584 



THE AMERICAI^ BEE JOaRNAL. 



amination will see that it proves 

 nothing. General conclusions are 

 drawn from particxdnr premises. We 

 may see how quickly the argument 

 breaks down by re-stating the first 

 syllogism, making the major premise 

 general^ as Mr. Clarke assumes the 

 conclusion to be thus : When any 

 work is going on in the hive, pollen is 

 necessary for all the bees of the colony 

 in order to keep their tissues intact ; 

 breeding is work going on in the hive 

 — and we have not the conclusion he 

 gets, but, therefore, when breeding is 

 going on in the hive, all the bees of 

 the colony require pollen to keep their 

 tissues intact. 



It is at once evident from this that 

 he assumes that all the bees, or the 

 bees generally, of a colony work when 

 breeding is going on, whereas it re- 

 quires proof. The nurse-bees may be 

 a very small proportion of the whole. 

 In the cases of successful winter 

 breeding claimed by Mr. Hall and Mr. 

 Barber, the bulk of the bees seemed 

 to be "hibernating" on the outside 

 of the hives. 



Again, to make the conclusion of 

 any validity in the further argument, 

 it must first be proved that the bees 

 actually use pollen to keep the tissues 

 intact. Do they do it in conlinement 

 when all the circumstances are favor- 

 able y Do they not under favorable 

 conditions of temperature and food 

 prefer to grow lean and die as of old 

 age, ratlier than to risk bringing dis- 

 ease to their household by the con- 

 sumption of pollen ? This seems to 

 be probable from the well known fact 

 that in hives where there has been 

 breeding during winter, much greater 

 numbers of dead are found. 



Does not tlie quotation which Mr. 

 C. makes from Mr. Hetldon with such 

 strong expressions of approval, viz : 

 " I am quite positive that there is 

 something about breeding, whether 

 In contiueraent or when the bees fly 

 regularly, which is very depleting to 

 them," tend to prove the same thing i* 

 Mr. Clarke makes " depleting " here 

 synonymous with " waste of tissue," 

 i.e., that the bees grow lean. If that 

 is the true meaning of it here, it 

 Indicates that the bees in nursing 

 brood do not always use pollen to 

 keep their own tissues intact, for if 

 they did they would not become de- 

 pleted in this sense; and who knows 

 but that such is the devotion of the 

 nurses to the young of the hive, that 

 they forego the use of necessary food, 

 and so sacrifice their lives, unless 

 afier a time they turn to some other 

 kind of work V But has he not given 

 the word in its connection here a 

 forced meaning y I hardly think that 

 Mr. Heddon had in mind tlie state of 

 the tissue of the individual bees, but 

 rather the state of the colony— that it 

 is depleted by tlie continual perisliing 

 of the nurses. Tliis brings us to the 

 same result, viz : that the nurses fail 

 to use the food necessary to restore 

 their perishing tissues. In either 

 view tlie attempt to use the above 

 quotation in piecing out an argument 

 against the pollen theory, seems like 

 a slip. However we may look at it 

 by all this first part of the argument, 

 absolutely nothing is proved, and all 



the further argument, as it gets its 

 support only from the validity of this, 

 must fall with it. 



But granting for the sake of argu- 

 ment that the true conclusion is as he 

 assumes it to be as he progresses in 

 the argument, and we have this : 

 When breeding goes on in the hive 

 all the bees of the colony require and 

 use pollen to keep their tissues intact; 

 bees breed in confinement in winter 

 without disease, therefore the con- 

 sumption of pollen by bees in con- 

 finement in winter does not cause 

 disease. But after granting him his 

 major premise, we find his minor 

 premise subject to the same infirmity 

 as was the major in the former syllo- 

 gism,!, e., while it expresses a par- 

 ticular limited and exceptional fact 

 which we may admit, he assumes 

 that it expresses a general universal 

 fact, viz : bees breeding in confine- 

 ment in winter ahoays do so without 

 disease, which is "not admissible, 

 indeed, which is palpably contrary to 

 the facts in general, except possibly a 

 few isolated ones which only serve to 

 make the rule more noticeable and 

 undoubted. 



Lapeer, 0+ Mich. 



[With this reply to Mr. Clarke, we 

 much prefer to let this matter rest, 

 while we devote our attention to some- 

 thing else.— Ed.] 



s^r the Amencan Bee Journal 



Foul Brooil— Preyeiition anil Cure, 



N. w. m'lain. 



I submit to the readers of the 

 American Bee Journal a prescrip- 

 tion for the cure of foul brood, as well 

 as one for its prevention : 



Take of soft water, 3 pints ; of dairy 

 salt, one pint. Use an earthen vessel. 

