750 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mv. 21, 



/Vn^oj^g \\)^ Bee-Papcrs 



Gleaned by Dr. Aliller, 



I.T80L A SUCCESS FOR FOUL BROOD. 



Well, we have no foul brood now. One colony has some 

 dead brood, killed hy feeding lysol. I used a hive that had 

 foul brood last season, and fed two feeds too close together, so 

 that the young larv;e got two doses, and that will fix them 

 sure. Lysol will cure foul brood here in Michigan. I have 

 treated 7 colonies for another party, and they are now all 

 healthy ; but it may return next season. More lysol will do 

 the business, so will McEvoy's way of doing. Can't scare me 

 out of another year's growth with it again. — Chas. Biery, in 

 ■Gleanings. 



SOME STRAY STRAWS FROM GLEANINGS. 



In the discussion as to five-banders, the fact is not as gen- 

 erally recognized as it should be that there are five-banders and 

 five-banders. It seems that some of them are Italians, others 

 not. Why should they be alike ? 



Langstroth and Quinby are both gone; but the Germans 

 still have their " Langstroth," the revered Dzierzon. Only 

 three of the 40 great wander-conventions has he missed since 

 their commencement in 1850. 



You can guess pretty closely at the amount of stores in a 

 hive by looking at the tops of the combs; but you can come 

 •closer to it by weighing each hive, and you can do it in less 

 time. Make abundant allowance in every hive for weight of 

 pollen and extra weight of old combs. 



More and more I come to the view that I don't want to see 

 sweet clover grow six feet high. I think more honey in the 

 long run will be had from it if it is kept cut down or eaten 

 down so that it never gets more thau two or three feet high. 

 [ I think you are right— at least, the clover that stock browse 

 down seems to be more thickly covered with bees. — Ed.] 



AMALGAMATION. 



There is more or less agitation going on in the several 

 bee-papers in regard to the uniting of the Bee-Keepers' Union 

 and the North American Bee-Keepers' Association. We do not 

 see any objection to this being done, as the latter association 

 is of no use to any one at present, and it certainly would not 

 detract from the usefulness of the Union, while at the same 

 time making it numerically stronger, and perhaps would cause 

 more interest to be taken in it than at present. — American 

 Bee-Keeper. 



HONEY vs. SUGAR. 



A. I. Root interviewed Dr. Kellogg, of the Battle Creek 

 Sanitarium, and the following especially interests bee-keepers: 



"The last question of the evening was in regard to the use 

 ■of honey for food. Our readers will recall some of the se- 

 vere strictures from Dr. Kellogg, that went the rounds of the 

 papers some years ago in regard to the matter of honey as 

 food. Well, the teacher frankly admitted he had changed his 

 mind in regard to honey. Some recent experiments with dia- 

 betic patients have revealed the fact that, where a liver is so 

 much diseased that it refuses to eliminate pure cane-sugar, it 

 will still fulfill its office on honey — that is, where siigar would 

 be almost fatal to a diabetic patient, he can eat good honey 

 almost with impunity. You may recall the fact that I have 

 written of a sinjilar experience of my own, in regard to the use 

 of honey. Will our readers having impaired digestion please 

 try dispensing with sugar, and use good honey instead? If 

 your honey is not first-class, make it so hy steHUzing, or, in 

 other words, heating, not enough to injure it, but so as to kill 

 even imperceptible fermentation, and make it wholesome." — 

 Gleanings. 



VE OLDEN TIME. 



The older members of the fraternity will especially enjoy 

 the following in Review, from B. Taylor : 



"About the year 1840, my brother bought and brought to 

 our home a swarm of bees. It was in a circular straw hive, 

 made by weaving together a rope of straw with splinters of 

 tough wood. The management of this hive was the first les- 

 sons I remember in practical bee-keeping, and I now vividly 

 recollect the interest I took in the first effort to get some table 

 honey from that hive. A frosty morning was chosen for the 

 work (so the bees would be too cold to sting), a bundle of rags 

 set on fire, and after the bees were smoked nearly to death by 



first one and then another of our numerous family taking 

 turns in blowing, with their mouths, smoke into the hive-en- 

 triiiice, we proceeded to rob the hive. It was turned upside 

 dciwii, and while one person blowed smoke among the half-dead 

 liees another pulled the brood-combs from their fastening. 

