THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



535 



my error, and found the brood in the 

 movable frame hives almost as badly 

 affected as in the box-hives. 



I then decided to try Mr. ('heshire's 

 method. I sent for his pamphlet on 

 foul brood, and a quantity of phenol. 

 I may have deviated a little from the 

 rides laid down in the pamphlet, but 

 I will tell exactly what I did. 



To 1 tea-spoonfid of phenol I meas- 

 ured and added 400 tea-spoonfuls of 

 water, that had previously been 

 boiled ; with a pint or two of this 

 mixture I added honey from a healthy 

 colony, in a sufficient quantity to 

 make a thin syrup. I offered it in 

 feeders to the bees ; they would not 

 touch it. They seemed to shun and 

 fear it. I added more honey, making 

 a thick syrup ; still they would have 

 nothing to do with it. 1 concluded to 

 add 100 more parts of water. This I 

 did, and made more syrup. I placed 

 this new syrup in clean feeders (en- 

 trance feeders) and placed them be- 

 fore the hives of the diseased colonies, 

 just before dark. The next morning 

 I found that it had all been removed 

 and stored. The next day 1 opened 

 the hives, and after shaking off all 

 the bees, I took the frames and combs 

 to the extracting room and sprinkled 

 the combs well with the mixture, and 

 and rubbed it on the wood work with 

 a soft rag. The frames were replaced 

 in new hives, and the bees shaken in 

 from the old ones. 



Last fall I took the honey from 

 these Ave hives as closely as 1 could, 

 and then fed them plentifully with 

 the phenolated syrup. Last winter, 

 having been a terrible one on bees 

 and everything else, I found it neces- 

 sary to feed some of my colonies early 

 in the spring. For this food I made 

 a solution of 1 part phenol to 750 parts 

 water, adding sufficient honey to 

 make a fairly thick syrup. All the 

 bees took it readily. 



Instead of burning the old hives, I 

 simply placed them, with the covers 

 •and bottom-boards off, in a place 

 where the sun and rain could always 

 strike them. After three weeks or 

 so I gave them a wash inside with 

 powerful phenolated water, say 1 part 

 of phenol to 50 parts of water. 



If any one should wish to see my 

 strongest, most proBtable, and, in all, 

 the best colonies of my apiary, I 

 think I would show him the 5 colonies 

 that were claimed as victims by the 

 Bacillus alvei last summer. I found 

 1-400 too strong, and nothing could 

 induce the bees to go near it. With 

 1-500 I found a cure perfect in every 

 respect, acceptable to the bees, and 

 satisfactory in every way. I found 

 honey taken from a healthy colony 

 much superior to sugar of any kind, 

 with which to make the mixture. 

 The syrup can be lukewarm or cold, 

 as you please, except that which is 

 sprinkled on the brood, which must 

 be warm, to avoid chilling the brood. 

 I do not think that foul brood does 

 or can enter into the system of the 

 queen, or those bees that escape it ; 

 because the queens that were reigning 

 at the time of the trouble, are now 

 turning out good, healthy bees, and 

 they themselves have no superior in 



appearance. Prof. Cheshire deserves 

 much praise and credit for discover- 

 ing and giving to the bee-fraternity 

 this great remedy for foul brood. 

 Morgan City,? La. 



For tbo American Bee JoumaL 



Winter DcBOsitories for Bees, 



F. F. SOULE. 



As the time is approaching for the 

 practical consideration of a " Hotel 

 d'Bee " for the winter, perhaps an ex- 

 perience that I had several years 

 since, might throw some light on the 

 yet unsolved problem. The winter of 

 1878 I resided in Mansonville, Quebec, 

 where Wm. B. Manson (my father-in- 

 law) " kept bees," using the box-hive 

 and shoe boxes of every description 

 and shape. The cellar used for win- 

 tering was under his hotel, 100x50 

 feet,withan L 100x40 ft.,and cellar un- 

 der the entire building ; the cellar 

 under the main part was used for 

 storing vegetables, and never froze; in 

 fact it was always warm. On shelves 

 in this part was where bees were 

 stored. In the extreme north end 

 was a large wood furnace, draft being 

 supplied with air from the bottom of 

 the cellar, besides a large opening was 

 made in the bottom of the furnace 

 wall for cold air for heating chamber. 

