1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



805 



may be induced to g:o into sections by put- 

 ting- in bait combs; but a better wa}' is to 

 have the colonies so overpoweringly strong- 

 that they will be compelled to g-o above, 

 simply to g-et room; but in that case the en- 

 trance will have to be large, otherwise the 

 bees will cluster out and loaf. — Ed.] 



IS IT PICKLED OR FOUL BROOD? 



I have in mj' apiary a number of colonies 

 which are affected with what seems to be 

 pickled brood. We have shaken out quite 

 a number of colonies, using- formaldeh3'de 

 on the emptj' combs. What is sing-ular 

 about the matter is the fact that the dis- 

 eased brood is, of its own accord, disap- 

 pearing- from manj' of the worst- affected 

 colonies without any treatment whatever. 

 In many colonies there are only a very few 

 cells of diseased brood, while the combs are 

 filled with healthy brood. Do you think 

 that, under these circumstances, it would 

 be safe to let such colonies go over until 

 spring- for treatment? Would it be safe and 

 effective to treat the diseased combs with 

 formaldeh3'de in October, after the healthy 

 brood has all hatched? Will formaldehyde 

 disinfect combs of sealed honey so that they 

 can be used for winter stores? 



W. H. LiTTLEJOHN. 



Battle Creek, Mich., Aug. 11. 



[The probabilities are that you have a 

 form of pickled brood. While foul brood 

 will disappear under some conditions, dur- 



ing- a strong- honey- flow for example, as a 

 general rule it will continue to grow worse. 

 Pickled brood will come and go; in fact, 

 that is one of its peculiarities. My advice 

 would be to treat all the combs in the fall 

 with formaldehyde iis you suggest. If you 

 have any doubts at all it would be advisa- 

 ble to subject all the empty combs that j^ou 

 may have to this treatment. It will do|no 

 harm, and might save the spread ofj, a 

 dangerous disease. — Ed.] 



DAMPNESS IN THE CELLAR. 



I should like to winter my bees in a cel- 

 lar. The cellar is 16X18X7, and has 3 

 windows 28X12 inches. There is never any 

 water standing in it, but is a little damp 

 at the bottom (which is of brick). We use 

 a heating-stove in winter above the cellar. 

 Please give me advice if it be a good idea 

 to put a pipe into the cellar connected to 

 the flue so as to draw the dampness out. 



Brookville, Ind. H. W. Suhre. 



[Dampness in the cellar does no particu- 

 lar harm, although perhaps it may be ad- 

 visable to remove it by the plan you sug- 

 gest. A flue that connects with the regular 

 chimney of the heating-stove is a very use- 

 ful appliance in a bee-cellar for removing 

 the foul air. Our experience shows con- 

 clusively that in our locality, at least, it 

 pays to keep the air in the cellar as fresh 

 as possible at all times during the winter. 

 —Ed.] 



JAMES HILBERT'S BFE-CELLAR AND WORK-SHOP. SEE EDITORIALS. 



