674 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Oct. 26, 1899. 



it will destroy more or less of the nice white capping-s 

 which incase our honey. 



While in different cities a number of years ago, looking- 

 after the honey market, I saw sections of honey which had 

 worms in them as large around as a slate-pencil, and an 

 inch or more long ; and altho they had nearly denuded the 

 honey of the nice white cappiiigs to the cells, still I could 

 not make some of the grocerymen believe that the worms 

 lived on the wax, they callingthem "honey-worms." Such 

 a spectacle soon disgusts customers, and injures the sale of 

 comb honej' very much. 



If, after several examinations, you fail to find such lit- 

 tle white, flourlike places, you need be very thankful, and 

 consider you are favored much above many of our fellow 

 bee-keepers. If you find these, the next thing is to sul- 

 phur your honey, as this is the only known remedy for 

 these pests, except picking the worms oft" by hand, which is 

 too slow where there are many of them. 



To sulphur, I procure an old kettle and put some ashes 

 in the bottom of it, so that there will be no danger of fire 

 resulting from the heat from the coals which are to be 

 placed therein. When I have the kettle thus prepared I 

 take it to the honey-room and pour sulphur (which has been 

 previously weighed) on the coals, to the amount of four 

 ounces to every 25 cubic feet contained in the room, when 

 the kettle is quickly pusht under the pile of honey, the same 

 having been piled on a platform a little off the floor for this 

 purpose, and the room closed. You will do this thing as 

 expeditiously as possible or you will be apt to get some of 

 the fumes intended for the worms, which is not very pleas- 

 ant, besides depriving the worms of just the amount you 

 carry off in your lungs. 



I now go and look in at the window, to which the few 

 flies which chance to be in the room will soon come to avoid 

 the fumes, thus vainly hoping to escape their doom. As 

 soon as I see that the last fly is lifeless, I take out my 

 watch, and when five minutes have elapst I open the win- 

 dow and the door to the room so the air will carry out the 

 smoke as soon as possible, for, if allowed to settle on the 

 combs it will give them a greenish color, which will be 

 damaging to the sale of it. This same thing will also be 

 likely to occur if much more sulphur is burned than the 

 amount given above. It seems to be quite a nice point to 

 have this matter just right; for if too much is used the 

 combs are sure to be turned green ; while if too little is 

 burned the worms will not be killed. 



The above has been arrived at after years of trial and 

 experience. 



If more honey is brought into the room after the first 

 has been sulphured, this is also watcht, and when the marks 

 of worms are seen on these, the same operation is repeated 

 again, and so on till we are sure the honey passes from our 

 honey-house without danger of these pests making an ap- 

 pearance after it has been placed upon the market. 



All sections having cells of pollen in should be stored 

 by themselves, as such combs are almost sure to be infested 

 with eggs which will soon hatch into larva;, where there is 

 any trouble from the wax-moth at all. 



While on this subject it may not be amiss to say that I 

 am not troubled nearl)' as much with these worms at the 

 present time as I formerly was. And there are two reasons 

 for this, according to my opinion : There seems to be a 

 greater intelligence among the apiarists of to-day, and even 

 among the small bee-keepers having only two or three colo- 

 nies, along the line of not leaving combs exposed after the 

 bees are off them, so as to breed these pests, as was done by 

 our forefathers. And still more care in the years to come 

 would nearly, if not quite, free our apiaries of this moth 

 difficulty. 



Hives of comb left standing in the apiary after the bees 

 have died from them, as they nearly always used to be, will 

 give moths by the thousand to be a nuisance in years to 

 come. Care-taking' by all in this matter will soon bring us 

 to where no sulphur will have to be used, and such care 

 should belong to every man, woman and child keeping bees. 



The second reason is the one alluded to in the forepart 

 of this article, namely, the Italian bee. In localities where 

 only these bees have been kept for a term of years, the 

 trouble has mainly become a thing of the past. Italians 

 seem to protect their combs better in some way so that the 

 eggs do not find a place in the hive, and in localities where 

 there are no other bees kept, and where no combs are left 

 exposed after the bees are off them, the need of sulphuring 

 has become a rarity. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



Foreign Matters — Uses of Honey, 



BY "STBNOG." 



