166 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 



early in the spring and the time they 

 were moved, as the next time I ex- 

 amined them I found diseased colo- 

 nies that had been moved to both 

 out yards. 



Several of the colonies in the home 



yard that were near, or in a direct 



line of flight with the diseased colo- 



nies in the building, showed signs of 



early in the season, while the 



i the yard was comparatively 



om disease until later in the 



season. 



As the disease did not show up 

 verj bad until after the main honey 

 flow we secured a fair crop of honey 

 from all but the few that were badly 

 affected— a dozen or so colonies. 



As soon as I discovered the disease 

 I killed the queens in all the most 

 badlv affected colonies, and ordered 

 young Italian queens from a reliable 

 southern breeder for requeemng. All 

 colonies so requeened showed up 

 free from disease in the fall, and 

 were in a No. 1 condition for winter. 

 Expecting a wild-fire spread of the 

 disease in the spring of 1917, I or- 

 dered 100 young Italian queens for 

 delivery during Mav of this season. 

 The spring of 1917 found us with 

 something over 300 colonies in fair 

 condition. When these colonies 

 were examined late in April and 

 early in May very few showed any 

 disease. This examination was fol- 

 lowed by 7 or 8 days of very un- 

 favorable weather when hardly a bee 

 could flv. As soon as the weather 

 was again favorable several colonies 

 that were marked O. K. at the first 

 examination were again examined. 

 At this time it was found that the 

 disease had spread so that nearly all 

 colonies were affected— some being 

 fairly rotten with the disease. 



The first of my southern queens 

 arrived the latter part of April, and 

 al.. nit SO per cent of my order 

 reached me by the end of May Ow- 

 ing t" unfavorable conditions in the 

 South, some twenty queens did not 

 reach me until early in June. 



As fast as a batch of queens ar- 

 rived I killed the queens in the most 

 badly diseased colonies and intro- 

 duced a young queen at once. Early 

 in the season T paid no attention to 

 queen-cells, never opening a hive un- 

 til the queen had been in a week or 

 ten days. I think I lost about 15 per 

 cent of the queens so introduced. 

 The greater part of my loss I think 

 was due to the very unfavorable 

 her for the work at the time. 



ed colonies that were so 

 requeened early in the 



■ I up the disease and ston '1 a 

 good surplus of honey. 



Having been able to requeen only 

 part "i the affected colonies early, 

 it was impossible to get up a suffi- 

 cient field force in a great many 

 colonies. Our average i" r colony 

 for the season was thus greatly re- 

 duce,! by lack of sufficient field bees 

 liming the height of the flow. 



I also used another 100 queens this 

 fall, having killed off the old queens 



,'. of til- b: 

 flow Eight days after killing the 

 all cells were destroyed, and 

 ].nies allowed to remain queen- 

 less until all brood bad hatched be- 

 fore requeening. 



I lost more queens by this system 

 than where the young queen was in- 

 troduced at the time the old queen 

 was killed. 



For my part, to clean up the dis- 

 ease, I prefer to get young Italian 

 queens the latter part of April or 

 early May. Unless one can do the 

 requeening early, so as to get a good 

 force of workers from the young 

 queens in time for the honey flow, I 

 think it best to double two or three 

 colonies into one. I find there is no 

 use trying to have weak colonies 

 clean up the disease — double them 

 up. 



My system of doubling up weak 

 colonies is to haul them to an out- 

 yard and pile two or three high. As 

 soon as they have marked their loca- 

 tion shake all bees into one body, 

 and give a young Italian queen. Take 

 all surplus brood-combs and put 

 above a queen excluder over a 

 strong colony. No bees return to 

 the old stand by this system, 



Owing to the lack of help it was 

 impossible for me to requeen all 

 colonies this season, but I intend to 

 requeen all that show disease an- 



other spring, hoping thereby to have 

 the disease under control. 



Franksville, Wis. 