 Raise the temperature to 80^, Fahr. ; 

 do not exceed diP. Stir till the salt is 

 thoroughly dissolved. Now add one 

 pint of warm soft water in which has 

 been thoroughly dissolved four table- 

 spoonfuls of bicarbonate of soda (use 

 the crystal). Stir thoroughly. Add 

 to this mixture sufficient sugar or 

 honey to sweeten it, but not enough 

 to perceptibly thicken it. Now add 

 14 ounce of pure salicylic acid. Mix 

 thoroughly. Let this mixture stand 

 for two liours, when it becomes set- 

 tled and clear. 



r/ecitmieiif.— Shake the bees from the 

 combs, and extract as clean as pos- 

 sible. Now thoroughly atomize the 

 combs, using the mixture and a large 

 atomizer. Return the frames to the 

 colony. 



If there is no honey to be obtained 

 from the fields, feed honey or syrup 

 to which has been added 3 table- 

 spoonfuls of the mixture to each 

 quart of honey or syrup. Stir well. 

 The honey just extracted may be used 

 without injury to the bees, if the 

 mixture is added ; but no more should 

 be furnished than is consumed. Ato- 

 mize the colony two or three times 

 more, simply setting the frames apart 

 so as to direct the spray well over the 

 combs and bees— not brushing off the 



bees ; three or four days should inter- 

 vene between the times of treatment. 

 The last may be given on top without 

 removing a frame. 



As a preventive, apply on top of 

 the frames, or in any way by which 

 the bees may get it. Also burn old 

 dry bones to an ash, and pulverize. 

 Mix up 1 gallon to each 50 colonies in 

 the apiary, of the above mixture, 

 adding enough sugar or honey to make 

 it very sweet (say two or three times 

 as much honey or sugar as would be a 

 proper quantity for use in the 

 atomizer). Stir in a full half -pint of 

 the powdered bone ash. Place this 

 gallon of mixture in, say four shallow 

 vessels — perhaps bread pan feeders 

 with floats on top— and stand these 

 four in different parts of the apiary. 

 You will be surprised at the rapidity 

 with which the depleted colonies will 

 recuperate and grow strong again. If. 

 you fear that the exposure of sweets 

 in the apiary will induce robbing, the 

 mixture can safely be fed the custo- 

 mary way_on top of the frames in the 

 hive. 



I would recommend that you give 

 the entire apiary one application of 

 the mixture prescribed for cure, as 

 this treatment frequently prevents 

 the presence of the disease where it 

 was not before possible to detect it. 

 The quantity prescribed for use by 

 means of a large atomizer is sufficient 

 to treat 150 colonies. Not reckoning 

 the sugar or honey used, the cost will 

 not be more than 15 cents. I have 

 prescribed this treatment with entire 

 satisfaction and uniform success for 

 the past two years. I will mention 

 the facts in two or three of the api- 

 aries for which I have prescribed this 

 treatment : 



1. Nunber of colonies in the apiary, 

 46 ; number apparently diseased, 13 ; 

 number actually diseased, 28; disease 

 so far progressed that the stench was 

 very offensive in the yard ; bees crawl- 

 ing out of the hives to die, by tens of 

 thousands ; effect of treatment appar- 

 ent in one day ; a permanent cure in 

 each case. 



2. Number of colonies, GO ; serious 

 cases, 38 ; combs black and putrid ; a 

 few had already been burned ; effect 

 of treatment apparent at once ; a 

 permanent cure in each case. 



3. Number of colonies, over 150; 

 number of colonies diseased, 60; bees 

 swarming out ; stench from hives 

 nauseating ; combs black and rotten ; 

 brood putrid ; whole apiary treated ; 

 disease immediately arrested; effect 

 of treatment on affected colonies in- 

 stantaneous, even on apparently hope- 

 less cases ; every colony cured ; dis- 

 ease eradicated, leaving no trace be- 

 hind. Colonies all soon became 

 strong, healthy and prosperous. For 

 the purpose of further experiment, 

 the combs of healthy and diseased 

 colonies were exchanged ; combs from 

 diseased colonies being given the 

 healthy colonies, and the combs of 

 healthy colonies placed in the diseased 

 colonies. The treatment was applied 

 to both alike. In every case the dis- 

 ease would immediately disappear, 

 and in many cases the diseased colo- 

 nies were soon more populous and 

 prosperous than those which had had 



