1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



419 



treated in the way just indicated. A 

 quicker way is to have gasoline in a 

 little oil can such as is used for a 

 sewing machine, and squirt a little 

 of the gasoline upon the culprit. 

 Either of these ways, however, is 

 rather slow and pokey, and it is bet- 

 ter to do a wholesale business by 

 submitting the comb to the fumes of 

 carbon disulfide or burning sulfur. 

 The former has the advantage that it 

 kills the eggs as well as the larvae. 



Replying to your question directly, 

 you will now understand that it was 

 probably because of weakness and 

 lack of vigor that the bees allowed 

 the moth to lay its eggs in the hive, 

 and its larvre to live upon the combs. 



It is not very likely the bees were 

 without a queen when you received 

 them, else the colony would hardly 

 have continued from spring until 

 late September. Indeed, it is not al- 

 together certain they are queenless 

 now, for it is not always easy to find 

 a queen, especially for one of little 

 experience. 



Introducing a queen will not be 

 very effective in overcoming the 

 trouble, as it is too far advanced. 

 Indeed, if the bees have been queen- 

 less long enough they are so old as 

 to be of little value, and a queen 

 woud be practically wasted on them. 



Although it may be a bit heartless 

 and discouraging to give such advice, 

 if the colony is as weak as it is likely 

 to be to allow the worms to make 

 such progress as is shown in the 

 sample of comb sent, the best thing 

 may be to let them go, and start 

 anew next spring. Of course, if you 

 have other colonies, you may unite 

 these bees with another colony, but 

 even so, such old bees are of little 

 value. It is doubtful that the quart 

 of bees left will pull through thp 

 winter, no matter how much hone> 

 they have. 



It would be interesting if one 

 could know how the colony became 

 so weak, which is almost the same 

 as saying how they became queen- 

 less, but that is a matter of guess- 

 ing. One way would be that the 

 colony swarmed or superseded its 

 queen, and that the young queen was 

 lost on her wedding trip. 



If you should think it best to get a 

 queen for these bees, you will do 

 well to follow the instructions for 

 introducing that will come with the 

 queen, which will probably instruct 

 you to put the eggs into the brood- 

 chamber. Of course no other queen 

 must be present, of which there is 

 little fear. 



Wisconsin Association 



The annual convention of the Wis- 

 consin State Beekeepers' Association 

 will be held at Madison, State 

 Capitol, Senate Chamber, on Decem- 

 ber 5 and 6, 1918. Wisconsin bee- 

 keepers who are not members of the 

 State Association or of a local not 

 affiliated with the State, will not re- 

 ceive programs except on request to 

 the Secretary. Address the Secre- 

 tary, EDWARD HASSINGER, JR. 



R. 4, Hortonville, Wis. 



Skin Irritation 



By A. F. Bonney 



In the October American Bee Jour- 

 nal "Colorado" complains of a skin 

 irritation whenever he scrapes sec- 

 tions, and asks Dr. Miller for a reme- 

 dy. The good doctor confesses ig- 

 norance, and suggests that "Colo- 

 rado" may have to quit beekeeping. 



The writer has been much troubled 

 with eczema of late years and has 

 had to do a great deal of reading on 

 skin diseases, and it is astonishing 

 how prevalent eczema is. It may lie 

 dormant for years, only to flare up 

 in the oresence of an unusual irritant, 

 as an acid, an alkali, propolis, or ex- 

 cessive heat. As bad a case as I 

 ever saw followed a slight burn, and 

 the person had it for years, for ec- 

 zema is practically incurable. 



I do not think "Colorado" need quit 

 beekeeping, and I think, also, that he 

 has eczema. He may write me and 

 I'll try to help him. He may pay me 

 with a chunk of moss agate, uncut. 



We can prevent and palliate, if we 

 cannot cure eczema, and here I shall 

 deal only with prevention, as fol- 

 lows : Protect the skin. One may 

 wear rubber gloves, but these are ex- 

 pensive. The next thing that sug- 

 gests itself is glycerine of starch, 

 which any druggist will make, for the 

 price. In "Colorado's" case I suggest 

 that 10 per cent of boric or 2H per 

 cent of carbolic acid be added. Apply 

 freely before going to work. 