[The attention of the reader is 

 called to the following paragraph in 

 the above interesting article: 



"Eight days after killing the 

 queens, all cells were destroyed, and 

 the colonies allowed to remain 

 queenless until all brood had hatched 

 before requeening. I lost more 

 queens by this system than where 

 the young queen was introduced at 

 the time the old queen was killed." 



The above experience is exactly in 

 line with the editor's own experi- 

 ence. Many people think a colony 

 should be made queenless some days 

 ahead in order to introduce a queen 

 successfully. We believe, and this ex- 

 perience indicates, that the safest 

 introductions with the cage method 

 are achieved where the colonies were 

 not allowed to be without queens for 

 a single minute. It goes without say- 

 ing that in the present case the colo- 

 nies needed to be queenless for some 

 days in order to help do away with 

 the disease. But Mr. Kittinger's ex- 

 perience is of value as an object les- 

 son in the matter of queen introduc- 

 tion. — Editor.] 



Bee-Keeping M> For Women 



Conducted bv Miss Emma M Wilson. Mareneo. III. 



Eight and Ten-Frame Hives 



Miss Emma Adkins is reported in 

 the Beekeepers' Item as having made 

 special observations this year in api- 

 aries where 8-frame and 10-frame 

 hives were kept side by side. She 

 says, "A good many of the colonies 

 in 10-frame hives made a fair crop 

 even in this worst of all seasons, but 

 those in 8-frame hives did little or 

 nothing." 



Sugarless Desserts 



Eat less candy; use less sugar in 

 coffee, tea and chocolate; eat more 

 fruit, nuts, popcorn, honey and syr- 

 ups. A frosted top on a cake is a 

 sign of criminal thoughtlessness at a 

 time when millions of children in 

 Europe are dying of tuberculosis 

 caused by under-nourishment. 



Here are some sugarless recipes, 

 worked out ' by the United States 

 Government, some of them in co- 

 operation with the Universities of 

 Ohio and Missouri: 



Hot Rice or hasty pudding (corn- 

 incal mush) served with a sweet 

 sauce makes a simple, wholesome 

 dessert. Chopped raisins or dates 

 added to either, but no sugar is 

 needed. 



Honey Sauce 



1 cup honey, 

 cup water. 



1 tablespoon butter substitute, 

 ispoon salt, 

 ispoon cinnamon. 

 A dash of nutmeg. 



Juice of 1 lemon or 2 tabic) s 



vinegar. 



Boil together IS minutes. The juice 

 of 1 orange and grated peel may be 



used instead of lemon and seasoning 

 in this recipe. 



Popcorn Candy 

 1 cup syrup. 



1 tablespoon vinegar. 



2 or 3 quarts of popped corn. 



Boil together the syrup and vine- 

 gar until syrup hardens when dropped 

 into balls or fancy shapes for the 

 Christmas tree. Little popcorn men 

 will please the children. Mark in the 

 features and outlines with melted 

 chocolate. 



Either honey, maple syrup, molas- 

 ses, white cane syrup or corn syrup 

 mav be used. 



Self-Spacing and Loose-Hanging 



Frames 

 In the well timed article of G. C. 

 Grcincr. page 55, February American 

 Bee Journal, he speaks of giving 

 frames of sealed honey in early 

 spring, such frames having been kept 

 ovei winter for this purpose, a pro- 

 ceeding which deserves the highest 

 commendation. He says: "Every 

 nli comb of every hive was taken 

 out and glanced over, and when 

 found empty or insufficiently supplied 

 was replaced by one or two combs of 

 honey. In connection with this ob- 

 servation. I wish to emphasize the 

 great convenience of the loose-hang- 

 ing frame and its superiority over 

 any self-spacing device. A self- 

 paced frame would have greatly 

 hampered this work and required 

 much more time." 



Coming from a man of Mr. Grein- 

 er's experience, this expression of 

 opinion would incline one to believe 

 that loose-hanging frames are to be 



