May 4, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



275 



The planting- should consist of trees that have proved 

 hardy in our home or Northern nurseries, buying- only of 

 those -ivhom we know to be men of honor. With this rule 

 followed, and good care given, we may grow the delicious 

 apples instead of sending our money to distant States for 

 them and paying freight, and the middlemen their profit be- 

 sides. Who can estimate the benefit that would result to 

 the bee-keeping industry of our country-, and in the better 

 health and wealth of our people ? 



Ill the planting of an apple orchard it should be made a 

 point to have a succession of fruit for family use from July 

 1st to the following April, which is easily secured by the 

 proper selection of a few of each of the varieties to secure 

 the desired end. Four to six trees of each variety will do 

 for an ordinary family. 



It must at all times be remembered that bees and fruit 

 go well together, and that while the fruit-bloom is of much 

 value to the bees and their keeper, the bees are also almost 

 indispensable to the fruit-grower, and are his best friends, 

 and aid in securing a good fruit harvest. 



Peaches, pears and apricots have been planted here only 

 on a very small scale the past few years, but the first two 

 named have given the past three years good crops, the trees 

 being loaded. Apricots are, so far as I know, too young yet 

 to bear, so it is not known what the result from these trees 

 will be. 



Gooseberries, currants, raspberries and blackberries 

 are here grown to some extent, and are of benefit to our 

 bees. The two latter coming in bloom after the fruit-trees 

 are out, help to fill the interim between fruit-tree and clover 

 bloom. 



With anything of a favorable spring, with our bees, 

 well wintered, and the planting of fruit-trees and small 

 fruits named above, our hives should be crowded with bees, 

 and some surplus stored when combs are furnisht before the 

 close of the fruit-blooming period, and on the opening of 

 clover bloom our bees should be so numerous that each col- 

 ony would promptly begin work in the supers. As it now 

 is, only a part of our colonies are strong enough to do this 

 at that time, and clover bloom may be in ten days or more 

 before all our bees are storing in the supers. 



Fruit-bloom is well known to be an important factor in 

 the securing of a crop of surplus honey. To secure the de- 

 sired results bee-keepers must do more planting of honey- 

 producing trees and bushes, and encourage others to do so. 

 and they will at the same time reap a double harvest — that 

 of honey and fruit — than which no more healthful products 

 can be named for man's use. 



The honey-bees, in visiting blossoms of any kind in 

 search of honey, carry pollen from blossom to blossom, and 

 thus fertilize them and add to the fruit or grain .so visited. 

 This fact has been establisht beyond all doubt. This is of 

 untold benefit to farmers and fruit-growers. 



Carroll Co., III. 



An Explanation of Foul Brood and Its Cure. 



BY PROK. A.. J. COOK. 



I AM askt b)- one of our intelligent bee-keepers to explain 

 foul brood, and to state whether all microbes are harm- 

 ful. I am glad to give a brief chapter on these incon- 

 spicuous but very significant organisms, from the fact that 

 I have had numerous inquiries of late on this very subject. 

 Bacteria or microbes, also spoken of frequently as 

 germs, are very minute, so minute that were man magni- 

 fied as we must magnify these Lilliputian organisms to study 

 them at all, he would appear as large as Mount Washing- 

 ton. They are one-celled plants, and so are of the vegetable 

 world. Some are spherical, others rod-shaped, and still 

 others are spiral. They are classified from these three 

 characteristic forms. The matter of form, however, is not 

 so important really as their physiology or the work they do. 

 As the rod form may merge into the spiral, the microbes 

 reproduce in two ways. They maj- simply divide — one be- 

 coming two or more ; or spores, or minute germs may de- 

 velop, and burst forth and develop into the specific microbes 

 like that which produced them. Xot all microbes are harm- 

 ful. Some are helpful in removing dead matter. We now 

 know that all decay is the result of microbe growth. We 

 see, then, that except for these bacteria of decomposition 

 the earth would soon be clogged by its own dead organisms. 

 Some microbes work on the roots of legumes, like peas, 

 beans, etc., cause tubercles or wart-like excrescences, and in 

 their development breathe in the inert nitrogen of the air 

 and combine it into available form for plant use. They are 



thus the cheap, rapid producers of our most valuable or ex- 

 pensive fertilizer — nitrogen, in available form for plant 

 growth. 