If the irritation is restricted to 

 small areas of skin, use flexible collo- 

 dion, which may be had at drug 

 stores. This coats the skin with a 

 yielding, airtight protection. It is 

 the "New Skin" so largely advertised 

 and sold. 



After the day's work is done, scrub 

 the hands with soap and hot water, 

 wipe nearly dry, then coat well with 

 carbolized vaseline. 



Buck Grove Iowa. 



Robbing the Old-Time Bee Gum 



My grandfather, one of the first 

 settlers of Texas, was one of the old- 

 time honey producers, and I was al- 

 ways ready to help him, when a sma'l 

 boy, to hive or rob the bees, as we 

 called it, sometimes using a sulphur 

 match to kill the real bad ones be- 

 fore making an attempt to open the 

 old box hive by knocking a board off 

 the top of the box, which we called 

 the cap, then cut the honey out. 



I remember an instance of a neigh- 

 bor with seven children walking a 

 mile across plowed ground to spend 



the day. Mother was not feeling 

 well, and I had decided to take some 

 honey out of a vicious gum under a 

 plum tree in the front yard. I 

 smoked them with tobacco sprinkled 

 over a bunch of old rags and rolled 

 up about the size of a rolling pin. I 

 got the cap off, but no honey, for 

 they ran everything off the place ex- 

 cept the chickens, and we did not 

 return until night. 



I left home at the age of 18 and the 

 bees died for want of attention. 



My father gave a man $10 to move 

 them out of the yard so he would 

 feel safe in sitting on the front porch. 

 I have 20 colonies in cypress hives up 

 to date all golden Italians. A storm 

 on August 6 served us badly; blew 

 300 houses off blocks. We live in the 

 cut-over pine timber of northwest 

 Louisiana. We had no spring flow, 

 but the goldenrod and aster is fine. 



I think we have a fine country for 

 bees. I am a conductor on the Gulf 

 Coast lines and have a great deal of 

 time at home, and my wife likes to 

 work with the bees; also hives all 

 swarms when I am out on the road 

 E. C. KING, 



De Quincy, La. 



Obituary 



We regret to announce the death 

 of one of New York State's leading 

 beekeepers, Arthur H. Root, of Can- 

 astota, N. Y. Mr. Root was 68 years 

 old and the youngest of a family of 

 eight. He was a brother of L. C. 

 Root, the son-in-law of Moses Quin- 

 by, men who have made their mark 

 in the bee world. The family is in n<. 

 way related with the Roots' of Ohio. 



Mr. Root died of pneumonia, prob- 

 ably following an attack of the in- 

 fluenza, which has made so many 

 victims throughout the world in the 

 past few months. 



Not a Substitute 



As sugar is not plentiful here, we 

 thought it might be well to fill the 

 hives for winter with watermelon; 

 but things are not always what they 

 seem. 



In the first place, there is compar- 

 atively little juice in a melon. We 

 expected there was a great amount, 

 but got about two quarts from a 

 large melon that would sell at about 

 the same price as a pound of honey. 

 We were also surprised to find that 

 the juice possessed very scant sweet- 

 ness. Evaporated to the consistency 

 of honey, there would be about one- 

 tenth part left; while sorghum juice 

 is but half as watery. Sorghum juice 

 evaporated by the bees will make 

 better winter stores than when it 

 has been on the fire. If it can be se- 

 cured at a price one-fifth that of mo- 

 lasses it will pay to feed the juice. 



Just what would be the value of 

 beet or maple juice is beyond our 

 schooling, and how the bees would 

 stand either for stores is a question. 

 There is no doubt, however, but that 

 much feeding can always be avoided 

 by uniting. LEE ELLIS KERR. ' 



Ft. Smith, Ark. 



(We warn beekeepers against the 

 use of either grape juice, melon juice, 

 or sorjhum juice as bee feed. These 



