July 13, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



437 



V'ellow Sweet Clover is of more value than the white, 

 according- to John Weir in the bulletin of Kansas Univer- 

 sity, as it blooms six weeks earlier, and at a time when for- 

 age is scarce. 



Boiling Foul-Broody Honey Three Hours, Editor 



X)ooIittle, in the Progressive Bee-Keeper, thinks unneces- 

 sary, and he speaks of thousands of colonies " being cured 

 by having ' scalded ' foul-broody honey fed back to them 

 ■without their ever having the disease again during the 

 years between 1850 and 1890." 



Carelessness In Uncapping is charged by the editor of 

 American Bee-Keeper as a fault in a number of apiaries he 

 has recently visited. He saj-s : '• If we would preserve the 

 even surface of our combs, essential to rapid and satisfac- 

 torj' work with the extractor, it is important that every cell 

 be uncapt, and the frames accurately spaced when returned 

 to the bees." 



Egg.Laying Capacity of Queens. — Chas. Dadant fig- 

 ures in Gleanitigs in Bee-Culture that Mr. Doolittle's favor- 

 ite hive, the Gallup, "has room for but 2,400 eggs per day, 

 while a good queen can lay more than 3,000 eggs daily." 

 Mr. Dadant found by actual measurement of comb surface 

 that several good colonies had 70,000 to 80,000 cells in each 

 occupied with eggs and brood, making 3,300 to 3,800 eggs 

 laid daily. 



Precaution Against Foul Brood. — One of the best pre- 

 cautions against foul brood, according to M. Bertrand, edi- 

 tor of Revue Internationale, is to keep the colonies strong 

 and in healthy condition. While the disease does not ap- 

 pear spontaneousl)-, a weak or diseased colony is a much 

 more promising field for the growth of the germs than one 

 that is strong and healthy. As it is good practice on other 

 accounts to keep onlj' strong colonies, his advice will com- 

 mend itself to practical bee-keepers. 



Foul Brood had considerable discussion at the Ontario 

 convention. Some thought the hives sliould not be used 

 again without boiling or other special treatment, but In- 

 spector McEvoy was very emphatic that the hive needed no 

 treatment whatever. Askt how long honej' taken from an 

 infected colony should be boiled before it was fit to feed 

 to bees, he said : "I never recommend it at all from the 

 first summer, because I couldn't trust the people. I have 

 never had any trouble when they put half water with it and 

 bring it to a sharp, bubbling boil." — Canadian Bee Journal. 



Behavior of Swarming Clipt Queens. — In the Austra- 

 lian Bee-Bulletin the following question is askt : " Suppose 

 a queen with her wing clipt leaves a hive with a swarm and 

 there is no one about to hive the swarm, will the queen 

 never go back to the hive if left alone "? The answers vary 

 somewhat. One says she will return with the swarm if the 

 ^rass is thick, and six or eight inches high. Another 

 that she'll return four times out of five, but will come 

 out day after day until the j-oung queen emerges, when 

 she will be no more. Another that she will generally be 

 found several feet or yards away with a ball of bees. But 

 one man thinks that a clipt queen which issues with a swarm 

 never re-enters the hive. In this country she can be relied 

 upon to get back in most cases if she can. 



On the Poison of Honey=Bees. — The poison drop, 

 freshly excreted, weighs from 0.0002 to 0.0004 gm. It has a 

 specific gravity of 1.0013, is clear as water, and has a markt 

 acid reaction, bitter taste, and a pleasant, aromatic odor. 

 The poison was obtained by collecting the drops, or by ex- 

 tracting the entire poison apparatus with alcohol. This 

 caused coagulation, and the poison was taken up by the 

 alcohol. When the alcohol was supersaturated with ammo- 

 nia and evaporated, a yellowish material was obtained. 

 Solutions of this gave reactions of formic acid. The au- 

 thor's investigations, however, showed that formic acid 



does not possess the poisonous properties of the bee-poison. 

