AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



279 



with a determination to meet next time 

 in the halls of our College of Agricul- 

 ture, and to see what it is doing for the 

 cause of the new education ; and, also, 

 to do what we can to show the teachers 

 that we have something good in store 

 for the education of the coming genera- 

 tions. 



Independence, Mo. 



Colony on Scales — Interesting 

 and Valuable. 



Written for the Farmer and Bairyman 

 BY D. KAUFFMAN. 



I have had one of the best colonies in 

 my apiary on a scale during a number of 

 years, and in one year marked down 

 every night the amount gained for the 

 day, and also kept a close watch on the 

 amount of surplus honey stored, and 

 from this I found that when bees gain 

 from one to three pounds, about one- 

 quarter of the gain is stored as surplus 

 honey, and when the gain is from three 

 to eight pounds, about one-half is stored 

 as surplus honey, and from the record 

 kept from last season, about two-thirds 

 was stored as surplus honey. These ex- 

 periments were all made for extracted 

 honey. 



But it seems to me that the rearing of 

 brood would not have anything to do 

 with the gain of a colony of bees, for if 

 the bees did not feed the brood it would 

 not gain in weight, and if they take the 

 feed from within the hive, it would not 

 get any heavier on account of the brood; 

 but it would make a difference in the 

 amount of surplus honey stored, and 

 when bees gain from 10 to 16 pounds 

 per day, they will lose from 3 to 5 

 pounds during the night; and should 

 the next two or three days be cool or 

 rainy, so that the bees could not fly, the 

 bees would lose about 3 pounds in the 

 first 24 hours, 2 pounds in the second, 

 one pound in the third, and 3^ pound in 

 the fourth day. 



The loss is caused by the evaporation 

 of the honey, and I think it is nearly as 

 great when bees gather honey as when 

 they do not, so that this would make the 

 actual weight carried in by the bees 

 during one day from three to five pounds 

 more than the scales would show, by 

 weighing the hive in the morning and 

 again in the evening. 



I believe that when bees gain at such 

 rates the old ones wear out as fast as the 

 young ones come on, for they fill up the 

 brood-combs with honey as fast as the 

 young bees hatch, so that the queen will 



not be able to find any empty cells to 

 put any eggs in, especially when run- 

 ning for comb honey. T believe there 

 were one-fourth less flying (or working) 

 bees in my apiary, at the close of the 

 honey season, than they were when I 

 first put the scales under the hive on 

 July 28th, and three-fourths less brood. 

 I think that it is a great help to have 

 a hive placed on a scale during the 

 honey season, for you can tell just what 

 the bees are doing, and how fast you will 

 have to get the sections ready to put on, 

 how much more room they need, etc., 

 from two to five days sooner than you 

 would if you had no scales, and these 

 two days would amount to several hun- 

 dred pounds of honey for each day in an 

 apiary of from 50 to 100 colonies. 



The Cures for Foul Brood- 

 Scalding Hives. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY J. L. WOOLDKIDGE. 



I want to say a few words to the 

 readers of the American Bee Journal, 

 whose apiaries are affected with foul 

 brood. Like Mr. Parcber (see page 

 150), I have taken great interest in all 

 I have seen in print regarding it, and I 

 kindly thank those gentlemen for their 

 advice. But don't give it to us so fast. 



I first read Cheshire, who recom- 

 mended phenol, and said salicylic acid 

 would not cure. I then read Mr. 

 Kohnke, who said salicylic will cure, 

 and phenol will not cure. Then Mr. 

 McEvoy comes in and says neither of 

 those remedies will do, and offers his 

 cure. Since then someone else disputes 

 his method, and some one else disputes 

 his, and so on. If I had believed every- 

 thing I have seen recommended as sure 

 cures for foul brood, I would have come 

 to the conclusion that they were like 

 "sure cures" for consumption, and 

 none of them were of any account, and 

 the result would have been my apiary 

 would have still been diseased with foul 

 brood. 



Fellow bee-keepers, you can't try 

 everything you see recommended, but if 

 you will do just as Mr. McEvoy tells you 

 to do, I don't think you will have to try 

 any other remedies. I cured the disease 

 in my apiary by putting the bees off as 

 natural swarms, burning the brood-nests 

 and scalding the hives, etc. 



Now let us try that scalding business. 

 First, cut up a big pile of dry wood. 

 What will we scald them in ? Here is a 



