[905. THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 185 



concerned. Stimulative feeding in tlie TO PREVENT SWARMING, 



pringr should not be <begrun before somw One summer, Mr. Pincot happened to be 



ollen or honey is brought in. sick at the time when he ought to have 



put the supers on his colonies, says L'Api- 



DYSENTERY. culteur. When he got well, some of his 



Mr. H. Freudenstein cures dysentery by colonies had swarmed and a number of oth- 



iving the bees warm sugar syrup. It will, ^rs had queen cells sealed. Over each of 



e says, cure them even without a cleansing t^ese he put a second story, into which 



ight. If the weather is cold, the feed must werp mioo^ ti>-„„ e ™ j, ^ , , 



v.eie raised three frames of brood from be- 



e quite close to the cluster, in order to en- i„„, *,,„ ,.„™„;„i„„ „„ . ^, 



low, tne lemaming space of the upper story 



ble the bees to take it. vvfi<5 fillfri with „™«. . , ., 



v\as niiea with empty combs and three 



frames of foundation took the place of the 



YOUNG VS. OLD BEES. brood combs moved above. None of the 



Mr. Mulot contends that old bees are as colonies thus treated swarmed He does 



30d or even better than young ones for not say whether the queen cells were de- 



intering purposes. He says that the old stroyed or not 



jes which wear themselves out raising brood 



,te in the fall could have done as good ser- TESTING WAX. 



ce in the spring as the young bees them- A general method of testing the purity of 



lives and at less expense. (There are old wax is given by Mr. Armand Gaille, chemist 



)es and old bees. W^hat Mr. Mulot has in at Coneise, Switzerland Three trials are 



ew is the result of quite late breeding, to be made in the following order: 



he majority of the European bee-keepers 1- Specific weight. A small piece of 



imulate brood rearing in the fall as much beeswax known as pure is made into a ball 



id as late as possible in order to have strong and then put in a mixture of alcohol and 



■lonies of young bees in the spring.) water. About one-third alcohol and two- 



thirds water. Then water is added carefully 



FEEDING LARVAE. until the wax barely floats and when pushed 



An item is reproduced from a German down comes up very slowly. A similar piece 



iper saying that the larvae of the bee are of the suspected wax is then tried in the 



ntinually moving after their food, complet- same way and if pure should behave in the 



ig the circuit every two hours, approxi- same way. In making the balls, care should 



ately. Every time a turn is completed, be taken that no air remains inside, and 



ey receive a fresh supply of food. How that when in the mixture, their surfaces 



e observer found it out not stated. should be well wetted. TJiis is not enough 



for the adulterant might have added some- 



WINTERING. thing lighter and also something heavier so 



Mr. Baffert found that bees winter just as to bring the average about right. 



well if empty combs or empty space is in -• A small piece of wax is placed in 



e hive as when the bees are confined In a a glass with some essence of turpentine of 



laller space by dummies. (The winters of Arst quality and purity. The glass is then 



■ance are milder than ours.) — L'Apiculteur. heated on a small alcohol tamp until the 



wax is dissolved. If the solution is muddy 



SMOKER WITHOUT SMOKE. or not complete, the wax is not pure, as the 



Instead of fuel and fire, put in the smoker turpentine dissolves the wax completely, 

 sponge wetted with an apifuge composed 3. Another piece of the wax to be tried 



Spanish fly pulverized and dissolved in is then placed in a glass with some con- 



rbolic acid. The combination is diluted centrated pure alcohol and heated until the 



th enough water to make a rather weak ^'ax is dissolved. The glass is then set 



ixture. — Le Progress Apicole. aside to cool for at least half an hour. The 



liquid is filtered and added to about the 



CLEANING COMBS. same volume of distilled or rain water. A 



A German paper is quoted as giving the small piece of tournesol paper blued by a 

 Uowing for making bees clean the -x- little amnionia is then added. The whole 

 icted combs without robbing: Carry a is shaken together. After a quarter of an 

 rong colony into an enclosure without hour the paper should have remained blue. 

 )sed windows, such as a stable. Put If it becomes red the wax is adulterated, 

 side it an empty hive, with only the en- If the color has not changed, the liquid 

 mce open. The combs to be cleaned are should be filtered, and after filtration the 

 iced in this hive, successively and the liquid must be clear. The wax that will 

 es of the colony are shown the way to, stand these three tests can be considered 

 d do the cleaning. If necessary the as pure as all the known possible adultera- 

 ed combs in the colony can be exchanged tions would be revealed either by one or 

 empty ones, or even foundation. the other. — Le Revue Internationale. 



