THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



793 



«ral weeks in a colony before one 

 ■would be likely to discover it from 

 the odor on opening the hive. Tliough 

 1 have had 2 colonies so diseased as 

 to be reduced to the strength of weak 

 nuclei, yet no odor could be discover- 

 ed without opening the hive or put- 

 ting the nose close to the entrance ; 

 so 1 do not depend upon the sense of 

 smelling in discovering the disease. 



Fourthly : Generally more or less 

 •of the cells containing dead brood 

 bave cappings, each of which has an 

 opening near its centre, and these 

 openings vary in size from one that 

 might have been made with a com- 

 mon pin up to one-half as large as the 

 flapping Itself, or even larger; as if 

 the bees, discovering the death of the 

 larvfe while capping the cells, at once 

 interrupt their useless work. Some- 

 times many dead larvie will be found 

 in the cells on which the work of cap- 

 ping has not even been begun, and, 

 on the other hand, sometimes a comb- 

 ful of dead larvse will hardly exhibit 

 a cell with an incomplete capping. 

 Cells containing dead brood and hav- 

 ing cappings which are entire, may 

 generally be detected by the sunken 

 appearance of the cappings. 



As I have said, last May I discover- 

 ed the effects of the disease in 2 colo- 

 nies. I could not believe that it was 

 the work of foul brood, but deter- 

 mined to keep watch, and did so until- 

 I saw them increase in strength rap- 

 idly, one of them casting a swarm, 

 and, the busy season coming on, I 

 paid no more attention to them until 

 early in July, when the white clover 

 season closed. I had 3,000 sections 

 partly tilled with honey, and in order 

 to have them finished, I selected 27 

 colonies to do the work, and got honey 

 to feed them for this purpose, by ex- 

 tracting two or three of the heaviest 

 ■combs from each colony in my apiary. 

 Everthing progressed finely for sev- 

 eral days, until one of my employes 

 called my attention to a colony that 

 seemed not piosperous. On examina- 

 tion 1 decided the case to be foul 

 brood, and found that several other 

 colonies had the disease also, and that 

 from 10 to 20 combs from diseased 

 colonies had been extracted, the 

 combs distributed through the apiary, 

 and the honey fed to the 27 colonies 

 before mentioned. 



As the readiest method I proceeded 

 to attempt a cure by the starvation 

 plan, and treated 50 colonies or more 

 very successfully so far as yet ap- 

 pears. 1 do not by any means cherish 

 the hope that there will be no more 

 cases. I shall undoubtedly have to 

 continue the struggle awhile yet, but 

 I have no doubt of final success. 



In closing, let me remark as fol- 

 lows : 1. That the rapidity with 

 which the disease will destroy a col- 

 ony depends as much upon the num- 

 ber of combs in the hive as upon the 

 virulence of the disease. A colony 

 on 8 combs, attacked by the disease 

 in the spring, will very likely be re- 

 duced at the close of the season to a 

 pint or quart of bees ; while one on 20 

 ■combs will perhaps cast a swarm, and 

 still come through a good colony. 2. 

 Honey from infected colonies cer- 

 tainly carries the disea.se. Of the 27 



colonies fed as above, 2() had the dis- 

 ease well developed when I stopped 

 breeding. 3. I venture the opinion 

 that the disease is conveyed only in- 

 cidentally, except by infected honey, 

 and by the matter of diseased brood. 

 I did what I would not advise any 

 one to do, and that was to put a dis- 

 eased colony back into its own hive 

 without disinfecting the hive, of 

 course giving the bees, after a course 

 of fasting, sound honey, and the dis- 

 ease did not reappear though a con- 

 siderable amount of brood was reared. 

 Finally, hiving swarms from dis- 

 eased colonies on foundation or empty 

 frames seems to be all that is neces- 

 sary to free them entirely from the 

 disease. 



Dr. A. B. Mason— I have cured foul 

 brood by the starvation plan, and by 

 using salicylic acid. I prefer the 

 former plan. 



P. M. Puhl— It can be cured, there 

 is no doubt about that, but the 

 trouble is to keep it cured ; especially 

 is this the case where there is much 

 timber. 



T. F. Bingham — I would not try to 

 save the brood, as young bees getting 

 into the wrong hive will spread the 

 disease. 



Dr. Mason— I should save the 

 brood. 



Mr. Smith— Bee-keepers should be 

 careful about keeping combs contain- 

 ing foul brood, as when it dries, the 

 spores are liable to float in the air, 

 and be scattered to colonies of bees. 



