568 



THE SMERICMK WmM JOWRPfMEr. 



SULPHURIC ACID. 



Its Use 



in Cicrmany to Cure 

 Foul Brood. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY GERD WENDELKEN. 



On page 345 Is an article written by 

 Wm. Klintvvorth, about bee keeping in 

 Germnny. and how foul brood was cured 

 there about 40 years ago. He mentions 

 my name as one of those who cured 

 the disease by tlie use of feeding sul- 

 phuric acid, but he does not tell how 

 and in what proportion it was ted. I 

 will therefore try to give briefly some 

 information about it. 



When in (iermany, asMr. Klintworth 

 said, 40 years ago f cured foul brood 

 with sulphuric acid, to my full satis- 

 faction, and three other cases are 

 known to me that were cured in the 

 same way. Our fathers did not under- 

 stand the nature of foul brood, but 

 some understood how to cure the same. 



Sulphuric acid has powerful destruc- 

 tive properties, aucl must alwa.vs be 

 handled with the gieatest caution. If 

 mixed with water, at the moment of 

 mixture great lieat is given out, and 

 therefore the dilution should be per- 

 formed by very gradually adding the 

 acid to the water. The dilution should 

 not be kept in tin vessels, but in glass 

 bottles. 



When fed with honey or syrup to 

 foul-broodv bees, it will kill the foul 

 brood germs ; but it has to be diluted 

 to such an extent so as not to kill the 

 bees and brood— 1-700 or 1-SOO pari 

 will do. 



For an experiment in the spring of 

 1887, I fed sulphuric acid to my bees in 

 the following way : 1 diluted one 

 ounce of acid in one quart of water ; 

 then mixed this with svrup, and fed it 

 to one colony, beginniiag with small, 

 weak doses, and increasing by degrees 

 until the bees refused to take it. Every 

 night from March ]•■") to April 20 I fed 

 J^ a pint of syrup with 2J^ tea-spoonfuls 

 of diluted acid. I found that this was 

 not injurious to the health of the 

 queen, bees or brood. At the end of 

 that time I fed the rest of the medi- 

 cated syrup to 10 or 12 other colonies. 

 I have been told that the acid would 

 kill bees and brnod, but it does not, 

 and cannot be doue, because the bees 

 do not take it when too strong. 



If foul brood should ever get into my 

 bee-yard, I would not be much alarmed. 

 I would simply feed the bees regularly 

 every night as described until rfvell ; 

 and I would expect them to be all right 

 in about two weeks. I know that what 

 has been done can be done again. 



It is best not to feed .such a quantity 

 with the acid mixed, as to be stored for 

 winter use. There is no sure way to 

 cure the disease without feeding the 

 remedy to tiie bees, but it is a great 

 mistake to feed or treat only such colo- 

 Dies as have alreaily dead or diseased 

 brood. Every colony must be fed and 

 disinfected, because some seemingly 

 healthy colonies may have the germs 

 of foul brood in great numbers in the 

 hives; old bees have them in their 

 stomachs, and therefore they must be 



fed. The young larvae must be fed in 

 the cells, which can be best done and 

 prepared by the nurse- bees. 



Some prominent bee-keepers have 

 recommended spraying the larvie with 

 the remedy, but the nurse-bees know 

 better how to prepare the doses, and 

 how much to feed the larvre. 



Some have also recommended burn- 

 ing the diseased colonies, but this is 

 another mistake, I think. It does no 

 good, for soon after some other colonies 

 will be diseased, because the germs had 

 been there before. 



Marietta, O., Aug. 20, 1888. 



PLEASANTRIES. 



Review of llie " Seientific Pleas- 

 aulricis " — Experiments. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY G. W, DEMAEEE. 



A great many bee-keepers believe 

 that Prof. Wiley is a sinner above 

 other scientists in the perpetration of 

 " scientitic pleasuntries,'' and doubtless 

 some of the most credulous believe that 

 the Professor laid "awake o' nights " 

 in his scientitic musings and search- 

 iugs after the most effective "pleas- 

 antry " to hurl at bee-culture with 

 deadly eflect. No greater mistake than 

 this could be made. Scientists do not 

 do things in that way. No scientist ex- 

 pects anybody to credit his "pleas 

 antries." In fact, the scientist of the 

 evolution school is Mver certain of ani/- 

 thiuy under the sun, nor above the sub. 