OUR French exchanges show a great amount of work in 

 collecting information relative to honey and bees. Bee- 

 keepers of that country, as well as of Germany, seem to- 

 be closely related to each other thru the numerous associa- 

 tions they have formed. If anew use for honey is found 

 it is immediately printed and past around. Mr. J. B. 

 Leriche, an eminent bee-keeper of France, has the follow- 

 ing to say relative to honey ; and altho some of it is famil- 

 iar to most of us, it is a good plan to give it to those who 

 may not have seen it before. I translate it from the Revue 

 Eclectique, of Paris, one of the best bee-journals printed : 



"Honey is a healthful, concentrated, easily assimilated 

 food, offered to man by nature, all prepared, extracted drop 

 by drop from myriads of flowers. Our ancestors made of 

 it their favorite food. They knew no other sweet. Thd in- 

 troduction of beet-sugar has lessened the use of honey, so 

 the latter is hardly ever found now except in the home of 

 the bee-keeper or in certain medicines, or on the table of a 

 few who know its virtues. We should go back to honey, for 

 it is well known that this food, without rendering necessary 

 any insalivation or digestive work on the part of the stom- 

 ach, excites nervous energy, gives mental force and tone to 

 the vital functions, and is very beneficial to persons of 

 sedentary habits or those doing much headwork. All those 

 who suffer from disorders of the stomach, and who have 

 difficult or bad digestion, or those subject to constipation, 

 should use honey daily ; and after several months they will 

 find the digestive organs restored to their normal condition. 

 But the use of it must be daily and prolonged. 



" To live long, one should take, every morning, some 

 hot milk, sweetened with a spoonful of honey, and dip 

 bread in it. Taken at night, honey favors digestion and 

 wards off sleeplessness. When Julius Cssar dined with P. 

 Rumillius, to celebrate the 100th birthday of the latter, 

 Cssar askt him by what means he had preserved his. 

 strength of mind and body. ' By eating honey," replied the 

 old Roman. 



" But honey is not onh- a good food but a good medi- 

 cine, curing, without drugs, disorders of the stomach, chest, 

 and of the voice, such as gastritis, bronchitis, colds, asthma 

 and grip. The formic acid with which it is impregnated by 

 the be^s makes of it an antiseptic, purifying the disordered! 

 mouth and breath. Rheumatism is practically unknown' 

 among those who eat much honey. But the honey must be 

 pure ; and one buying it should be sure of the standing of 

 the house selling it." 



In the same journal Mr. Drappier gives good directions 

 for wintering, preparations for which he begins in Septem- 

 ber. The first thing to be seen to is plenty of food. By 

 waiting later the cold is liable to prevent the bees- 

 from uncapping the honey ; and uncapt honey before 

 winter easily ferments, and may induce spring dwindling. 

 One writer says bees can winter only on empty frames ; but 

 at the same time their honey should be so placed as to sur- 

 round the cluster, and as near them as possible. He feeds 

 from 30 to 40 pounds per colony. Altho bees use but little 

 food in winter, he gives them enough so he will not have to- 

 feed in spring. 



He advises against spring feeding, as it may induce an 

 abnormal development of brood. The best colonies will be 

 hived in September on a maximum of 12 frames. Will it 

 be necessary to remove the empty frames ? Mr. D. says he 

 does not. Mr. Bonnier has shown that a filled frame is 

 equal in value to a partition so far as preservation of heat 

 is concerned. That is, empty frames, instead of taking 

 away warmth, tend rather to conserve it. Besides, frames- 

 of comb in the hives are better protected in fall, winter, and 

 spring, against the moth-miller, by the bees running over 

 them, than the bee-keeper could do it himself. This is for 

 large colonies. Small ones run all kinds of risks. The ex- 

 istence of drones in a hive in September is presumptive evi- 

 dence of queenlessness. Hives in the open air should be 

 well protected on top. All cracks should be plugged up. 

 Repaint covers, if necessary, so that not a drop of water 

 can get thru. 



These foreign journals give a vast amount of advice to 

 those who must be beginners in bee-keeping. Every month 

 has its detailed account of what to do and how to do it. In 

 this regard they set a good pace for American journals. It 

 might be remarkt, too, that the foreign journals draw more 

 from sources outside of beedom than do those of America ; 

 and there seems to be a more intimate touch between the 

 government and the various bee-associations there thani 



