746 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



—the advantages offered— the duties 

 devolving upon its members, and the 

 responsibilities resting on its executive 

 officers; and now, in conclusion, let 

 me ask, may we not hopefully look to 

 the future, expecting to see Apicul- 

 ture prosper, and its votaries intelli- 

 gent, successful and happy, enjoying 

 the full fruition of the grand organi- 

 zation which may result — from the 

 labors of this day "? In the language 

 of Webster, when laying the corner- 

 stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, I 

 will say of this proposed organization: 

 " Let it rise 1 Let it rise, till it meet 

 the Sun in its coming ; Let the earliest 

 light of Morning gild it, and the part- 

 ing day linger and play on its summitl " 



After the reading of the above es- 

 say, on motion of Dr. A. B. Mason, it 

 was decided that a committee of 

 three be appointed by the chair, to 

 take into consideration the proposed 

 amendments to the constitution, and 

 report upon the advisability of its 

 adoption. 



The following were then appointed 

 as such committee : Prof. A. J. Cook, 

 Agricultural College, Mich. ; W. Z. 

 Hutchinson, Flint, Mich. ; and A. I. 

 Boot, Medina, O. 



The convention then listened to an 

 interesting talk by Mr. A. I. Root, of 

 Medina, O., about 



Fonl Brood, How Sball We Treat It? 



Mr. Eoot said— As soon as foul 

 brood appeared in our apiary, we be- 

 gan burning up the affected colonies. 

 After we had burned about 40 colo- 

 nies, we found that, in nearly every 

 case, colonies adjoining the stand of 

 a destroyed colony, soon showed signs 

 of disease, and we began to cast 

 about for some way of curing the dis- 

 ease. The first thing used was phenol, 

 diluting it and applying it with a 

 spraying attachment ; first tearing oS 

 the cappings with a wire hair-brush, 

 which does the work in such a man- 

 ner that the healthy brood is un- 

 injured. The odor drives the bees 

 out of the hive, but they soon come 

 back, and usually clean the foul brood 

 out of the cells. This treatment does 

 not always cure the disease, but there 

 is this advantage, it prevents the 

 spread of contagion to other colonies. 

 I did advocate the burning of hives, 

 but Mr. Cowan says that immersing 

 them 40 seconds in boiling water de- 

 stroys all germs. With chaff hives, 

 the chaff must be removed, the hives 

 boiled, and then refilled with new 

 chaff. 



Miss Dema Bennett— Is there any 

 danger of communicating the disease 

 by the way of foundation V 



Mr. Root — The heat necessary to 

 the manufacture of foundation would 

 destroy the germs. With a small 

 apiary, I believe I would burn up the 

 "whole business" if I found it in- 

 fested with foul brood. 



J. A. Green— There is a disease 

 something like foul brood, but not 

 contagious ; the difference is that the 

 larvse are brown and watery instead 

 of ropy, as in genuine foul brood. 



Dr. A. B. Mason— If a larva is 

 elastic and ropy, it is a certain indi- 

 cation of foul brood. 



N. N. Betsinger- There are certain 

 conditions that will bring about foul 

 brood. I can produce foul brood in 

 ten days, and cure it again in the 

 same length of time. Salt is the sitn- 

 ple remedy that will cure it. Mix it 

 with sawdust, put it into a keg, add 

 water, and keep it in the apiary where 

 the bees can have access to it. 



A. I. Root— We have fed our bees 

 salt and water for a long time ; we 

 also have sawdust in front of the en- 

 trances, and add salt to keep down 

 grass. 



Dr. A. B. Mason— I know of many 

 who have tried salt and failed. 



Prof. Cook— There are two or three 

 points that need emphasis, viz : We 

 cannot depend upon the odor in de- 

 tecting foul brood, while the elasticity 

 or ropy mass is a sure test; many 

 men have cured foul brood, hence we 

 can cure it, and need not burn things. 



B. T. Davenport— I, too, have had 

 trouble from the kind of " dry " foul 

 brood, as mentioned by Mr. Green. I 

 fail to see why it should be called 

 " dry " foul brood, as it is watery, 

 although the larvse does finally dry up. 

 The larvfe will break in two when 

 there is an attempt at removal, but 

 there is no ropiness nor elasticity. 

 The trouble is greater with dark bees 

 than with Italians. I have cured it 

 by a change of queens. 



The convention then adjourned un- 

 til 7:30 p.m. 



