326 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



cents more would have to be deducted, mak- 

 ing- a net profit of $1.50. On this basis it 

 will be seen that the profit in one season 

 ought to pay for the hives and supers, in 

 one year, or come very close to it, leaving 

 the investment good for ten or more years. 

 If we figure it that way the ten per cent 

 need not be figured in. For a professional 

 man, or one who has other business, even 

 these returns are not bad. Even if he se- 

 cured only enough for family use, the diver- 

 sion or change to relieve the tired brain is 

 worth something. 



FORMALDEHYDE FOR CURING BLACK BROOD, 



AS TESTED BY THE INSPECTORS FOR 



NEW YORK. 



Most of our readers know that New York 

 has an excellent foul-brood law, the State 

 being divided up into four districts, one in- 

 spector for each district. Charles Stewart, 

 one of the number, seeing what Mr. Weber 

 had to say regarding formaldehyde as a 

 cure for foul brood, in our issue for March 

 15th, page 228, writes as follows: 



I read C. H. W. Weber's report on the use of formal- 

 dehvde for the cure of foul brood, with much interest, 

 especially as the bee-inspectors of this State have been 

 experimenting with this powerful disinfectant during 

 the past .summer whenever a little time could be spar- 

 ed from State work, in order to determine if it would 

 cure black brood, which, you know, is much more to 

 be dreaded than foul brood. ,. , ., 



About thirty tests were made by my.selt and other 

 careful bee-keepers by treating diseased colonies on 

 the shake-off plan, then using about three tablespoon- 

 fulsof formaldehyde to the number of combs we could 



pack in about 4>^ cubic feet of space. 



These combs were then given to healthy colonies, 

 and with an occasional exception which could usually 

 be traced to some outside .source of infection, the brood 

 was healthy, the combs being capped regularly over 

 the brood. Some of these combs, before being given 

 to the bees were the worst cases ot black brood we 

 could find, but were, of course, first treated with vapor 

 of formaldehyde. c t, ,.,, 



Later in the season, about twenty colonies ot healthy 

 bees were given combs very heavy with honey and 

 pollen taken from diseased colonies, and vaporized. 

 These colonies were carefully marked, and before long 

 we shall know if we were succe.sssul in killing all the 

 germs when they were located under both pollen and 

 honey It seems almost too good to be true ; but, even 

 if it is a failure in this experiment, we expect to give 

 them a longer and stronger dose and try it again. 



At first we bought a small vaporizer of A. B. Hue- 

 sted & Co of Albany, N. Y ; but, later, wishing to do 

 business on a larger .scale we made a larger one our- 

 selves, and bought a gallon of formaldehyde from the 

 above'firm, for |:3 00. 



As a precautionary measure we expect to vaporize 

 all of our extracting-combs this season before giving 

 them to the bees, and feel confident that, in this kind 

 of combs, where but little honey remained from last 

 season no germs will survive the treatment. 

 Sammonsville, N. Y. CH.4.S. Stewart, 



New York State Bee-inspector, Third Division. 



This is indeed encouraging. As Mr . Stew- 

 art well says, black brood is more diffi- 

 cult to eradicate than foul brood. We have 

 now reports from three different sources, of 

 careful experiments, going to show that for- 

 maldehyde may prove effective for curing 

 foul brood without destroying either the 

 combs or the brood that still remains 

 healthy. . 



The method that requires the burning of 

 the combs, and substituting one or more 

 sheets of foundation, is necessarily some- 

 what expensive; but hitherto it has proven 



to be the only reliable method for curing 

 either black or foul brood; but the gas or 

 vapor from formaldehyde may be so pene- 

 trating and powerful that it enters clear 

 into the combs, killing even the spores; and 

 when we remember that the spores them- 

 selves have been exposed to a boiling tem- 

 perature, in some cases for an hour, with 

 out killing them, the gas must be powerful 

 indeed. I can not help feeling some doubt 

 as to whether any gas or chemical, unless 

 so powerfully corrosive as to destroy even 

 the brood, would fail of killing the spores. 

 And this leads me to say that so good an 

 authority as Inspector McEvoy, of Ontario, 

 is doubtful about the efficacy of formalde- 

 hyde. He even goes so far as to say it does 

 not cure. Let us stand open to conviction, 

 however; for z/' the new germicide will do 

 half what has been claimed for it, it will 

 prove to be a great boon for bee-keepers. 



No specific instructions are yet given, 

 just how to apply the spray; but I assume 

 the drug is bought in the liquid form, and 

 that the same is sprayed on combs with 

 any of the atomizers sold by the ordinary 

 drug-houses. Of course, the foul-brood or 

 black-brood inspector would require some- 

 thing a little larger, capable of covering 

 several combs at once, or so powerful as to 

 force the vapor clear up through all the 

 combs while they are in the hive. 



I hope that those of our friends who have 

 black brood or foul brood in their apiaries 

 will make tests of the drug, and report to 

 us as soon as they can definitely determine 

 what it will do. It is not sufficient to have 

 the combs remain healthy for 30 days. All 

 bacilli, the active principle of the disease, 

 are undoubtedly killed by the drug; but 

 the question will be whether spores that 

 are capable of resisting a boiling tempera- 

 ture for so long a time would be destro3'ed 

 by such drugs. If these spores subsequent- 

 ly find lodgment in the tissue of the young 

 larva;, there is a strong probability that 

 black or foul brood will develop, as the case 

 may be. 



THE CANDYING OF honey; SOMETHINGS WE 

 KNOW AND don't KNOW ABOUT IT. 



It is generally conceded that honey left 

 in the comb does not candy nearly as read- 

 ily as that which has been thrown out from 

 the extractor. There is something about the 

 agitation — thecoming in contact with a large 

 quantity of air — that causes honey to go into 

 a semi-solid state. It is a well-known fact 

 that honey extracted and fed back, or fed 

 for the purpose of filling out our unfin- 

 ished sections, has a tendency to granulate 

 more quickly than comb honey which has 

 been filled and completed wholly from the 

 product direct from the fields. Sometimes 

 it is urged as an objection that feeding 

 back is unprofitable because so much comb 

 honey would come back on the producer's 

 hands as so much " sugared comb honey." 



A case recently came under my notice 

 that has seemed interesting in connection 

 with the statement already made. A large 



