1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



447 



with sealed cells, are placed between two 

 •wooden strips that tit in between the end- 

 bars of a Lang-stroth frame, and are held 

 in position by wire staples that fit into slots 

 cut in the ends of the strips. To hold the 

 cag'os in their places, holes a trifle larg-er 

 than the diameter of the cag'e are bored, 

 at proper intervals, through the upper strip, 

 thus allowing- the cages to be slipped down 

 through the upper laar, until their lower 

 ends rest in corresponding holes bored part 

 way through the bar. 



A frame full of these cages, stocked with 

 cells, may be hung in a queenless colony. 

 and will require no attention whatever, ex- 

 cept to remove the queens as they are need- 

 ed. The workers can freely pass into and 

 through the cages, cluster upon the cells, 

 care for them, and feed the queens after 

 they hatch, exactly as well as though the 

 queens were uncaged. 



These cages are unsurpassed as intro- 

 ducing-cages, either for fertile or for virgin 

 queens. The bees are not inclined to at- 

 tack a queen in a cage to which they can 

 enter, j'et they can surround, caress, and 

 feed her. They can become acquainted 

 with her, and give her the same scent as 

 ihemselves. When desirable to release 

 her, one end of the cage can be stopped 

 with candy, and the bees allowed to liber- 

 ate her by eating it out. 



B}' putting food in one end of the cage, a 

 queen may be kept caged, away from the 

 bees, the same as in anj' other cage. 



P^lint, Mich. W. Z. Hutchinson. 



From the Bee-keepers' Revie'cV,Jan. i. 



A FOUL-BROOD SCARE; A PECULIAR ODOR RE- 

 SEMBLING THAT FROM AN OLD GLUE- 

 POT IS NOT ALWAYS AN INDICATION 

 OF FOUL BROOD. 



There has been so much written about 

 ioul brood that I have concluded to give an 

 experience I once had. 



My 16 hives of bees were set up on brick 

 piers as is the custom in this locality. I 

 had a lawn-mower to keep the paths clean; 

 but as the bees were cross when I went too 

 close to the front of the hives the grass was 

 left to grow there. 



In August one year there was a very of- 

 fensive smell all over the yard, and it seem- 

 ed to be worse when I opened the hives. I 

 studied the ABC book, and decided that it 

 was foul brood. The hives were all full of 

 brood, and it looked fiat, sunlcen, and 

 shrunken, more than I had ever seen it be- 

 fore, and the cappings were full of little 

 holes. It looked like a terrible undertaking 

 to follow the directions given in the ABC 

 for the cure of foul brood; but something 

 had to be done, for the smell, instead of go- 

 ing away, grew worse until it was a regu- 

 lar "glue-pot " smell. So I began, and in 

 two da3's' time had treated all the hives 

 thoroughly. The next morning I thought 

 I would look at those bees again, for the 

 smell was there just as strong and offensive 

 as ever. I looked into all those hives, and 

 every one of them had begun to make nice 



combs, and the queens had begun to lay. I 

 then began hunting to find out what could 

 cause the odor. I first thought it might be 

 a dead chicken; but it did not smell like 

 that. I looked under the house and every- 

 where, but found nothing. Finally I looked 

 in the thick bushy grass, just under the 

 hive's entrance, and there I found dead bees 

 an inch or so thick all over the ground, and 

 that was what smelled so. After that, in 

 spite of the bees' crossness, I cut all the 

 grass away with a sickle, and put wood 

 ashes in front of every hive, and I never had 

 any more foul brood. 



Now, it may be possible that other people 

 make mistakes about this business, the 

 same as I did. If this should be a help to 

 any one I shall be very glad. 



Mrs. C. a. Stebbins. 



Broad Creek, Va. 



[I have read carefully what you have to 

 say, and I am not so sure that you did not 

 have foul brood. The character of the cap- 

 pings would indicate that you had some- 

 thing very much like it, or perhaps equally' 

 bad — black brood; and the treatment you 

 gave was just the one that should have been 

 given, and you gave it none too soon. I am 

 well aware that dead bees do very often 

 smell like rotten foul brood; but I should 

 Conclude it was only an incident that 4hey 

 happened to be there. Foul brood must be 

 pretty bad indeed to be detected by its odor 

 within the immediate vicinity of the infect- 

 ed hive. 



There is one s3nnptom that you failed to 

 give, and a very important one. If that 

 were present you might rest assured you 

 had foul brood without doubt. That symp- 

 tom is ropiness. If you found the dead mat- 

 ter, when you stuck a sprig of grass or a 

 toothpick in it, would draw out like glue or 

 molasses, you might be sure it was foul 

 brood, for there could be no question about 

 it then. In the presence of the other symp- 

 toms you have named, if the dead matter 

 did not rope, then you may have had black 

 brood. In either case, you should have ad- 

 ministered the treatment you did. Even if 

 you had only pickled brood you would be 

 on the safe side. — Ed.] 



NORTHERN MICHIGAN AS A HONEY LOCALI- 

 TY, ETC. 



Would it pay to go to Northern Michigan 

 to better my location? What county would 

 be best to get the willow-herb in ? Do 3'ou 

 think the diflference in the season would cut 

 any figure? Wm. Ort. 



Pawpaw, Van Buren Co., Mich. 



[Friend O., your first question is hard to 

 answer, as I do not know what your present 

 locality is for honey. At the recent con- 

 vention at Bellaire, Antrim Co., it was 

 stated that the largest croos were secured 

 in that part of Michigan. Willow-herb is 

 found all over those northern counties, and 

 so I can not say which is best. A lartre 

 part of Leelanaw Co. is now, however, cul- 



