AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



157 



first of September, and took the 4 weak- 

 est ones and put them together. These 

 4, afterwards, had not a pound of honey. 

 I then put the 3 weakest ones together, 

 and fed these 2 combination colonies 

 outside of the hive. The latter part of 

 September I put these 2 together, so 

 that T only had 1 colony from the 7. I 

 have doubled the other ones the same 

 way, so that I have only 3 left. These 

 3 have old comb, but are free from foul- 

 brood. The feed was made from 3 

 pounds of granulated sugar to 1 quart 

 of water, and mixed with medicine made 

 from 3 ounces of bi-carbonate of soda, 

 1 pint of salt, 4 ounces of alcohol, and 1 

 ounce of salicylic acid mixed with 2 

 quarts of soft water. For every dollars' 

 worth of sugar, I put a good tea-cupful 

 of the mixture used. 



11. In the evening, in the month of 

 September. Some in the first part of 

 the month, aud some in the latter part. 

 Every comb that had the least bit of 

 foul-brood in it, I melted into wax, and 

 left only good combs, and fed the bees 

 this medicated syrup. 



12. I found in some of those in which 

 I had put new foundation, and where the 

 bees had not left the hive, some foul- 

 brood in the Fall, and also in other hives 

 that had not had the foul-brood in dur- 

 ing the Summer. The foul-brood in 

 these was not as bad, as I had fed them 

 with this medicated syrup. 



13. Perhaps it would be a good thing 

 to put in 5 or 6 combs with sealed honey 

 as you say, but I think it is a hard thing 

 to get such honey in a poor season. I 

 would rather feed the bees this medi- 

 cated syrup for the foul-brood, as it has 

 proven to be very effective. 



14. My son, five years ago, bought 3 

 colonies, and brought them to my place. 

 One of these had foul-brood, and we 

 soon found it out. I told him to cure 

 them the way I have mentioned, but he 

 thought that he would cure them in the 

 manner this Professor, from London, had 

 stated. He undertook to cure them, but 

 he soon found out that he could not, and 

 all the bees soon had the foul-brood. I 

 am about 10 blocks from any apiary, 

 and they all claim that they have not 

 foul-brood. I am not sure of this, but I 

 am afraid there are some hives, or old 

 trees, around that contain foul-brood. 



15. I melted them all into foundation. 

 I have some saved, but I do not think 

 that I will ever use them. 



16. I would use sealed comb, if I had 

 it, but if I had to buy the sealed combs, 

 I would rather feed sugar to the sick 

 colonies. 



17. My bees did not swarm this year ; 

 but previous seasons I put them on foun- 

 dation and empty combs. My hives are 

 the same as Mr. Jones', and the frames 

 are put in the same way, but my hives 

 are double-walled, 3 inches thick, and 

 filled with a layer of tow between the 

 walls l^i inches thick. 



18. I work in a woolen mill, and when 

 my bees need attention, I stay at home. 

 When they swarm, I get some one to 

 watch them. 



Now, friend McEvoy, do not think 

 that I say that your cure was not good, 

 I thought it was, but with me it has been 

 an entire failure. Mr. Pringle says that 

 you must cure the bees in a good honey 

 season. I learned, years ago, that in a 

 good honey season the disease will cure 

 itself. What we need is a cure in a 

 poor season, when foul-brood is more 

 plentiful. Last Fall I thought just as 

 Mr. Pringle, that I had solved the prob- 

 lem ; but this Summer I found that I 

 knew nothing of curing foul-brood. I 

 hope we will soon obtain more knowledge 

 about this disease. I am not discour- 

 aged yet, and will start this Spring with 

 all the hopes of a successful year. My 

 bees acted differently this year from any 

 other. It seemed to me that they did 

 not work at all. There was plenty of 

 clover in blossom, and there is bass- 

 wood within a block of my place, and 

 buckwheat within two blocks. Every- 

 thing seemed to blossom good, but I did 

 not get any honey. Can any one tell 

 me whether the fault was in the bees or 

 in the flowers ? 



Flint, Mich. 



Teias Apicnltnral Notes. 



A. C. ATEN. 



I had a pretty, fair season for honey 

 in 1890. I wintered about 160 colo- 

 nies, and have never had any loss except 

 from starvation — the smallest colonies 

 will winter through, if they have plenty 

 of honey. We have the most trouble 

 from the middle to the end of April, and 

 when a person has as many colonies as I 

 have, and keeps them in three different 

 places, if he is the least careless he 

 will lose some. I lost 8 or 10 colonies 

 last Spring in that way. I increased to 196 

 colonies last season, and got 9,400 

 pounds of extracted-honey of a very fine 

 quality. 



I did not have a single swarm, and I 

 am never troubled with swarming, as I 

 always give my bees plenty of room, as 

 I work for extracted-honey altogether. 



