THE AMERICAlt BEE JOURNAL. 



23 



that I advised tbe proprietor to utter- 

 ly destroy bees, combs and hives. 

 Last autumn my apiary appeared to 

 be in good condition, after the destruc- 

 tion in the springtime of several colo- 

 nies, and the complete cure of two 

 others to which I applied the above 

 mentioned method ot treatment. This 

 spring, these two colonies appeared to 

 be in good order, but 6 other colonies 

 were attacked. It is very difficult to 

 fix on the moment when a colony is 

 actually attacked with the disease, 

 and when the apiary is located in a 

 country where foul brood is raging, it 

 seems hardly possible to me to pre- 

 serve it. 



If it becomes necessary after a com- 

 plete cure to commence again each 

 year and feed every colony with an 

 acidified syrup, either in spring or 

 autumn, tliis would be impracticable, 

 for. if we provoke egg laying too 

 early or too late in the season, it offers 

 many inconveniences and may even be 

 dangerous to the welfare of the colo- 

 nies. 



^Ve have then to seek for other 

 methods to prevent the disease, or to 

 stop it as soon as there are any signs 

 of germs having been introduced into 

 the'hives. 



We have then to set ourselves this 

 problem : " To find a method at once 

 rapid and economical, by the aid of 

 which the bees may intro"duce into the 

 nourishment of the larvie, a minute 

 quantity of acid in order to constantly 

 neutralize the germs of the disease, 

 without however in any way disturb- 

 ing the natural order" or tlieir daily 

 labors." 



The experiences of this year seem 

 conclusive, and make me hope for a 

 complete success in the future. To 

 obtain this result I have kept the 

 ■water reservoir where ray bees go to 

 get their supply, charged with water 

 mixed with salicylic acid. I dissolved 

 50 grammes of salicylic acid in 400 

 grammes of alcohol, and for each 

 liter of water I added 10 grammes of 

 the above solution. This dose is 

 about double that generally recom- 

 mended to be used in syrup. The con- 

 sumption of water has been, on the 

 average, 3 to 4 liters. On certain days 

 in cold weather, it seemed to me that 

 the water had a gelatinous appear- 

 ance, but the bees sucked up the mois- 

 ture from the cloth coveringthe tank, 

 and all seemed to go well. This treat- 

 ment lasted for 7 weeks, but in reality 

 the greatest honey Jloiu will prevent the 

 bees going to the reservoir for at least 

 10 days, and they return to it only 

 when the flow of honey slackens. 



I had in the spring 6 colonies more 

 or less affected. Three of these I 

 treated by the first described method. 

 I left the other 3 for experiment's sake 

 in the condition they were in. 



After 7 weeks of this general "water 

 cure " I examined the colonies very 

 minutely, every frame of brood being 

 carried into a warm room, in the or- 

 der that they held in the hives. 



The other colonies in the apiary 

 were all examined frame by frame, 

 and none appeared attacked, the 

 disease having probably been killed 

 everywhere, immediately it showed 

 itself. 



Egg laying in spring is always very 

 regular because the queen Ihids plenty 

 of room free of honey ; one can then 

 easily follow its progress at this 

 period. 



In examining the combs of brood of 

 the 3 colonies to which I had given 

 no special treatment, I remarked at 

 first a large quantity of brood, on the 

 first frame, diseased. This comb was 

 the one on which the queen com- 

 menced her spring laying. The two 

 other combs,to the right and left ot this 

 one, were also sadly diseased ; the 4th 

 and otli commence to be much less so; 

 in their centers many bees had come 

 out of the cells, liut there were still a 

 certain number of cells isolated tliat 

 were diseased. In the circle of brood 

 (sealed) surrounding the portion 

 empty of brood, I met with very little 

 of tlie disease, and at last the combs, 

 farthest out from the frame on which 

 the queen commenced her spring lay- 

 ing, did not appear to contain a single 

 diseased cell. 



The disease instead of going on in- 

 creasing, as is usual, had diminished 

 progressively. I took away all in- 

 fected combs from these 3 hives, and 

 commenced feeding them with acidu- 

 lated syrup. Tlie three other colonies 

 transferred to new hives appeared in 

 good condition. At moment of writing, 

 my apiary appears cured just by tins 

 retrograde action of the disease, and 

 I have every hope that it will continue 

 the same until autumn. I will con- 

 tinue the " water cure " right up to 

 the end of the season, and propose to 

 continue this treatment in the sur- 

 rounding country, until the disease 

 has disappeared from my neighbor- 

 hood. 



