AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



147 



on the cause of foul brood. In the 

 "Foul Brood Bulletin," page 7, Mr. 

 Pringle says : 



'• My own settled couvictiou is, that foul 

 brood is often caused by the rotting in the 

 cells of brood dead from other causes. 

 Assuming this to be true (and there is 

 ample evidence to warrant such an assump- 

 tion) , our course to prevent the oi'igination 

 of foul brood in our apiaries is perfectly 

 clear: Avoid as far as possible having 

 dead brood from any cause, and, when 

 found, remove the comb containing it, and 

 melt it into wax (no great loss), instead of 

 following the usual practice of giving it to 

 the bees to ' clean out.' They might clean 

 it out and they might not, depending on 

 circumstances. In case of weak colonies, 

 especially, never allow dead brood to re- 

 main with them under any circumstances, 

 and keep everything clean about the hives 

 and yard. That much we can at least do 

 towards preventing foul brood arising at 

 home." 



I never read any advice so well to the 

 point as Mr. Pringle has given in so few 

 words on this subject. It downs any ad- 

 vice I ever read from any scientists, and 

 my advice to all is to pay attention to 

 these words from Mr. Pringle. 



I have received many letters from the 

 bee-keepers of the United States to show 

 that my article in the American Bee 

 JouKNAL of May 11th has changed 

 many of those who believed in the opin- 

 ions held by the scientists. I here give 

 a letter from a bee-keeper in Colorado, 

 omitting his name : 



Colorado, July 5, 1893. 

 " Wm. McEvot, Woodburn. Ont. 



My Dear Sir : — I have read with much in- 

 terest your article on the cause of foul 

 brood, in the American Bee Journal for 

 May 11th, and have been waiting for the 

 cure article in vain. Will you not please 

 give me the cure, as I am fully convinced 

 (much against my former views) that your 

 statement as to the cause is correct. 



I am just commencing the bee-business 

 again, after I had lost everything by foul 

 brood. Scientists here, as well as else- 

 where, have led us astray, and we must 

 now rely upon practical experience. I am 

 sure many in all parts of our country are 

 looking for your promised article. Hoping 

 that you can favor me, 



I am, very truly yours. 



The above letter was written just one 

 day before my last article in the Bee 

 Journal, giving the cure of foul brood. 



My present article is already too long, 

 or I would give all my experiments in 

 trying to cure foul brood, and explain 

 my " hits " and " misses " before I came 

 to make a sure cure of it, and the rea- 

 sons why I failed in some and suc- 



ceeded in others with the very same 

 treatment. I believe I will give it 

 through the American Bee Journal, in 

 order to help others to better under- 

 stand how to manage the curing of foul 

 brood, if they ever get as sorely tried 

 as I was with it in 1875. 

 Woodburn, Ont., July 17, 1893. 



" Pulled " Queens — What They 

 Are, Their Value, Etc. 



Written for " Gleanings in Jiee-Culture " 

 BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



When a colony prepares for swarming, 

 it is well known that a number of queen- 

 cells are started ; and about the time 

 the first one is sealed, the swarm issues. 

 I may say, by the way, that I am saying 

 this on general authority, for my own 

 experience is that bees oftener swarm 

 before any queen-cell is sealed. In any 

 case, after the swarm has issued, a sec- 

 ond swarm is likely to issue ; and before 

 this swarm issues, piping and quahking 

 may be heard. 



At the time of this piping and quahk- 

 ing, there is a young queen at large in 

 the hive, the one that does the piping; 

 and the queen or queens that quahk in 

 response are mature young queens that 

 have not yet left the cell, out would do 

 so at once if the coast were clear. They 

 are, perhaps, deterred from issuing from 

 their cells by the fear of the piper, or, 

 more likely, because the workers that 

 constantly surround the cell drive them 

 back whenever they attempt to come 

 out. You can take out a frame, pull off 

 these queen-cells, or pull the end oflf 

 them, releasing the queen, and such a 

 queen is called a "pulled" queen. 



It is well known that a young queen 

 just hatched may be put into any hive, 

 and the workers seem to pay very little 

 attention to it. I doubt, however, 

 whether this is so unexceptionally true 

 as some seem to think. A queen just 

 hatched may be put into a colony having 

 a laying queen, and may supersede her ; 

 but I am not sure such will not be the 

 case under all circumstances. Acting 

 on the theory that young queens would 

 be kindly received, and assume control 

 anywhere, I tried one summer to re- 

 place a large number of my old queens 

 by putting into the hives young queens 

 just hatched, trusting that they would 

 kill the old ones. In at least some of 

 the cases I found the young queens all 

 right for a day or two, but sooner or 



