G. Newman showa the fifth edition of " Cook's 

 Manual of the Apiary," revised and improved. con- 

 taining invaluable information for the bee-keeper, 

 whether novice, amateur or specialist ; none can 

 afford to do without It. Also, the AMERICAN Bee 

 Journal in its proposed new form for 1881!, which 

 is the only weekly bee paper in the world, devoted 

 exclusively to bees and honey. It should be a wel- 

 come visitor to every luver of bees. Mr. Newman 

 also exhibits" Bee-Culture," of which book he is 

 the author ; also " Extracted Honey," by Chas. & 

 C. P. Dadant. 



G. W. Demaree, Christiansburg, Ky., shows a 

 very excellent feeder, also an ingenious invention 

 for leading bees out of the honey house. 



C. F. Muth, Cincinnati, O., exhibits one of the 

 safest and most valuable shipping queen cages yet 

 brought before the public. 



C. H. Lake. Baltimore, Md., has on exhibition a 

 Dzierzon-Berlepsch bee-hive, which was presented 

 by King Otto, of Greece, to Mr. R. Colvin. 



A. C. Cunningham, Salvisa, Ky., shows a number 

 of packages of honey in glass, which are very at- 

 tractive. No one can fail to be struck with the 

 superiority of his honey, it being so thick and de- 

 licious that Kentucky honey in the future must 

 take a front rank in the market, both as to quality 

 and price. 



Dr. N. P. Allen presents a number of samples of 

 comb foundation of various thicknesses, adapted 

 to different uses in the hive, all superior of its 

 kind both as to color and purity of material, mostly 

 made on the machine invented by Mrs. F. A. Dun- 

 ham, Depere, Wis., and forwarded to the Conven- 

 tion by Chas. & C. P. Dadant, of Hamilton. III. 



The Bee-Keepers' Instructor, the New England 

 Bee Journal and Home Gazette, and the Bee Keep- 

 ers' Magazine, all of which are valuable aids to bee- 

 keepers, are on exhibition. 



On motion, the report was adopted 

 and the committee discharged. 



' An article was read from Rev. A. 

 Salisbury, entitled, 



Cyprian Bees. 



After an experience of one year, I must 

 say I am pleased with the Cyprian bee. 

 The attachment springs from no selfish 

 motive, but from a strong conviction that 

 the merits of the race will warrant the 

 estimate. Their beauty is equal to, and 

 will probably excel that of our most beau- 

 tiful Italians, and the. beauty of the latter 

 is never marred by a blood relationship 

 with the former, but rather augmented. 



They are good workers, active and in- 

 dustrious, and I am laboring under the 

 conviction that they carry more honey in 

 their sacks than the Italians. My opinion 

 is based on the admitted fact that they are 

 less in size than the Italians when not 

 gathering honey, but when their sacs are 

 filled they compare in size with their rivals. 



As a race the queens are evidently pos- 

 sessed of more fecundity than Italian 

 queens. In all great enterprises to be ac- 

 complished in a given time, the work is 

 done by the multitude, and not the dis- 

 couraged few. While white clover con- 

 tinues to bloom so early in some localities, 

 commencing the latter part of May, very 

 few colonies of Italians are up with the 

 times for storing in the boxes at the open- 

 ing of the harvest, so a loss occurs in get- 

 ting the first clover honey in boxes, for the 

 want of bees to fill them from bottom to 

 top. Cyprians, with anything of a chance, 

 will be up with the season, and by the 

 thousands will sip the sweet nectar from 

 the snowy fields, and rushing homeward 

 pell-mell, their nervous muscles instinct- 

 ively move them up-stairs to unburden the 

 heavy load. 



It is true, the pure! Cyprians are more 

 DervOUS anil easily irritated than the pure 

 Italians, but are not disposed to provoke 

 an attack, but to resent an insult. Most 

 colonies can he manipulated without trou- 

 ble. They are like all other families of the 

 animal kingdom, they vary in disposition, 

 even as do our own eh i Id ten nursed by tin! 

 same mother. Yet it is sometimes true, 

 the most irritable member of the family is 

 possessed of more good qualities than all 

 tin' balance of the household. Little diffi- 

 culty need occur with the skillful apiarist 

 in running for box honey, hut more diffi- 

 culty is experienced where all the honey is 

 to be extracted. 



