50 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



When the brood-frames arc made, 

 drive a dull nail through from the inside 

 and near the lower corners of the end- 

 bars, so as to project exactly M of an 

 inch, and it will obviate the killing of 

 a single bee, however rapidly the frames 

 may be handled. 



This projecting nail point is as impor- 

 tant as the projecting arm the frames 

 are suspended by. Without it the end- 

 bars of the frames may come so close to 

 the side of the hive that the bees cannot 

 pass between them, and they will then 

 deposit a wall of glue along each side of 

 the frame, leaving a space between 

 these walls and behind the end-bars 

 where moths are reared by the hundred. 

 I lately saw 5 hives where the moths 

 destroyed the colonies in this way. 



Again, I removed the colonies from 

 several hives where the frames were so 

 deep that the inch wide bottom-bars 

 were so near the bottom-boards that 

 moths existed in surprising numbers, 

 under them. Sometimes there were holes 

 through the .solid wood of the bottom- 

 bar, where the moths escaped into the 

 combs. At other times the top-bars 

 were too thick, or the rabbets so shallow- 

 that it made the space between the top- 

 bars of the frames and the cover-board 

 about % of an inch deep. As the board 

 was seldom removed, this furnished an 

 excellent nursery for the moth. 



In some frame hive apiaries the flying 

 moths were busy around the hive, 

 in the evening, watching an opportunity 

 to deposit their eggs inside the hive; 

 and in the morning the alighting-boards 

 were strewn with dead larvi^ of the 

 moths, which the bees had killed, and 

 also with young brood the moth larvte 

 had rendered imperfect in their depreda- 

 tions upon the combs. In box-hive 

 apiaries, I could find no such conditions, 

 so that it proved that a poorly con- 

 structed frame hive is a veritable moth 

 trap. 



The manufacturers of these hives and 

 frames had in mind a very imperfect 

 idea of the movable frame, which was 

 that the spaces need be only wide 

 enough to allow of manipulation, when, 

 in fact, the spaces must be wide enough 

 for two bees to pass along, back to back; 

 and this requisition must be heeded, 

 regardless of plans which the ignorant 

 manipulators may make, as the bees 

 emphasize their rules by piling on glue 

 until the frames become immovable. 



These observations have not been 

 confined to a single apiary, but to a 

 dozen or more, aggregating about 500 

 hiv«s. 



Since examining apiaries in several 

 counties, and not finding a trace of foul- 

 brood, I am of the opinion that much, if 

 not all, of the foul-brood scare in Wis- 

 consin is occasioned by the ravages of 

 the moth, through neglect or poorly 

 constructed hives. 



Clinton, Wis. 



COTVVEIVTION DIRECTORY. 



Tvme and place of meeting. 



1891. 

 July 30.— Carolina, at Charlotte, N. C. 



A. L. Beach, Sec, Pineville, N. C. 



Aug. 6.— Rock River, at Sterling, Ills. 



J. M. Burtch, Sec, Morrison, Ills. 



Sept. 3.— Susquehanna County, at So. Montrose, Pa. 

 H. M. Seeley, Sec, Harford, Pa. 



In order to have this table complete, 

 Secretaries are requested to forward full 

 particulars of the time and the place of 

 each future meeting. — The Editor. 



North American Bee-Keepers' Association 



President— P. H. Elwood. . .Starkville, N. Y. 

 Secretary— C. P. Dadant Hamilton, Ills. 



» • ♦• 



National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



President— James Heddon ..Dowagiac, Mich. 

 Sec'y and Manager— T. G. Newman, Chicago. 



Bee aiid HoiiBy Gossip. 



i^" Do not write anj^thing for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper with business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



Plenty of Clover, ^ut No Nectar. 



Owing to the very poor season last 

 year, many bees died in this vicinity, the 

 mortality being greatest in the latter 

 part of April and early part of May, 

 before the apple bloom, upon which the 

 bees seemed to do well while it lasted ; 

 the weather was then very dry, and 

 white clover, while plentiful, seemed to 

 secrete no nectar, and I have seen 

 very few bees at work upon it. I do not 

 understand why the white clover does 

 not secrete nectar, as in former years, 

 and would be inclined "to think it was 

 owing to the drouth, but for the fact 

 that it was about the same last year, 

 when it rained half of the time. Last 

 Fall I put 48 colonies into Winter 



