THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



473 



Gleanings, from Dr. O. M. Blanton, 

 of Greenville, Miss. : 



"Last year, about June 1, one of 

 my neighbors, Mr. S. C. Vaught, dis- 

 covered dead brood in his apiary. It 

 first commenced with the capped 

 brood but soon extended to the 

 larvae, which, in some instances in 

 both soon became decomposed. On 

 examination I found some of the 

 capped brood with minute holes in 

 the cappings, and the decomposition 

 complete. Some of the pupae just 

 dead I found reversed within their 

 cells. There was a very disagreeable 

 odor from the decayed brood, but not 

 such as described in articles on foul 

 brood. Upon inquiry, I found ten 

 apiaries within a radius of 15 miles of 

 me, affected by it ; some to the extent 

 of 15 per cent., and most of it confined 

 to the capped brood. Two colonies in 

 my home apiary were affected 

 slightly. The "Refuge Apiary," with 

 its bright new combs had it in every 

 colony, but it did not reach putrefac- 

 tion before the bees removed the 

 dead, and filled the cells with honey, 

 and the queen commenced laying as 

 vigorously as ever. Mr. Vaught's 

 apiary of about 250 colonies was so 

 diseased that he determined to let 

 them work out their own salvation, 

 which they did. I uncapped the dead 

 pupae of some colonies, and the bees 

 soon cleaned the cells. 



" Just before the discovery of this 

 condition of things, the bees gathered 

 a great deal of dark, sour honey-dew 

 (aphides), and I attributed the dis- 

 ease to that cause. This year, as far 

 as I can learn, there is no evidence of 

 the disease. It certainly cannot be 

 the forerunner of foul brood, or we 

 should have it this year." 



Xearly sick with worry, and almost 

 despairing of ever curing my bees, I 

 need not say that I gladly welcomed 

 the small ray of hope that my bees 

 possibly had the same disease as Dr. 

 Blanton's. Still I could not help feel- 

 ing pretty much like a broken mer- 

 chant, as I left my bees and went out 

 into the country to get a rest, which I 

 badly needed, having worked very 

 hard for over two months of the 

 warmest weather we have. 



When I came back to Mobile about 

 Sept. 25, my bees were gathering fall 

 honey, the disease had almost en- 

 tirely disappeared, and even the 3 and 

 4 story hives (six in number), in 

 which I left a lot of diseased brood 

 from other hives, had developed into 

 populous colonies, and had queens of 

 their own rearing; some of which 

 colonies did as well last year as any I 

 had ; but some never did amount to 

 anything until I gave them another 

 queen. 



Feeling satisfied that my bees never 

 had foul brood, I went to work put- 

 ting them in the best condition to 

 winter, almost all of them being re- 

 duced to nuclei, from my attempts to 

 cure them. When I had finished that 

 job, I thought I would find the differ- 

 ence between the disease that my 

 bees had, and genuine foul brood. I 

 have looked through my bound Bee 

 JotTRNALS, Gleanings, and other bee- 

 papers ; I have read Dzierzon's ex- 

 periments, and also Mr. Cheshire's ; I 



have read Jones, Muth and Kohnke 

 on the subject, and I have yet to see 

 a symptom laid down for the detec- 

 tion of the disease that I have not 

 witnessed among my bees. Hence 

 the origin of my theory ; and though 

 if proven it will show our best au- 

 thorities to have made a mistake, it 

 will also show that the mistake in 

 each case is pardonable though a 

 a very serious one. 

 Mobile, ? Ala. 



For tbe American Bee Joomak 



The Honey-Plants of Canada. 



A. H. WALLBRIDGB, JK. 



I purchased some Simpson honey- 

 plant seed, and it has thriven well, 

 but alongside of it has come up a well- 

 known plant called by some the " sow- 

 thistle," the "bull-thistle," etc. 

 These plants look wonderfully alike — 

 are they the same ? 