EVENING SESSION. 



The convention was called to order 

 at 7:30 p.m., by President Miller, 

 when the Secretary read an essay 

 from C. P. Dadant, of Hamilton, Ills., 

 entitled. 



Comb Fonndatlon, its inanufactare 



and Use. 



The first requisite for a good article 

 of comb foundation is, to get a pure 

 article of beeswax. The making of 

 foundation of wax mixed with paraf- 

 fine, or with ceresine, has been tried 

 several times, and has resulted in a 

 loss to the manufacturer, as the bees 

 detect the imposition more readily 

 than men can. Besides, these arti- 

 ficial compounds melt at a lower de- 

 gree than pure beeswax, and en- 

 danger the safety of the colony, when 

 put in use. In this country, where 

 the extremes of heat and cold are so 

 marked, even pure beeswax, in nat- 

 urally built combs, sometimes gives 

 way under the heat and weight com- 

 bined. It is by their lighter specific 

 gravity that paraffine and ceresine 

 are most readily detected. Happily, 

 however, these adulterations are very 

 scarce. The most frequent adultera- 

 tion of beeswax, that with tallow, is 

 easily noticed by. the dull and greasy 

 appearance of the cakes. This wax 

 should be carefully rejected. 



After selecting the beeswax, we 

 melt it in a large boiler, and keep it 

 liquid for 24 hours or more, to give all 

 the impurities time to settle to the 

 bottom. These are afterwards melted 

 ov«r, to separate what may remain in 

 them. 



The wax is then dipped into sheets, 

 by the use of thin pine boards, which 

 have been kept dampened in water, 



to prevent sticking. We formerly 

 used glass, and finally rejected it as 

 too expensive. The sheets are made 

 thick enough to stretch in the rolls 

 when moulded. In this way all the 

 inequalities of their surface are 

 laminated out, and the foundation 

 turned out of the rolls is dry.or nearly 

 so, all the moisture being forced out 

 with the pressure. It is in this par- 

 ticular that resides one of the many 

 advantages of the roller mill over the 

 press. In the press, the lubricating 

 material, whatever it is, is left on the 

 sheets, and is very objectionable to 

 the bees. 



There are many points in the manu- 

 facture of comb foundation that are 

 worthy of attention, but it is impos- 

 sible to notice them all in this short 

 essay. In this branch of industry, as 

 in all others, practice is required to 

 acquire skill, and speed in manipula- 

 tions. 



Of the use of comb foundation, it is 

 not necessary to speak, for there is 

 certainly not a bee-keeper at this 

 meeting who does not know of its 

 advantages. 



Two of our bee-papers have lately 

 published an article from my pen, 

 which first appeared in the Western 

 Agriculturist, several years ago, when 

 comb-foundation machines were yet 

 in their infancy. In this article I ad- 

 vised the use of narrow strips in the 

 brood-frames, for we did not then 

 know how to make foundation that 

 would hold, in full sheets in the hive, 

 when used ifor natural swarms. But 

 everybody now uses comb foundation 

 in full sheets in hiving swarms, and 

 we have done so ourselves for years, 

 with entire success. 



Let me close with the remark, that 

 of all nations the American is the 

 most progressive, as far as practical 

 or material advancement is concerned. 

 America leads the world in practical 

 bee-culture, and although many are 

 the scientific discoveries that we owe 

 to our brothers across the Atlantic, 

 they readily acknowledge that in the 

 practical production of honey, they 

 only follow in the footsteps of the 

 apiarists of the New World. 



C. P. Dadant. 



H. R. Boardman— Mr. Dadant is 

 mistaken when he says that every- 

 body now uses full sheets of founda- 

 tion when hiving swarms. 



President Miller— Perhaps he means 

 that foundation is now so made that 

 it can be used in this manner if 

 desirable. 



James Heddon— I have used lye as 

 a lubricator,but I have had no trouble 

 from its use. I have made a solution 

 four times as strong as needed, put in 

 pieces of wax, but failed to see that it 

 injured the wax. After foundation 

 has been made awhile, there is a 

 precipitation, but it is not objection- 

 able. The Given foundation cannot 

 be made so even as that made on 

 rollers ; it is no more even then it is 

 dipped ; but this unevenness is all in 

 side- walls, i. e., some are deeper than 

 others, but the base is even, and I 

 fail to see anything objectionable in 

 this. 



