1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



89 



the bees of the soldier boy, but now, 

 if he cannot find a person, his busi- 

 ness will be a total ruin. I may be 

 one of the many thousands to join 

 the colors, if not exempted, but I am, 

 with the rest of the boys, ready to go 

 at any time to help press out Ger- 

 man militarism. The wartime appeal 

 is to help Uncle Sam first and our- 

 selves last. 



I do not think many beekeepers 

 understand the tin can situation. The 

 price of cans will probably not be 

 any greater than last fall, as the gov- 

 ernment, I am informed, has tin 

 prices under control. It is the supply 

 of cans that is limited, and whether 

 we can get them at all will be the 

 question. Also how long after we 

 order them will the shipment arrive, 

 since war freight is to have the right 

 of way, so that all ether freight not 

 perishable will move slowly? Of 

 course the transportation system de- 

 pends largely on what will happen to 

 the Kaiser this spring and summer. 

 Our transportation system and our 

 home power plants will largely need 

 the motor truck, which may be the 

 future means of carriage. 



Platteville, Wis. 



Suggested New Antiseptic 



Treament for Bee 



Diseases 



By W. J. Sheppard. 



ANEW antiseptic known as "fla- 

 vine" that has been found high- 

 ly sucessful in the treatment of 

 wounds and disease on the battle- 

 fields of Europe seems likely to be 

 of benefit to beekeepers as a remedy 

 for bee diseases. It is reported that 

 experiments have been made with it 

 in England during the past season in 

 the case of a few colonies having 

 Isle of Wight disease, and that it has 

 effected a cure. If that is so. there 

 would appear to be no reason why it 

 should not be equally efficacious in 

 the treatment of other bacterial dis- 

 eases of bees, American foulbrood, 

 European foulbrood and sacbrood. 

 From enquiries made by the writer 

 as to whether it had been actually 

 tried as a remedy for foulbrood as 

 well, he was informed that up to the 

 present it had only been experiment- 

 ed with in one instance and that the 

 result was satisfactory. 



The difficulty hitherto experienced 

 in treating bee diseases antisep- 

 tically has been that antiseptics pow- 

 erful enough to destroy disease 

 germs have, as a rule, been harmful 

 to the bees, and generally highly in- 

 jurious, or fatal, to the unsealed 

 brood. 



It is stated that the essential quali- 

 fications for an ideal antiseptic are 

 that" "it should be non-poisonous and 

 non-irritant to any tissue of the 

 body, harmless to the phagocytes 

 (the white warrior cells of the 

 blood), potent to kill disease germs 

 in the presence of blood serum, and 

 stimulating to repairing tissue." It 

 is claimed that "flavine" comes near- 



er to this standard than any other 

 antiseptic at present known. 



For the treatment of bee diseases, 

 if further tests prove its efficacy, it 

 possesses several advantages that are 

 obvious. It is inexpensive and easy 

 of application. Five grammes, equal- 

 ing 77 grains, costs only 32 cents. 

 For the treatment of Isle of Wight 

 disease in spring and summer one 

 grain is dissolved in one quart of 

 warm water and sprayed into the 

 hive with an atomizer, so that the 

 eggs, larvae, bees, combs, floor-board, 

 etc., are thoroughly dampened. A 

 second application is given after five 

 days. If the weather prevents the 

 opening of the hive, one pound of 

 honey, or sugar, is dissolved in one 

 pint of the fluid and fed rapidly, and 

 followed by spraying when weather 

 permits. For autumn treatment a 

 stronger spray is recommended, con- 

 sisting of one grain of flavine to 16 

 ounces of warm water to commence 

 with. Also soft candy medicated 

 with one grain of flavine to the 

 pound. Probably similar treatment 

 would be suitable for foulbrood and 

 sacbrood. 



It is said that it is safe to use 

 combs over again that have been in 

 contact with diseased colonies if they 

 are sprayed with the fluid of the 

 first mentioned strength by means of 

 a mist sprayer of sufficient power so 

 that it penetrates to the bottoms of 

 the cells. The fluid has a greenish 

 fluorescent tinge so that its penetra- 

 tion is easily perceptible. There are 

 two preparations of "flavine," called 

 acriflavine and proflavine, the for- 

 mer being slightly more expensive 

 than the latter. Possibly this treat- 

 ment will be given a trial_ next sea- 

 son at some of the experiment sta- 

 tions on this side of the water, as it 

 seems to give great promise of good 

 results. 



Nelson, B. C. 



Advertising Honey 



By Jay Smith. 



AT the present time, honey is al- 

 most selling itself, but the 

 time will come again when it 

 will be necessary for the beekeeper 

 to do some hustling if he expects to 

 get rid of his honey at remunerative 

 prices. 



"It pays to advertise." Every one 

 will tell you so, and it does, but it 

 must be of the right sort. If a per- 

 son is not careful in advertising he 

 will find it an easy matter to lose 

 money thereby. 



One should sell his honey locally 

 if possible, for not only can he get 

 a better price but he will save the 

 middleman's profit, freight charges, 

 etc. 



For a number of years I have bot- 

 tled honey and sold it to the groc- 

 ers. The average grocer will take a 

 few bottles out of the case and set 

 them on the shelf, but no one will 

 know what it is. It may be jelly, 

 apple butter or most anything as far 

 as the purchaser can tell. Then many 

 storekeepers are not salesmen and 

 many of them employ cheap clerks, 

 who are not salesmen. A customer 

 comes into the store and the clerk 

 says, "What will you have?" The 

 customer tells him, buys it and goes 

 out. The customer did not say, "I 

 will have some honey, please," be- 

 cause he did not know that the store- 

 keeper had honey for sale. In mak- 

 ing my rounds to sell honey, a gro- 

 cer frequently has said, "I have, still 

 on hand some that you sold me a 

 year ago." He only bought one case 

 the year before, and sold part of it 

 when someone called for it, when the 

 baby had the "croup." 



I tried to get grocers to mention 

 that they have honey, and when a 

 customer comes in. ask if he wants 

 some fine honey, but grocers have 



HONEY MUST BE ATTRACTIVELY PACKED TO BOOST SALES. 