 A large chimney (unused) extended 

 to the bottom of the cellar, in which 

 were two 8- inch holes left open ; 

 directly underneath the bees was a 

 planked drain 10 inches square, with 

 the outer end open several (say 40) 

 rods away. 



The L part of the cellar was cold, 

 in which beef, fish, etc., could be kept 

 frozen the entire winter. A partial 

 wall separated this from the main 

 cellar, while in the main cellar vege- 

 tables would grow the entire winter. 



Now the strange part of the story 



is this: The bees would be placed 

 on the shelf, say in the last of October 

 or later, and regardless of noise and 

 confusion would remain perfectly 

 quiet the entire long winter, coming 

 out strong and healthy in the spring, 

 showing no signs of diarrhea, or 

 later on, spring dwindling. In the 

 fall of 1878 we put in one colony with 

 the rest, that was weak and entirely 

 without stores. I told my father that 

 we would put them in and feed as an 

 experiment to see if we could bring 

 them through the winter. In that 

 day we knew nothing of feeders, or 

 had we the movable- frame to give 

 them; but I, myself, the entire win- 

 ter, made a syrup of sugar and water, 

 placed a piece of comb on a plate, 

 turned the cells full of this syrup, 

 raised the hive, rapping on it, and at 

 the same time my wife would hold 

 the light so the rays would shine in- 

 side, and those poor bees would come 

 down e?i masse as eager as calves to 

 get their rations. 



Now if any should doubt this they 

 can write to Wm. B. Manson, Man- 

 sonville, Quebec (who has been a 

 keeper of bees for 10 or 12 years), who 

 witnessed the performance repeatedly. 

 This colony came out all right in the 



spring, and rapidly built up. I do 

 not recollect of finding but few dead 

 bees during the entire winter, and I 

 now believe that breeding must have 

 taken place some lime, as the colony 

 seemed stronger when put on the 

 summer stand than when put in. I 

 will add that all the hive had large 

 openings at the bottom, in fact the 

 bottom-board lifted very loosely all 

 around, owing to warping, etc. Where 

 the bees were kept it was quite dark. 



To sum up: 1. A constant circu- 

 lation of air was going on. 2. The 

 furnace kept tlie cellar entirely free 

 from dampness, besides it furnished 

 one of tiie verv, very best of floor ven- 

 tilators. 3. The open work of the L 

 part admitted an abundant and con- 

 stant supply of pure, fresh air, and as 

 the furnace was in the north end, and 

 the bees in the extreme south of the 

 cellar, the cold air would naturally be 

 drawn to the furnace first, and pass 

 around so that when the bees received 

 it, all dampness and chill was re- 

 moved. Bees have been kept in this 

 same cellar, and under the same cir- 

 cumstances, for a number of years 

 (say 12). What do bee-keepers think 

 about it y 



Charles City, 6 Iowa. 



For the American Bee Journal 



Fall fort ill llie Apiary, 



W. H. STEWART. 



In an article published in the Bee 

 Journal for Sept. 23, 188-5, 1 stated 

 that at the middle of the basswood 

 honey flow I started the building of 

 several queen -cells. We will now 

 suppose that it is eight days later, 

 and that the supers and surplus combs 

 are all cared for. 



If I wish to increase my stock of 

 bees, I divide the strongest colonies, 

 giving each hive about equal portions 

 of bees, combs, brood and stores that 

 was contained in the old hive ; each 

 hive is now half full of combs ; lill 

 each hive with brood-combs, and 

 move the original hive 18 inches to 

 the right, and the new one 18 inches 

 to the left of the centre of the old 

 stand. They are now 3 feet apart, 

 and both facing in the same direction, 

 and looking as near like the old home 

 as possible, and the old stand vacant 

 between them. Do this work late in 

 the afternoon. In the morning the 

 bees will work at both stands about 



I pay no attention as to which col- 

 ony has the old queen with them, but 

 open them two days after and find 

 queen-cells started in the queenless 

 one. I then take a queen-cell from 

 my stock of queen-cells that are now 

 nearly ready to hatch, and place it 

 between the top-bars of the brood- 

 combs of the newly made queenless 

 colony. In due time I look the colony 

 over, not for the queen, unless I 

 chance to see her, but for eggs, and 

 if I find them then I mark O K on 

 the registering slate that hangs on 

 the hive. If no eggs are found I give 

 another queen-cell, and in due time 

 repeat the search for eggs. It is many 