Of course the frail, waxen fabric 

 which we call honey-comb, with its 

 dividing walls too trail to bear the 

 touch of the most skilled Unger of a 

 life-trained artist, or any machinery 

 known to the arts in realms sublunary, 

 has not been wrought by machinery as 

 yet, but when "Evolution" has had 

 time to sweep the circle with his magic 

 wand, it will be said, "Let there be 

 machinery wrought honey-comb," and 

 the thing will be "done." This is all 

 the scientist knows about it, and he is 

 not certain of that. It is to be hoped 

 that the brethren will let up on Prof. 

 Wiley for a spell, and turn their atten- 

 tion to some other scientitic pleasan- 

 tries. Our bee-literature is chock-full 

 of them. 



Honey as " Digested Nectar." 



I have read, and it comes from high 

 authority, that " honey is digested nec- 

 tar." This is a " scientific pleasantry." 

 stupendous in its magnitude and bear- 

 ings, and yet we have heard no objec- 

 tions to it. It is by no means impossi- 

 ble for a pound weight of bees of the 

 proper age to handle 1.5 pounds of crude 

 nectar in eight hours. 1 think I have 

 seen it done when the black locust was 

 at its best, and the weather was ex- 

 actly right. In this case a pound 

 weight of live bees would have to 

 furnish by ordinary secretion, gastric 

 juice in suflicieut quantity to digest 15 

 pounds of crude nectar in eight hours. 

 No uncrazed thinker on the earth pos- 

 sessing brains enough to frame a 

 thought, could believe such an impos- 



sibility. Notwithstanding, this "scien- 

 tific pleasantry" has been handed 

 around to the injury of the reputation 

 of honey as a delicious food tor man- 

 kind. 



Not long since a pedagogue scientist 

 in a lecture delivered in our town, re- 

 ferred to this matter, and asserted that 

 honey was a '■ disgusting digested stuff 

 disgorged from the stomachs of the 

 bee," and therefore unfit for food for 

 mankind. If it was true that honey is 

 ■• digested nectar," that fact would 

 take all the romance out of the word 

 " honey," heretofore the synonym of 

 all swt-etness, and leave the article 

 itself truly disgusting. But nothing 

 never was further from the truth. 

 Pure honey is nectar of flowers gath- 

 ered by bees and reduced to proper 

 consistency by the internal heat of the 

 bee-hive. Thafs the whole of it. 



Holding tlie Breatli to Prevent Stings. 



Some scientist has got off a "pleas- 

 antry " to the effect that a bee cannot 

 sting a person " while he holds his 

 breath." In fact one would take this 

 for a " practical joke," to provoke a 

 laugh at the expense of the "dupes" 

 who would be credulous enough to try 

 the experiment. A little practical 

 g )od-sense ought to teach anybody 

 better sense than these scientists seem 

 to possess 1 have felt the sting of a 

 bee through a thick buckskin glove. 



Well, the other day I tried the ex- 

 periment to answer in a practical way, 

 the query, " Can a bee sting a man 

 while he holds his breath V" You see I 

 am so indifEerent about a bee-sling that 

 any practical joker would fail when 

 practicing on me. I selected a cross 

 hybrid colony, and without the use of 

 smoke, I turned up the quilt and rap- 

 ped on the top-bars of the frames ; this 

 brought the little "war-dogs" brist- 

 ling as they came. I held my breath 

 firmly and passed my left hand with a 

 rather quick motion just above the 

 top-bars of the frames, and received a 

 red hot thrust in the end of my middle 

 finger, which drew blood in sight. I 

 raised no question. No " umpire " was 

 needed ; the thing was well and fairly 

 done. 



Most people would have been fully 

 satisfied with the experiment, but I did 

 not care a great deal for one sting, and 

 was willing to risk another. So I re- 

 peated the motion, with the right hand 

 this time, and in a twinkle I was philo- 

 sophically looking at a bee twirling 

 round and round in its economical way 

 of parting with as small a portion of 

 its " inward parts " as possible when 

 leaving its sting deeply set into the 

 flesh of my third finger. That was the 

 "best two out of three;" quoth 1, 

 " what fools these mortals be !" 



I wish I had the time at my com- 

 mand to pursue this subject further. 

 It is a wonderful subject. " SiJieutidc 

 pleasantries" are to be found in every 

 department of our bee-literature, from 

 the " business end of the bee " to the 

 mighty claims of the " patent bee gum 

 man." IJut I cannot spare the lime 

 now. In fact I am really low down as 

 pertains to the future propects of bee- 

 culture in Kentucky. The surplus 

 honey crop has been a failure, or nearly 