 The solution of the poison contains an albuminiod, hy- 

 drochloric and phosphoric acids, sodium and calcium. The 

 albumin does not produce the poisoning, since a solution of 

 the poison freed from it produced poisoning symptoms, as 

 observed on the conjunctiva of a rabbit's eye. Evaporating 

 the poison and heating at 100 degrees does not diminish its 

 properties, nor does keeping it for some time in sealed 

 capillary tubes. On the other hand, when kept in open 

 glass tubes the poisonous properties are lost in about four 

 weeks. The poison spoils on standing, and loses its toxic 

 properties. The poisonous substance is held in suspension 

 b)' acid, and can be precipitated by alkali. This shows that 

 the active principle secreted by members of the aculeata 

 group of Hymenoptera is a. base. — J. Langer, in Experiment 

 Station Reports. 



Section-Cleaning Machines that give entire satisfac- 

 tion do not seem to be as easily within reach as at first 

 was supposed, altho there is little doubt that the section- 

 cleaning of the future will be done by machinery. Editor 

 Root in Gleanings in Bee-Culture says the solid disk sand- 

 wheel is not a success, because it fills up with propolis, 

 altho Mr. Golden claims good work with a sanded belt. The 

 Aspinwall machine is fitted with knives, and does not clog, 

 but Mr. Root says he has not yet been able to do as smooth 

 work with it as by hand. Perhaps the machine heretofore 

 described on these pages by C. Davenport may be as good 

 as any. 



Thick or Thin Combs for Extracting? — In the discus- 

 sion reported in Canadian Bee Journal, the general opinion 

 seemed to be that there was an advantage in the thick 

 combs because the cappings projected out past the frame, 

 making it easier to uncap; but Mr. McEvoy went so far as 

 to have some combs 1'+ inches thick, and didn't like thera. 

 The Hoffman frames were troublesome about uncapping, 

 because the shoulders stuck out in the way. Mr. Armstrong 

 said the Hoffman shoulders would not be in the wa.v if the 

 comb was built thick enough. Mr. Darling said the thick 

 comb bulged the screen in the extracting-basket, and so it 

 might get out of place. 



Foul Brood Needs Severe Treatment. — In Gleanings 

 in Bee-Culture appears the same picture of foul brood that 

 appeared some time ago in this journal from a photograph 

 by Thos. Wm. Cowan, and referring to it Editor Root says : 



" If I had combs as badh- diseased as the one shown in 

 the illustration. I would burn them at night if possible, and 

 then bury the ashes below the reach of a plow or spade. In 

 the light of our present knowledge of the difficulty of kill- 

 ing the spores of this enemy at a boiling temperature, I 

 would never think of extracting foul-broody honey. I would 

 count it as profit and loss, and consign it all to the bonfire, 

 combs and all." 



Growing Basswoods from the Seeds is reported by 

 A. I. Root as a rather difficult thing, and he asks in Glean- 

 ings in Bee-Culture : " Can anybody tell us how to get SO 

 percent, or even 25 percent, of the seeds to germinate "? 

 He has sowed the seeds at almost all times with almost no 

 success, but in some cases the seeds came up readily of 

 themselves without any sowing. A peck of seed was drilled 

 in upon four rods of ground, but not a dozen trees came up 

 the following spring, and the bed was sowed with aspara- 

 gus. He is convinced that basswoods grow with much 

 more vigor on very rich ground, especially that which has 

 been manured for many years, so that it is old, black, and 

 rich. On such ground' he has had little trees grow three 

 feet high the first season. 



Suppression of Swarming is satisfactorily secured by 

 R. Pincot, as reported in Le Ruches Beige, by taking away 

 all frames of brood except two containing mostly eggs and 

 young brood. This is done when preparations for swarm- 

 ing begin in the way of starting queen-cells. All queen- 

 cells are carefully cut out from the two frames of brood 

 that are left, and' the bees brusht from the combs removed, 

 abundance of super room being furnisht. The combs of 

 brood thus removed from several colonies are put in empty 

 hives, eight frames of brood in each hive, all queen-cells 

 carefully cut out, then a colony of medium strength is re- 

 moved from its stand and a hive with its eight frames of 

 brood put on the stand. A young laying queen from a 

 nucleus is put in the hive caged, and liberated two div 

 later. After practicing this plan for two years he thi i c 

 well of it. 



