AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



395 



TLn Autumn Flo>vcr. 



I saw a miracle to-day ! 

 Where the September sunshine lay 

 Languidly as a lost desire 

 Upon a sumac's fading fire, 

 Where calm some pallid asters ti-od. 

 Indifferent, past a golden-rod, 

 Beside a grayhaired thistle set— 

 A perfect purple violet. 



So lonely when the Spring was gone. 

 So calm when Autumn splendors shone, 

 So peaceful midst the blazing flowers. 

 So blessed through the golden hours. 

 So might have bloomed my love for thee, 

 It is not, and it cannot be- 

 lt cannot, must not be, and yet, 

 I picked for thee the violet. 



—Elizabeth S. P. Ward. 



Topics ol Interest. 



PreTention of ProBOlis on Conili-floiiey, 



G. M. DOOLITTLE, 



There has been sent to me to answer, 

 through the columns of the American 

 Bee Jouknal, a question regarding the 

 prevention of propolis on comb-honey, 

 the correspondent describing it as 

 "being covered with propolis, which 

 cannot be gotten off," and adding: 

 " What I want to know is, how can I 

 produce comb-honey without having It 

 all covered with propolis on top, and 

 comb on the bottom ?" 



If the "being covered with propolis" 

 means that the bees cover the cappings 

 to the cells with propolis after the 

 honey is sealed, I will say that this is 

 something which I never knew to hap- 

 pen but once or twice in my bee-keeping 

 experience, and then with only one or 

 two colonies. Several years ago I had 

 two colonies which persisted in varnish- 

 ing the capping to the cells all over with 

 propolis, about as soon as the honey was 

 sealed, they in some instances putting 

 on so much propolis that it would run 

 down over the face side to the combs, 

 making the honey unsalable. To obviate 

 the matter as much as possible, I took 

 the honey off just as soon as it was 

 sealed, and after the honey season was 

 over I changed the queens in these 

 colonies, and had no further trouble 

 with them in that respect. 



If the above is what Is meant by " all 

 covered," then our correspondent will 

 know how to proceed, unless it is the 



locality that gives such results. By 

 changing a few queens the first year he 

 will ascertain whether the "trouble is 

 with the queens, or with the location. 

 If the location is to blame, then I 

 know of no other way than to take off 

 the honey as soon as sealed. 



However, from the wording of the 

 question, I judge that the trouble is not 

 with the honey being covered with pro- 

 polis, but that the propolis is placed on 

 the sections, as he mentions "propolis 

 on top "and "comb on the bottom." If 

 the trouble is propolis on the sections, 

 then I would advise the adopting of some 

 kind of a super that will exclude the 

 bees from the top and bottom of the 

 sections, and I know of nothing better 

 for this than the wide frames. 



This propolis difiSculty is one of the 

 reasons why I stick to wide frames. I 

 never could tolerate any kind of surplus 

 arrangement which gave the bees access 

 to the outside of the sections, for in this 

 locality large quantities of propolis are 

 gathered during the month of August, 

 and every part of the hive accessible to 

 the bees is coated over with it. With 

 the wide frames there is no accumulation 

 of propolis, except where the wide 

 frames and sections come together at 

 the edges, and this is easily scraped off 

 with a blunt knife, after the sections 

 have been off the hive for a little time. 

 The above should help any one avoid the 

 propolis difiSculty, it seems to me. 



BACILLUS ALVEI. 



By reading the replies to Query 782, 

 I see that a number of those answering 

 the question, " What is the cause of foul- 

 brood ?" say, Bacillus alvei. Dr. Tinker 

 modifies his a little by speaking of 

 Cheshire as the author of the name, but 

 says it "is, without doubt, the true 

 cause." 



Well, I am not going to say that it is 

 not, but if Cheshire is no more correct as 

 to the name of the disease, than he is in 

 his diagnosis of the same, then there is 

 little dependence to be placed on what 

 he says regarding the matter — not 

 enough so for any one to say that foul- 

 brood is caused by Bacillus alvei. 



Every person in North America, who 

 has any personal experience with foul- 

 brood, knows that the honey from a 

 foul-broody colony will spread the con- 

 tagion far and wide, if this honey is 

 placed where the bees have access to it. 

 There is no guess-work about there 

 being "death in the honey," and yet 

 Cheshire says "the popular idea that 

 honey is the means by which it is carried 

 from hive to hive, and that mainly 



