1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



151 



FORMALINE GAS FOR I^ILLING FOUL BROOD. 



I\Fr. Root: — You ma}'^ recollect that, when 

 iu Denver, I was talking^ to j'ou about kill- 

 ing' the foul-brood g^ertn by fumig'ating- it 

 with formaline g'as, by Prof. Harrison's 

 method. I mentioned to yon that I would 

 experiment with this fumig^ating cure just 

 as soon as I arrived home. With the assist- 

 ance of a bee-keeper, I beg^an operations 

 immediatel}'. This g'entleman had a hive 

 infected with foul brood. We took the in- 

 fected frames from the hive and placed the 

 bees in another hive. We then fumig^ated 

 it with the formaline g'as, and, when disin- 

 fected, replaced the infected frames in the 

 old hive. *We then shook the bees back on 

 to the orig^inal frames. The result was, 

 that the colony cleaned up the combs nicely, 

 and a few days later the combs were filled 

 with eg'g's, and, later, larvae, the latter be- 

 ing- perfectl}- white, and no sig^ns of foul 

 brood since in the colony. Later in the sea- 

 son I tried this method for friends who had 

 colonies afflicted in the same manner. As 

 the season became too late for brood-rearing- 

 I could not ascertain anj' results. About 

 three weeks ag-o I sent two frames, which 

 had been badU' infected (but which I had 

 previousl}' fumigated, to kill the spores of 

 foul brood) to Prof. Dr. Guyer, of the Uni- 

 versity of Cincinnati. I requested him to 

 endeavor to restore life to the foul brood, 

 which he promised to tr3' to do. A few days 

 later I sent him another frame infected with 

 foul brood (this frame I did not fumigate). 

 To-da}', two weeks after, I visited the pro- 

 fessor ag-ain, and he reported that he had 

 made about 20 trials, all told. The frame 

 not fumigated, he says flourishes with foul 

 brood. To the other frames, which werey)/- 

 niigated by this process, he said it was im- 

 possible to restore any signs of life. He 

 still has part of the finnigated frames, 

 which he will experiment with further, and 

 will then report results. I will acquaint 

 you further with any future results we maj' 

 secure. C. H. W. Weber. 



Cincinnati, O., Nov. 22. 



[This is interesting- and valuable, and I 

 hope those who are in a position to do so 

 will give the new drug a trial. — Ed.] 



WHY HONEY IS CAPPED WHITER FROM 



FORCED swarms; IS IT BEST TO GIVE 



A NEW SWARM A FRAME OF 



BROOD? 



Dr. Miller says in Stray Straws, Nov. 1, 

 " Honey is capped whiter, is a claim made 

 for forced swarms, p. 864; and it is made 

 in such a wa}' as to be understood as mean- 

 ing whiter than with natural swarms. It 

 is capped whiter than in a hive with black 

 combs, but no whiter than in a hive with a 

 natural swarm." 



I said, " Honej' is capped whiter. As 

 you well know, jou get whiter-capped sec- 

 tions over newly built combs." I meant 

 you get whiter-cappied honey by forcing the 

 swarms at the beginning of a flow than by 



running the old colonies for comb honey. 

 Of course, the honey is no whiter than from 

 natural swarms, provided the natural 

 swarm is hived on foundation or starters. 

 Probably Dr. M. isn"t aware of the fact 

 that a great many bee-keepers hive swarms 

 on old black combs, and expect a gilt-edged 

 article. 



I find that a great many of my swarms 

 hived on starters and run for comb honey 

 were rather light, as we had no fall flow, 

 and I had to feed some; but I am consoled, 

 as I had nearly all they made in nice white 

 sections which I wholesaled at 15 cts. per 

 section. 



In another Straw Dr. M. says, "Shook 

 swarms are being pretty thoroughly shaken 

 up just now; and while the shaking is go- 

 ing on it would be well if the question 

 could be settled as to whether it is best or 

 not to have a frame of brood given to the 

 swarms." I settled that question to my 

 satisfaction several years ago. The worst 

 absconding I ever had was when I would 

 always give a frame of eggs and brood. I 

 quit doing so, and would give plenty of 

 room, shade the hive, also give plenty of 

 ventilation, and I hardly ever have a swarm 

 leave the hive. 



It isn't natural for bees to find brood in 

 their new home — that is what they have 

 left. They find conditions partly as they 

 left them, so they proceed to construct cells 

 and prepare to swarm, provided they don't 

 leave at once. If a coi-nb be given, and the 

 rest of the frames contain starters, if they 

 stay they will build more drone comb than 

 if all frames contained starters. 



J. T. Hairston. 



Sulina, I. T., Nov. 15. 



BROODLESS COLONIES. 



I have two colonies of bees that have 

 neither brood nor eggs. They are new col- 

 onies that I got this season, and both have 

 queens but no brood, although they had 

 plenty' in September. They have lots of 

 honej', three or four frames being full. 



As I am a beginner I should like to know 

 if these colonies will be safe for winter in 

 this condition; and if not, please state if 

 thej' need new queens, and whether tested 

 queens would be necessary. 



Navarre, O., Nov. 18. Wm. H. Scott. 



[You will not find brood in a normal col- 

 ony in your locality in November. The 

 queens are probably all right and should 

 be left alone. — Ed. J 



DOES IT pay to USE FULL SHEETS OF 

 FOUNDATION IN THE BROOD-NEST? 



I will state mj' experience. I had one 

 swarm of bees come out about the middle of 

 July, three years ago, and I filled the eight 

 frames with half-sheets of foundation, and 

 the next day a swarm came out nearly 

 the same size, and I filled the eight frames 

 with full sheets of foundation, and in one 

 week I put a super on each of those hives, 