Other bacteria enter into the development of cream so 

 as to give flavor to butter, and still others add their gifts in 

 the processes of cheese-making so that many of the most 

 valuable cheeses owe their superior excellence either to 

 products arising from the microbes, or to the microbes 

 themselves. 



The microbe of foul brood belongs to the rod-like forms, 

 and is one of the forms that develops in living organisms, 

 and breeds decay. Thus these bacilli kill the org-anism 

 which they attack, and death is followed with decomposi- 

 tion, which is peculiar in color, character and odor. The 

 color is brown, much like that of coffee ; the consistency' is 

 stick3', string)', and the thread formed in pulling it out is 

 elastic, so that as it lets go the pinhead which draws it forth 

 from the cell of comb, it flies back. The odor is very pene- 

 trating, and has been likened to that of old glue. These 

 microbes seem to work on the tissues, and cause their dis- 

 organization. Other bacteria are supposed to generate 

 poisons which tend to destroy the life of their victims. The 

 microbes of diphtheria are of this kind. This is why the 

 substances which are injected to destroy these poisons are 

 termed antitoxins. 



The dead larva or brood, victimized by the foul brood 

 bacillus, after decay commences loses all semblance of its 

 former self, and finally dries up and settles to the bottom 

 rear end of the cell a dry scale, but supposed to have the 

 germs of the trouble, so that it will ever be a menace until 

 it is destroyed. As is well known, the cell cap sinks, is 

 often perforated, and the dead brood with these signs in 

 the cappings, the odor, and, best of all, the brown, ropy, 

 elastic matter in the cell, are the best signs that the fatal 

 malady is present. 



Every bee-keeper should know these signs, for, unless 

 he does, he may scatter the combs of dead brood, and so 

 spread the disease very rapidly thru his apiarj'. 



The idea of curing foul brood by use of salicylic acid, 

 or phenol, is now entirely given up. These substances were 

 never satisfactory, as they were very uncertain. Many 

 careful apiarists secured no good at all by their use. To 

 put the bees in a new hive on foundation, let them remain 

 four or five days, gathering from the field or being fed as 

 circumstances demand, then melting up these as well as 

 the other combs, after extracting the honey, and living 

 again on foundation, we entirely eradicate the disease. We 

 have destroyed all the germs. The one danger is in scat- 

 tering the honey as we manipulate the bees and combs. We 

 must know that this honey has the germs of death in it, 

 and so must be most cautious not to give any chance that 

 any bees can ever get any of it until it is scalded. We must 

 scald out the extractor after use. 



Mr. McEvoy, of Ontario, says there is no danger of 

 using the hive again, with no pains to scald it out. As he 

 has had a very wide experience, treating thousands of colo- 

 nies, he is certainlj' good authority. 



Los Angeles Co., Calif. 



One-Piece vs. Nailed Sections — A Foul Brood 

 Inspector's Experience. 



BY F. BOOMHOWER. 



ON page 154, in " Beedom Boiled Down," it is reported 

 that Mr. Doolittle says in the Progressive Bee-Keeper 

 that he considers the nailed sections the best, as they 

 will stand shipping better, and are not so apt to break down. 



Now, I have never known any section, whether nailed 

 or otherwise, to break down in a shipment, I have in the 

 last 20 years handled and shipt upwards of 75 tons of comb 

 honey, both by rail and water, and some by rail that went 

 long distances, and I have never yet had a box to break, 

 neither have I had a shipping-case to break, and I make the 

 cases very light at that. Our cases hold 24 sections, and 

 are made of basswood, weighing only 2)< pounds. I think 

 it a waste of lumber and a useless expense to make boxes 

 and crates of such heavy material. The ends of our cases 

 are scant l-i inch thick, and generally the bottom and top 

 are 3/16. ■ 



To nail sections is like going back to the old scythe and 

 snath to cut grass. I would like to see Mr. Doolittle sit 

 down with a job of 30,000 or 40,000 sections to nail. A dove- 

 tailed section can be put together before Doolittle or any 

 one else can pick up and drive one nail. And if the dove- 

 tailed joint is glued — which we always do — a dovetailed sec- 



