1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



595 



BROOD IN A PATENT HIVE. 



Why did not my bees raise brood in the 

 fall, October and November ? A man came 

 here and wanted to sell me a hive and the 

 right to make them. He said there was no 

 brood in ours, but in his hive they would 

 make comb all winter, and brood. I did 

 not believe it; but thej- have so far. In 

 some ways I like the hive; in others I do 

 not. But it is the onlj' hive that was mcik- 

 ing" comb and brood, and is now. 



Mrs. a. E. Chesterman. 



Cowden, 111. 



[In a normal condition bees seldom raise 

 brood in the fall. If that patent hive had 

 brood in it, it was only accidental. A 

 3'oung queen that has just begun egg- lay- 

 ing will often and generally lay in the fall 

 when older queens will have ceased; and 

 it is possible that the patent hive had such 

 a queen in it. — Ed.] 



THE CIRCLE OF BEES AROUND THE OUEEN; 

 THE EDITOR'S VIEW CONFIRMED. 



iMr. Editor: — You are right, on page 64. 

 Queens are often, if not usually, surround- 

 ed by a circle of bees, and the latter's ac- 

 tion toward the former is as j^ou say when 

 the colony is undisturbed. I have watched 

 this a great many times in my full-size ob- 

 servation hives; but as to finding a clipped 

 queen, after a swarm has issued in a clus- 

 ter of bees on the side of the hive or some- 

 where, that has been an exception with me. 



BLUE THISTLE. 



Echium vulgare, blueweed, or blue this- 

 tle, page 65, appears to be a bad weed in 

 Virginia. The meadows are one continuous 

 mass of blue blossoms — -a sight to behold, 

 and not easily forgotten. If land were 

 farmed systematically, and a short rotation 

 practiced, the weed could do but little harm. 

 It is a question whether bee-keeping could 

 be carried on profitably in Virginia with- 

 out the blue thistle. I have seen the bees 

 on the blossoms in October, but they do not 

 work on them profitably as late as this. It 

 is seldom that a perceptible amount of hon- 

 ey is stored in August. The quality is 

 good, but hardly equal to our basswood or 

 clover honey. F. Greiner. 



Naples, N. Y., Feb.* 2. 



THE NEW DRUG CURE FOR FOUL BROOD; A 

 CORRECTION. 



Your footnotes to Dr. Miller, page 7.^, 

 and to Mr. J. M. Thomson, page 391, are 

 somewhat misleading. "Formalin," *"for- 

 mol," "formaldehyde, " etc., are aqueous 

 solutions, about 40 per cent of formic alde- 

 hyde, a gaseous body formed from methyl 

 alcohol by oxydation. Disinfection is ac- 

 complished by boiling the 40- per cent solu- 

 tion of formaldehyde in a generator and 

 conducting the liberated gas into the com- 

 partment to be disinfected, which should 

 then be kept closed about 10 hours. Drug-- 

 gists, of whom the substance would have to 

 be boug'ht, also sell generators with in- 



structions how to use. Mr. J. M. Thom- 

 son's device ought to prove perfectly relia- 

 ble; perhaps he uses a little too much for- 

 malin, as the directions for 1000 cubic feet 

 of space to be disinfected is given as 5 

 ounces. Spraying will be entirely useless 

 to kill germs. Pastilles and a powder un- 

 der the' name of "glutol" are not to be 

 recommended, as the percentage of formal- 

 dehyde gas in them is not certain, and they 

 would have to be regenerated as the solu- 

 tion. H. O. Vassmer, 

 Excelsior Springs, Mo., May 7. 



BEE-PARALYSIS; DON'T MAKE THE BRINE 

 TOO STRONG. 



On page 397 you ask for experience of 

 bee-keepers in treating bee-paralysis. Aft- 

 er reading the preceding article by A. H. 

 Guernsey, I concluded to try the brine cure 

 on my bees, as 1 was troubled with paral- 

 ysis last season, and have been more or 

 less this spring. I took two handfuls of 

 rock salt and made about two quarts of 

 strong brine, then spread the combs and 

 gave them a good sprinkling May 30. As 

 a result hundreds of adult bees were killed 

 by the brine; but at this writing it .is too 

 soon to see whether the brood and larvje are 

 affected. I write this as a warning to oth- 

 ers to be careful not to use brine too strong. 



Denver, Colo. J. L. Bellangee. 



A WHOLE APIARY DESTROYED BY SPRAYING. 



Please discontinue my subscription for 

 Gleanings, as I am hardly able to keep it 

 up; besides, my whole apiary was ruined 

 entirely by a conscienceless neighbor spray- 

 ing his trees when in bloom. 



Berne, Ind. Jacob J. Schwarz. 



[This is one among numerous other in- 

 stances that show how bees are killed by 

 spraying when trees are in bloom. Certain 

 manufacturers of spraying-outfits claim 

 that the spraying- liquids they recommend 

 will not kill the bees; but they do just the 

 same. Any thing sufficiently powerful to 

 kill forms of life that injure our fruit-trees 

 is sure to be strong enough to kill a like 

 form of life— the larvas of bees. — Ed.] 



BEES poisoned ON THE COTTON-PLANT. 



Did you ever hear of any trouble in the 

 Souih about putting Paris green on the cot- 

 ton to kill cotton caterpillars or worms? I 

 hear it will kill them. I moved my bees 

 here, so that it did not kill all of them when 

 it was used. James McCook. 



Natchitoches, La. 



[J. M. Jenkins, in the cotton-belt, to 

 whom this was referred, replies:] 



I have had several reports of parties los- 

 ing all or nearly all their bees from plant- 

 ers poisoning the cotton to kill the caterpil- 

 lar, or "army worm," that occasionally 

 appears, and that will destroy the cotton 

 crop if allowed to. The remedy is to spray 

 the plant with Paris green or other poison; 