Fur the American Bee JoumaL 



Cyprian and Hybrid Bees. 



v. nOLLINGER. 



As I have found both pleasure and 

 profit from the weekly visits of your 

 valuable Journal, during the past 

 two years, I am anxious still to have 

 its company for another year. Its 

 timely hints" and well written articles 

 on the many topics of practical and 

 theoretical apiculture, coming weekly 

 and thus in season, more than pays its 

 price above a monthly journal of equal 

 merit in other respects. The old ad- 

 age "a stitch in time saVes nine," 

 may be true, and a little knowledge in 

 time may save its thousands— of bees, 

 most surely. Perhaps a few thoughts 

 of my own experience in beekeeping 

 may interest some of your many read- 

 ers. 



Most of my bees are Cyprians, or a 

 cross between the three races. I have 

 a few Italian queens which I received 

 last year from W. Z. Hutchinson, 

 Rogerville, Mich. Two years ago I 

 purchased two Cyprian queens o^' E. 

 M. Hayhurst, Kansas City, Mo. Near- 

 ly all my bees at this time were the 

 German bees except one or two hybrid 

 colonies with black queens mated with 

 drones, the progeny of an Italian 

 fertile or laying worker. 



In the summer of 1882 I reared 

 queens from my best Cyprian colony 



and superseded many of my old 

 brown q\ieens. So by Cyprianizing 

 and hybridizing it is hard to tell just 

 what strain of bees I have. Hut I 

 think 1 can tell a grand dilference in 

 the amount of honey 1 get. I work 

 almost entirely for extracted honey. 



In June, the creek near my apiary 

 overflowed and all my bees were afloat: 

 some 5 colonies washed away, and all 

 were damaged. This occurred Friday 

 night June ii, as near as I remember; 

 and by having plenty of help at hand, 

 we placed 30 colonies above the flood, 

 wherever we could find a convenient 

 place to put them. Next day 1 put 

 them on stands above high water 

 mark, and well, for on Sunday morn- 

 ing the creek overflowed her banks 

 again. Previous to this summer this 

 stream had overflowed its banks here 

 but once in 2(\ years. On Monday, 

 June 27, we had 30 colonies, many of 

 them very weak, by drowning. There 

 was no honey in tlie flowers till about 

 Aug. 1. I had to feed them till near 

 the last of July. In August the honey 

 harvest began from heartsease and 

 continued till frost, the 1st of October. 

 We extracted 2,-500 lbs. of honey and 

 increased to 57 colonies. I will need 

 to feed most of my late swarms to get 

 them through the"winter. 



To give you an idea of the rapidity 

 with which the Cyrian bees increase, 

 I will relate what Mr. Win. L. Clark, 

 of Vesta, Neb., has done from one 

 colony which I sold him last spring. 



Mr. Clark divided this colony in 

 July and then let them increase by 

 natural swarming. In the spring, 

 when I let him have the bees, he said 

 he aimed to run for increase, and I 

 think he has succeeded. I told him 

 the Cyprians were the bees, if he de- 

 sired increase. lie increased to 13 

 colonies from 1. and says they are in 

 good condition for winter, and he also 

 got 200 fbs. of surplus honey. He says 

 he knows that two swarms at least 

 absconded. 



This may be questioned by some, 

 but I am well acquainted with Mr. 

 Clark and saw his apiary the other 

 day ; they are placed close together 

 and protected from the north-west 

 wind. I did not examine them, but 

 propose visiting him in the spring and 

 make a careful examination of his 

 bees. He has promised me the old 

 queen back again, and if she has not 

 layed her queenship out, I aim to be- 

 gin early and feed if necessary and 

 see just what can be done in one sea- 

 son. I may have many queens just as 

 profitable but this one is " a tested 

 queen." 



Adams, Neb., Dec. 2S, 1883. 



For the American Bee Joomal. 



Diphtheria— Death— Hygiene. 



ALLEN rraNGLE. 



This is a strange medley of subjects 

 for a single article, and I make use of 

 it to attract the reader's attention, for 

 I want every reader of the American 

 Bee Journal to read this, especially 

 those who have cliildren whom they 

 are liable to lose f(n-ever by that dread, 

 fatal disease, diphtheria. 