Mr. Simpson discovered another 

 honey-plant a few years since ; I pur- 

 chased that also, and it turned out to 

 be our common figwort, abundant 

 here. There are yet several honey- 

 plants in this country which he might 

 discover.one of whichis called " bone- 

 set," a good houey-plant; and also a 

 plant with blue flowers on the 

 racimes, called " bugloss." All these 

 bloom after basswood ceases, and fill 

 up the time until buckwheat blooms. 

 I also purchased some bokhara clover; 

 it looks very much like our sweet 

 clover. Is it the same ? People here 

 laugh at my growing plants common 

 to this country, under the idea that I 

 am getting something new. 



All the above are good honey-plants, 

 but they are common wild plants 

 here except sweet clover, which grows 

 well when sown. Figwort entices 

 wasps by the hundreds ; it is a good 

 honey-plant, nevertheless. 



Boneset and bugloss, which I want 

 Mr. Simpson to discover, are excellent 

 plants for honey, and not bad as 

 weeds. 



Belleville, Canada. 



[The so-called Simpson honey-plant 

 is the "figwort" {Scrophularia nodosa), 

 and is often called carpenter's square 

 because of its square stalk, and rattle- 

 weed because its seeds rattle in the 

 pod. It is an excellent honey-pro- 

 ducer. • 



The " sow-thistle " {Sonchus asper) 

 has no seeds worth mentioning, being 

 a hybrid. It propagates by division, 

 and is not the same as figwort, which 

 is the only honey-plant said to be 

 discovered by Mr. Simpson. 



Bugloss (Echium vulgare), called 

 viper's bugloss or blue-plant, belongs 

 to the " borage family," produces 

 honey, but is considered a trouble- 

 some weed in many localities. 



Boneset or thorongh-wort [eupa- 

 torium) yields rich golden nectar. 

 There are 16 species in the Eastern 



States and Canada, and is very often 

 mentioned among our best honey- 

 plants. 



Bokhara clover is the same as sweet 

 clover (Melilotus alba), but designates 

 the imported seed.— Ed.J 



Home Farm. 



Deeii or SMllof Frames ? 



ISAAC HUTCHINS. 



One of the reasons given by an ad- 

 vocate of deep frames, is that bees, 

 " when they leave us seek the cavity 

 of a standing tree, long in its up and 

 down position." Another reason is 

 that " as winter approaches they are 

 found clustered in their brood-nest 

 just below their stores, and as the 

 winter season wears on, they grad- 

 ually move upwards in the line of 

 their supplies, warming their stores 

 for use, aud taking their food with- 

 out breaking their cluster." 



All this seems very plausible, and 

 will no doubt cause many bee-keepers 

 of little experience to make a change 

 for a deeper frame, and I fear it will 

 add to their winter losses. 



The first proposition does not, to 

 my mind, furnish any proof that a 

 hollow tree is a better hive for bees 

 to winter in, because bees, of a neces- 

 sity, occupy it. 



In the absence of statistics we are 

 unable to show how great their loss is. 

 Bee-hunters in this vicinity inform 

 me that nearly all the colonies they 

 find in trees have not passed a win- 

 ter, and have not stores enough to 

 carry them through one. 



I find by observation that bees on 

 the approach of cold weather cluster 

 below their stores, but the first very 

 cold day you will find them at the top 

 of the frames at the end and next to 

 the entrance, and as winter wears on, 

 and their stores are consumed, they 

 move towards the other end of the 

 frame, taking the honey from the 

 upper part of the frame the width of 

 the cluster, and if the frames is nar- 

 row, they sometimes take all the 

 honey from the upper part of the 

 frame, and starve to death with 

 plenty of honey below the cluster and 

 on the adjoining frames. 



I am fully convinced that a long 

 frame like the Langstroth is better 

 for wintering bees than a deep and 

 narrow one. Give me a long frame 

 with the entrance at the end of the 

 frame, and no more frames in the 

 hive than the bees will cluster on, 

 with plenty of good stores and a good 

 chaff hive for wintering on the sum- 

 mer stands. 



Wellington.© Maine. 



^- The Darke County 0mon Bee-Keepere" So- 

 ciety will holtl tlieir next meeting,' in the Opera 

 Hall at Union City, Intl., on Friday, July 29, 1887. 

 J. A. Roe, See. 



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