106 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



dry packing-, with a good roof over all; of 

 course, the sides should be packed as well 

 as the top. Absorbents are not at all neces- 

 sary to the successful outdoor wintering- of 

 bees. Chaif or other packing- is not valu- 

 able as an absorbent of moisture merely, 

 but rather as a retainer of the heat generat- 

 ed by the cluster, giving- it back to the bees 

 during cold spells, thereby enabling them 

 to maintain a tolerably even temperature, 

 the same as is secured in a hot-water incu- 

 bator by using several inches of sawdust. 

 I winter most of my bees out of doors, and 

 the chaff is always dry, whether I use 

 sealed covers or quilts. When quilts are 

 used I use several thicknesses, so it amounts 

 to about the same as sealed covers. 



J. E. Hand. 

 Wakeman, Ohio, Nov. 26, 1902. 



[Our own experiments, covering a period 

 of six or eight years, now confirm us in the 

 belief that sealed covers in this locality, for 

 wintering, properly protected with packing- 

 material, give better results than absorb- 

 ing cushions placed directly over the clus- 

 ter of bees. Absorbents become damp or 

 moist from the breath of the bees before 

 spring, while the packing over the sealed 

 cover remains perfectly drj'. Under it the 

 moisture as it collects will form in drops 

 and run out of the entrance, while that con- 

 tained in a cushion is a constant menace to 

 the health of the bees. — Ed.] 



NO BLACK BROOD AMONG HERSHISER'S BEES. 



Mr. E. R. Root: — During the past year 

 it was intimated in Gleanings that Orel 

 L. Hershiser had black brood in one or 

 more of his apiaries. Accordingly Morti- 

 mer Stevens, State Bee Inspector of the 

 fourth division, selected a time most favor- 

 able for the discovery of any disease, and 

 called on me to accompany him, that there 

 might be no question of the existence or 

 non-existence of disease in his apiaries; 

 and while I feel that a report should have 

 been sent to j'our publication earlier, it is 

 but just to Mr. Hershiser to say that, after 

 a most thorough inspection of all his api- 

 aries, we were unable to find any black or 

 foul brood, or any evidence that they had 

 ever been infected. 



By direction of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, the four State bee inspectors are 

 now conducting a crusade ag-ainst the adul- 

 teration of honey, with g-ood results. 



As soon as the statistics can be compiled 

 the Department will send the bee journals 

 the results of the season's work for the sup- 

 pression of bee diseases. 



Charles Stewart, 

 State Bee Inspector ^d Div. 



Sammonsville, N. Y., Nov. 22. 



[Mr. Hershiser is a very careful bee-keep- 

 er; and I should not suppose that black 

 brood would get much of a start in his yard 

 without his knowing it. We are glad to 

 know that the State Bee Inspector finds no 

 trace of it. — Ed.] 



A CASE OF BEE DYSENTERY -WHICH WAS 

 NOT CAUSED BY CONFINEMENT. 



Have you ever known bees to be sick be- 

 cause of something they were feeding on? 

 Last spring while on many varieties of wild 

 clover, fruit-bloom, etc., my bees were af- 

 fected just as the ABC book describes 

 them to become from confinement in winter. 

 I could not observe that they were swollen 

 or distended; but they dropped over my 

 hands and about the hive. Sometimes they 

 exuded a yellowish substance exactly like 

 3'ellow paint, and sometimes it would be a 

 dark brown. No confinement in my case, as 

 they had been working finely; had swarmed 

 — in fact, it has cast four swarms. I find 

 no mention of it in any of my bee books, 

 hence I ask you about it. 



Arbuckle, Cal. Henry B. Jones. 



[This case is a little peculiar; for when 

 bees can fly it is a rule that any tendency 

 to dysentery will disappear. I should be 

 inclined to think it a case of bee-paralysis, 

 for all the symptoms you have named could 

 be applied to that disease, except that I 

 never saw paralytic bees void a dark-brown 

 excrement. The color is usually a trans- 

 parent yellow. It is possible there is some- 

 thing in the fields that bees gather that 

 causes a violent dj'sentery, even when the 

 weather is warm. Perhaps some of our 

 veterans can give us some parallel cases. 

 If so, let us hear from them. — Ed.] 



foul-brood law in IDAHO; UNOCCUI'IED 

 bee-ranges in the SPATE. 



I enclose a program of our annual meet- 

 ing, held Dec. 19 and 20. The meeting was 

 very well attended A foul-brood bill was 

 drawn up, pure-food measures indorsed, 

 and a resolution passed to discourage out- 

 siders, intending to engage in bees exclu- 

 sively, from locating within three miles of 

 any association member without that mem- 

 ber's written consent. Some of our members 

 have from 400 to 1000 colonies, and they ob- 

 ject to the assertion, published in Glean- 

 ings, that there is abundant unoccupied 

 pasturage here in W^estern Idaho, in the 

 Boise, Paj'ette, and Weiser Valleys. 



One Utah apiarist declares that if we 

 pass a foul-brood bill he will, in his next 

 trip through Idaho, scatter foul-brood honey 

 from one side of the State to the other. He 

 also offered three of our members foul-brood 

 honey to enable them to destroy the apia- 

 ries of the would-be bee-keeper. All our 

 best locations are surrounded by more or 

 less worthless sage-brush land. In addi- 

 tion to this, it is no myth that alfalfa is cut 

 too soon, with us. Red clover and timothy 

 are much grown here, and do not yield sur- 

 plus honey. Our crops are usually small, 

 but we are sure of some honey everj^ 3'ear. 

 We realize that you intended no misrepre- 

 sentation in regard to this portion of Idaho, 

 and believe you will be willing to show 

 some of the disadvantages also. If any api- 

 arist desires to come here, let him come pre- 