 Each comb would, if properly cut loose at the top, have a strip 

 of sealed honey along one edge which would be an equal mix- 

 ture of bee-bread and honey. The balance of the comb would 

 be a mixture of sealed and unsealed brood and unsealed honey. 

 The strips of sealed honey were cut from each comb and stored 

 in stone crocks as ' gilt-edge' goods. The remainder was put 

 in a cloth bag and hung near the chimney fire to drain. We 

 pronounced the gilt-edged goods best, but the strained ' real 

 good.' I believe much of the prejudice against extracted honey 

 has its root in the crude methods of those long-ago years. 



ALFALFA — HOW IT RESEMBLES SWEET CLOVER. 



Dr. Miller's Straw on alfalfa is about right if he is com- 

 paring alfalfa with young sweet clover. The only difference 

 at that stage is, that sweet clover is of a lighter shade of 

 green ; has slightly larger leaves and stems, and a more robust 

 appearance generally. But the mature plants are very differ- 

 ent. Sweet clover is then twice as high, branches out much 

 more, has a much greater prominence of stems, and is consid- 

 erably longer, thinner, and has more pointed blossoms, than 

 alfalfa. Aside from the blossoms, and except when it gets 

 quite old, alfalfa presents the general appearance of young 

 sweet clover. — F. L. Thompson, in Gleanings. 



FIVE OR THREE BANDS. 



Chas. H. Thies says in American Bee-Koeper: "I have 

 been breeding the five-banded bees and queens for a number of 

 years, and have had some experience with them. To sum up, 

 if I were asked which I considered the best bee, I would be 

 compelled to say the three-banded Italians. In looking over 

 the list of queens sent out during 1893, 1894 and 1895, I 

 can plainly see that the five-banded variety is losing ground 

 fast, and my expectations are that in 189(3 five-banded bees 

 will be little wanted, and I am now making arrangements to 

 breed mostly from Imported stock." 



GOOD YIELD AND SATISFIED BEE-KEEPERS. 



A dispatch from Winchester says that the apiarists of Riv- 

 erside county are well saiisfied with their season's work, their 

 colonies having yielded an average of from 200 to 300 

 pounds of honey. 



0. E. Harper, who has a ranch in St. John's canyon, near 

 Winchester, has harvested Hii tons of honey from 74 colonies 

 of bees, being an average of 256 pounds. Besides this, he 

 has now 154 colonies, his apiary having more than doubled 

 during the season. In the spring these bees were worth .$3 a 

 colony, or a total of $222. He has, therefore, made S234 as 

 representing the value of the new swarms, and putting the 

 honey at only 4J^ cents per pound he will get, besides, $855 

 for his labor. 



The year throughout southern California has been marked 

 by very exceptional circumstances, encouraging to bee-men 

 after the hard luck of last season. — Pacific Rural Press, for 

 Oct. 19, 1895. 



WHERE SHALL WE WINTER BEES ? 



There is probably no better place to winter bees than in a 

 good dry cellar; and if the questioner has such a cellar I 

 would advise him to put his bees in it for wintering. While 

 this is not absolutely necessary for safe wintering, and not as 

 necessary in our more Nothern localities, yet there will be a 

 great saving of honey to the apiarist, as well as better chances 

 of successful wintering, even as far south as all but the most 

 southern tier of States. If the cellar has a variable tempera- 

 ture it will not be as good for the bees as would one in which 

 the temperature could be hept as nearly at 45^ as possible; 

 yet if the temperature does not go above 50-, nor go lower 

 than 35, it will winter bees much better than to leave them on 

 the summer stand, unprotected. If the cellar is of more vari- 

 able temperature than this, the bees would be doubtless better 

 off out-of-doors. — Doolittle in Gleanings. 



Tlic International Bec-Kccpcrs' Congress. 



This gathering meets at Atlanta, Ga., Dec. 4th and 5th. 

 The Exposition at that time will be at its best, and the rail- 

 road rates the lowest. It will be a large convention of bee- 

 keepers. Make your arrangements to go. See page 746. 



