532 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



a colony of bees infected with ttie 

 malignant foul brood.— C. F. Muth.] 



[In the above quotation from the 

 Grange Bulletin, the question is asked, 

 " How about foul brood V and who is 

 bothered with it'r"' The Bee Jour- 

 nal would like to know who is batli- 

 ered with it. Let those who are 

 troubled with it speak out. We hear 

 that there are several, and the fact 

 that so many are inquiring, shows 

 that there is danger about this dread- 

 ful disease spreading. Prof. Cook is 

 right in saying that " the stamping- 

 out process should be prompt." Its 

 existence will be known, and no one 

 can afford to cover up the facts, if 

 they have it In any form. To sell dis- 

 eased bees is nothing less than a crime, 

 and is recognized as such by the laws 

 of several States, notably in Michi- 

 gan, we believe. Prompt remedies 

 must be used, and we fear the mUy 

 sure remedy is the entire destruction 

 of the diseased colonies.— Ed.] 



A Specialist's Report. 



I hope any brother bee-keeper will 

 not think that because no communica- 

 tion from me has appeared in the 

 Bee Journal for nearly a year that 

 I am one of the disheartened, who. 

 after their enthusiasm has cooled, 

 loose all interest, for I am not encour- 

 aged by the past season, but, quitting 

 everything else, have thrown myself 

 wholly on bee-keeping for a living. 

 The season was not so good as it was 

 a year ago, as the season did not last 

 so long, but I closed it with 3,OU0 lbs., 

 half extracted, and 100 colonies of 

 bees. I need not report in detail, but 

 close by wishing for all interested, as 

 much good fortune as I have been 

 favored with. Wm. Camm. 



\ Murrayville, 111., Oct. 16, 1883. 



Tiering up— A Correction. 



In the report of the ^Torth American 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention, published 

 in the Bee Journal, I am made to 

 say that I champion the practice of 

 putting empty sections above the full 

 ones in. tiering up, or at least to sec- 

 ond Mr. Hall in it. AVhat I did say, 

 was that I put empty ones under th.-; 

 full ones. This I have practiced 

 throughout the entire season. It is, I 

 think, the common practice, and very 

 advantageous. Toward the last part 

 of the honey flow. Iiowever. if empty 

 sections are still put under, the bees 

 commence on them immediately, and 

 the bee-keeper has tlie annoyance of 

 a lot of partly-filled sections on liand. 

 In many cases they are not needed at 

 all, as the bees only gather enough 

 honey to finish up the sections already 

 on. I have been so much annoyed by 

 this, that I had made up my mind 

 that hereafter I would put empty sec- 

 tions imder, until I thought likely 

 that the flow would soon cease, then 

 I put a tier of empty sections on top, 

 where the bees would be rather slow 



to commence work, unless actually 

 crowded for room. Mr. J. B. Hall, 

 being just so much more wide awake 

 than I, has been practicing on this 

 plan, and so stated in the Convention, 

 and I said that I intended to practice 

 it in the future, especially after his 

 recommendation. But I think no one 

 present could easily have understood 

 that either of us recommended the 

 general practice of putting empty sec- 

 tions above full ones. By the way, I 

 wish we could oftener see communi- 

 cations from JMr. Hall. I know it 

 would be profitable. I shall not soon 

 forget a very pleasant interview I had 

 with him at Toronto, as he explained 

 to me, in his jovial and gentlemanly 

 manner, his various fixtures and 

 plans. He very strongly impressed 

 me as a master high up in our calling. 

 C. C. Miller. 

 Marengo, 111. 



[Mr. Hall has also sent us a correc- 

 tion of this report by our reporter. 

 But as the above covers the whole 

 ground, perhaps it is not necessary to 

 publish both now. — Ed.J 



LoHsewort Gerardia for Honey. 



I send a small portion of the top of 

 a plant I found while bee-hunting. 

 It is new to me, as I never saw any- 

 thing of the kind in this vicinity. I 

 found it in a small clearing, on a high 

 stoney ridge, that, until the past win- 

 ter, had been covered with a heavy 

 growth of oak timber. It was grow- 

 ing single and in small clumps from 

 6 to 18 inches high ; and notwithstand- 

 ing the severe drouth that has been 

 raging for the past six weeks (and is 

 still raging), its foliage and bloom 

 was remarkibly fresh and vigorous. 

