926 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



And so, friend K., you are making- the 

 shake swarm pl'an a success (if it were not 

 for Dr. Miller I would say shook swarm). 

 We should be g'lad to have you tell us more 

 about your method of working'. — Ed.] 



FIGHTING disease; FORMALDEHYDE UN- 

 SUCCESSFUL ; PROBABLY NOT FOUL 

 BROOD. 



The Muncy Valley Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion was organized some weeks ago for the 

 purpose of fighting foul brood, as noted 

 in a late issue. The association held a 

 meeting Aug. 1, at which the subject of 

 foul brood was thoroughly discussed. Mr. 

 Fuller was present, and did much to make 

 the meeting interesting and helpful. 



It now appears that about a third of the 

 colonies of bees in this section have been 

 found diseased. It appears, too, that the 

 treatment by formaldehyde has been un- 

 successful except in one case treated by 

 Mr. Fuller, in which he uncapped all cap- 

 ped comb, and extracted the honey. Up to 

 the time of the meeting it seemed to be en- 

 tirely cured, and the second hatching of 

 young bees was coming out, which has 

 not been the case with the others thus 

 treated; for in each case the disease began 

 to reappear between the third and sixth 

 week after the treatment. 



A new phase of the trouble also came to 

 light at our meeting. Mr. Fuller reported 

 an interview with Mr. Harry W. Beaver, of 

 Watsontown, Pa., a man of large expe- 

 rience in bee-keeping in Cuba, where he 

 gained a practical knowledge of many dis- 

 eases of bees. The conclusion is reached 

 that this which is making so much trouble 

 in this section is not foul brood, as formerly 

 known. It was stated that Mr. Beaver 

 has had man}' diseased colonies this sea- 

 son, and that he intended to send some dis- 

 eased combs to you for your examination. 

 It also appears that thus far the carbolic- 

 acid spray has been more successful than 

 the formaldehyde treatment. 



Muncy, Pa., Aug. 12. D. L. Woods. 



[Is it not possible and even probable that 

 black brood has stepped across the border- 

 line of York State over into your country? 

 I should be afraid of it. If it is not foul 

 brood, and yet is fearfully destructive, it 

 would look very much as if you had the 

 New York bee disease, better known as 

 *' black brood." 



The formaldehyde treatment, according 

 to late reports, fails to disinfect combs un- 

 less they are uncapped and empty; but if it 



will be the means of saving otherwise good 

 combs, it will be worth much to the bee- 

 keeper. From our present information, all 

 diseased combs would have to be uncapped 

 and possibly extracted, whether containing 

 brood or honey. Such a course of proced- 

 ure would be very likely to spread the dis- 

 ease, as it would be almost impossible to 

 keep the infection from clothing, extractors, 

 honey-knives, honey on the floor, and after- 

 ward being transmitted to robber bees. — 

 Ed.] 



soured honey — what to do with it. 



Last spring I secured from another bee- 

 keeper a few hives of bees with Root queens 

 in them. Wishing to increase them as much 

 as possible I divided them. One nucleus 

 that reared a young queen built up quickly 

 and strong, and this fall I took 48 lbs. of 

 surplus honey from them. Now comes the 

 queer part of it. While the whole 4S lbs. 

 was nicely capped, it was all soured full of 

 air-cells, and foamy — tastes and smells 

 distinctly sour. Now, that is something I 

 never saw before. I should like to know the 

 reason of it. I was thinking of using the 

 honey as bee- feed to build up weak colo- 

 nies, but intend to cook it first. Wouldn't 

 it be a good idea to add sugar syrup to it? 

 It seems to me that the fault must be in the 

 bees, and that hive is marked for requeen- 

 ing. I will say for the old queen that, 

 while this is her third season, she built a 

 strong colony from a nucleus, and stored 85 

 lbs. of honej'. J. T. Rkno, Jr. 



Jerico Springs, Mo., Sept. 24. 



[Soured honej' would be absolutely unfit 

 to give your bees for winter food. I would 

 advise you to extract all of it, and then feed 

 the bees good clean pure sugar syrup. The 

 honey that you extract you can improve 

 somewhat by boiling; then for the purpose 

 of stimulating brood-rearing 3'ou possibly 

 can feed it out again to the bees next 

 spring; but a better way would be to make 

 honey vinegar of it. Such vinegar is much 

 superior to ordinar}'^ cider vinegar. — Ed.] 



WINTERING WITH THE COMB-HONEY SUPER 

 ON TOP. 



I winter my bees on their summer stands. 

 I put an emptj' super on top of the brood- 

 nest. I take the sections out and leave the 

 section-holders in. I fill the super with 

 old rags and papers. Any kind will do. 

 The}' winter well for me, coming out in the 

 spring in good order. I use the Danzenba- 

 ker hive. The weather gets pretty cold 

 here — from about zero to 10° below. 



J. B. Rtddell. 



New Florence, Pa., Sept. 28. 



[Such a plan of wintering gives very good 

 results, many times; but unless the bees 

 are protected against prevailing winds it is 

 also advisable to put a protecting case 

 around the sides of the brood-nest. A pow- 

 erful colony will ver^' often winter outdoors 

 without any protection whatever. — Ed.] 