Prof. Cook— I think this would be 

 possible. 



Next came the following essay by 

 Geo. E. Hilton, on the 



HONEY-FLORA OF NORTHERN MICH. 



If one takes the time to observe and 

 the trouble to enumerate them, he 

 will be astonished at the almost end- 

 less variety of honey-producing plants 

 within this State. It would require a 

 skilled botanist to name them all. 

 The All-wise Father has provided 

 nearly all trees and plants with either 

 honey or pollen to attract the insect 

 world. He spreads a continual feast 

 for the bee th'it the important object 

 of perfect fertilization may be more 

 certainly attained. The bee that 

 slips from flower to flower, rollicking 

 in the golden dust among the new- 

 born anthers, playing hide-and-seek 

 in the opening corollas, is performing 

 a work of untold value in the wise 

 economy of nature. The honey se- 

 creted by the blossoms is for the pur- 

 pose of inviting cross-fertilization, 

 and to prevent in-and-in breeding. 



If no insect is there to utilize the 

 drop of nectar, it is evaporated and 

 scattered to the four winds of heaven. 

 No one is richer for the ungathered 

 sweets, and no one is the poorer 

 whose fields are searched by the tire- 

 less little worker whose instincts lead 

 it to garner the evanescent riches 

 which of a truth take to themselves 

 wings and fly away. From the " trail- 

 ing arbutus " that peeps out of the 

 snow on some hillside, to the last frost 

 flower in autumn, there is almost a 

 continual succession of honey-pro- 

 ducing plants, whose wealth of nectar 



ought to be utilized as one of the sure 

 resources of this grand State, ('ali- 

 fornia may occasionally astonish us 

 by her magnificent honey crop, but in 

 isiichigan where " the early and latter 

 rains " are not only promised but 

 sent, we are always confident of a rea- 

 sonable surplus. 



The ))astures and roadsides are dot- 

 ted with white clover which yields the 

 finest honey in the world. The rivers 

 and lakes are generally skirted with 

 linden timber, and our uplands are 

 interspersed with the same — one of 

 the best honey-producing trees of the 

 world, yielding largely a nectar that 

 is prized for its beautiful amber color 

 and aromatic flavor. Every fence- 

 corner and neglected field is planted 

 by the hand of Nature, as though she 

 were trying in some way to counter- 

 act man's shiftlessness by making the 

 earth bring forth abundantly some of 

 the good things of life. 



It is of the greatest importance to 

 the bee-keeper to know just when this 

 succession of bloom occurs, that he 

 may have his bees in the best possible 

 condition to secure the nectar. So far 

 as my observation and knowledge ex- 

 tend, I will briefly enumerate them : 

 About the first pollen comes from 

 willow and soft maple, usually about 

 the middle of April, varying viith the 

 season. In the early part of May 

 comes the hard or sugar maple, and 

 this tree deserves more than a passing 

 notice. It produces both honey and 

 pollen in large quantities, and I some- 

 times feel that were our bees in the 

 same condition they are at the ap- 

 proach of the linden flow, we would 

 receive nearly the same results. 



Fortunately my bees last spring 

 were strong early, and many of them 

 stored considerable surplus from this 

 source, aud it being followed closely 

 by the raspberry and blackberry 

 bloom (with which this country 

 abounds), I secured at least a thou- 

 sand pounds of surplus previous to 

 the opening of white clover, from my 

 60 colonies. White clover opens from 

 June 1 to June b5, and in my 10 years 

 of bee-keeping it has never failed to 

 give a fair surplus. The flow was 

 short the past season, on account of 

 the drouth, but mj bees being strong 

 I took about 2,500 pounds from this 

 source. There is no interval between 

 clover and linden in this latitude ; in 

 wet seasons the clover often continues 

 until after the linden ceases to bloom. 

 The linden opens from .Iuly4 to July 

 20, according to the season, but can- 

 not be depended upon in this latitude. 

 It is the most sensitive and more de- 

 pendent on atmospheric conditions 

 than any bloom in this latitude. We 

 usually get two or three days, how- 

 ever, and once I remember of ten 

 days when it secreted honey during 

 its bloom. I find it does better along 

 rivers and lake shores than on the 

 uplands. 



After the above flowers we have an 

 interval in the honey-flow^ until buck- 

 wheat, fireweed, goldenrod, asters 

 and boneset come into bloom, with 

 which, aside from buckwheat, this 

 country naturally abounds. They 

 usu.ally afford us some surplus, but 

 the greater part goes to the brood-nest 