The bees from a Cyprian mother mated 

 with a pure Italian drone, are large, beau- 

 tiful, active anil quiet, and if bred up to a 

 pure race, I am not positive we might not 

 christen them "Apis Americana," But 

 we will refrain until we get the length of 

 the tongue. Whether the mixing of the 

 races will produce like results remains to 

 be determined, but if not, all the drone 

 combs should be congregated in the hives 

 occupied by Italian queens, aud the vic- 

 tory is surely gained. 1 prophesy ten 

 years will not have passed before those 

 now ready to discard the new races will 

 change their opinions, and not hastily ex- 

 clude all foreign blood. 



D. A. Jones, Ontario, thinks a pro- 

 fitable business can be transacted by 

 Southern breeders and others, in 

 breeding choice drones and selling to 

 queen breeders, especially by shipping 

 North. 



Dr. J. P. 11. Brown inquired of Mr. 

 Jones what experience he had in ship- 

 ping drones. 



M. Jones answered he practiced the 

 method in interchanging drones be- 

 tween his apiaries and bee islands. 

 By the use of his perforated metal en- 

 trance, drones not desired to mate 

 with queens could be restrained in the 

 hive. 



Rev. L. Johnson addressed the Con- 

 vention as follows, on 



Progressive Bee-Culture- Past, Present and 

 Prospective. 



Scientific bee-culture may properly be 

 said in this country to he confined to the 

 last 30 years. The first bees in America 

 were imported into Pennsylvania about 

 the year 1627. We also have accounts of 

 bees being brought from England to New 

 York and Virginia about the year 1085. 

 From that time forward they have been 

 disseminated to every part of the United 

 States aud Canada. Until the last 20 

 years all these were of the German or 

 black variety. Until 1851, they were kept 

 in the log-gum, box-hive, or straw-skep. 

 The hives were generally set in some out- 

 of-the-way place, and but little, attention 

 given them, exceptat swarming or robbing 

 time. The weak ones were often brim- 

 stoned in the fall, and the little honey 

 they had was about the only surplus the 

 owner obtained. Sometimes a cap of 20 or 

 30 lbs. of white honey taken from the 

 strongest colonies, was considered quite 

 an acquisition. The man who could pro- 

 tect himself in veil and guantlets, envelop 

 himself in smoke, and then approach a 

 hive in early morning, burst off the top, 

 and cut out 30 or 40 lbs. of honey, was con- 

 sidered quite a bee man. 



Much superstition was held about bees 

 in those days. When they swarmed, bells 

 and pans, and everything which would 

 make a noise were brought into use to 

 make them settle. When a hive was sold, 

 it must be removed at night, and the 

 money left on the stand, or the former 

 owner would lose his luck. When a mem- 

 ber of the family died, some one must 

 whisper the sad event to the bees, or they 

 would all leave. The colony was said to 

 be ruled by a king, whom all obeyed : the 

 drones were females, which laid all the 

 eggs, and the workers were— well, only a 

 stinger. In short, scarcely anything was 

 known about bees, and success was attri- 

 buted almost entirely to luck. 



In the year 1851, the Rev. L. L. Langs- 

 troth invented the movable comb hive 

 which bears his name. About the same 

 time the Rev. Dr. Dzierzon, of Germany, 

 also made a similar invention in Europe. 

 From that time forward an entirely new 

 era in bee-culture was inaugurated, both 

 in the Old World and the New. Discovery 

 after discovery in the natural history of 

 the honey bee was made, and as truth 

 gradually came to the light, superstition 

 was dissipated, and instead of a "venom- 

 tiped warrior," always ready for fight, 

 bees were found susceptible of education 

 and control, the same as other farm stock. 

 Colonies were not only increased at pleas- 

 ure by this system, but the bees were ef- 

 fectually guarded against many of their 

 enemies, and vast stores ot white honey 

 obtained where almost none had been 

 secured. Literature upon subjects per- 