 I found no honey-bees on its blos- 

 soms, but mason, tailor and humble- 

 bees very plentifully. Its blossoms 

 emit a very agreeable fragrance, and 

 if they yield nectar acceptable to the 

 honey-bee, its abundant bloom, its 

 season of bloom, and apparent perfect 

 immunity from the effects of drouths, 

 must constitute it a valuable late 

 honey plant. Please give its name iu 

 the Bee Journal. 



JAS. F. Latham. 



Cumberland, Me., Sept. 17, 1883. 



[Prof. T. J. Burrill says : "This is 

 Gerarelia pedicularia, or the Lousewort 

 Gerardia. There are, in eastern North 

 America, 10 species of Gerardia, all 

 having quite showy flowers. iMauy 

 attempts have been made to cultivate 

 them, with failure in every instance, 

 though the seeds readily germinated 

 and the young plants apparently made 

 a good start. Finally the secret was 

 discovered in the fact that they are 

 r*ot parasites, securing more or less 

 of their food substance from the roots 

 of trees. The nectar is no doubt good 

 enough, but from what has just now 

 been said, this plant can hardly be 

 depended upon as a honev producer." 

 -Ed.] 



Catching Issuing Swarms. 



I am amused at Frank R. Roe's 

 method of catching and hiving issu- 

 ing swarms, as noted on page 287 of 

 the Bee Journal. Just think of his 

 running four miles in three-fourths of 

 an hour, sweating like a running 

 horse in fly time, over fences, through 

 flax, oats, barley, corn, woods, logs 

 and brush, and fording a river to get 

 nothing but a well-heated system, say 

 nothing about the value of his time, 

 the torn clothes, and worn-out boot 

 leather. Now, in this part of the 

 county, we take a different course. 

 If we desire to work to in the field we 

 trust the children (whose time is of 

 no great value) to attend the swarm- 

 ing ; on the other hand, if we attend 

 the swarming ourselves, we will have 

 some other employment about our 

 apiary, such as arranging our honey 

 racks, sections, hives, or extracting 

 etc., etc., and when our ear tells us 

 that a swarm is issuing, we go and 

 adjust a catcher, and then return to 

 our work, leaving the issuing swarm 

 to take care of itself. They soon 

 cluster, and never heat as Mr. Eoe's 

 did. in his nail keg. We have perfect 

 control, our bees do not get angry, 

 and we put them in a hive when we 

 get ready. J. AV. Bailey. 



Ripon, Wis., Oct. 15, 1883. 



Sweet Clover. 



Is sweet clover classed with noxious 

 weeds in Illinois ? Can it be sown in 

 highways, with impunity to the sower? 

 Alfred Mottay. 



Ottawa, 111., Oct. 15, 1883. 



[It is not classed with noxious 

 weeds, and can be sown anywhere 

 with impunity that one may sow any 

 other ordinary weed. — Ed.] 



Bees Ready for the Cellar. 



ily 51 colonies of bees are now 

 ready for the cellar at short notice, 

 but I had to do considerable feeding 

 to get them in good condition for 

 winter. I commenced in the spring 

 with 30 colonies, most of them in good 

 condition ; I took 1.3o0 pounds of comb 

 honey and 100 pounds of extracted. 

 There were 300 pounds of unfinished 

 honey, which I fed back to the bees, 

 and 125 pounds of granulated sugar, 

 which left me 1,0.50 pounds of nice 

 salable comb honey, and 100 pounds 

 of extracted, which I sold in our 

 home market at 15 cents per pound, 

 and had plenty of orders for more. 

 Last year I only had half as many 

 bees, spring count, and got 900 pounds 

 more honey and more iricrease. My 

 best colony gave 85 pounds of surplus, 

 this year, and no increase. Last year 

 my best colony gave 235 pounds and 

 one swarm. So we liardly had half a 

 crop of honey here in northern Illi- 

 nois. I use full sheets of comb foun- 

 dation for increase, and good starters 

 for surplus honey. 



II. T. HART3IAN. 



Freeport, 111., Oct. 15, 1883. 



!^ The Northwestern Bee-Keepers' 

 Society will meet in La Crosse, Wis., 

 Friday, Nov. 16, in the City Hall. 



E. Markle, Pres. 



