98 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 



swarms and I wish to divide them. I have 

 plenty pf medium brood. I can't send for 

 queens, as I would not be home to care for 

 them. I wish increase, honey is secondary. 

 The main honeyflow commences July 1. Now, 

 with the equipment that I have, please give 

 me the best way for increase. 



2. Yellow jackets trouble my bees very 

 much, commencing in midsummer and keep- 

 ing it up until late fall. The bees apparently 

 can't handle them. I have the golden Italian. 

 The yellow jackets robbed my neighbors' bees 

 and killed 7 swarms. I wish to learn some 

 wav to help the bees to handle them 



WASHINGTON. 



Answers. — 1. It is hard to advise without 

 knowing something about your experience and 

 ability. If you have not done so, the first 

 thing is to get a good text-book on beekeeping, 

 such as Dadant's Langstrotb, and study up the 

 whole subject of beekeeping. Then, if you 

 want some work that gives additional infor- 

 mation about artificial increase, I know of 

 nothing fuller than my book, "Fifty Years 

 Among the Bees." I might suggest one way 

 that may suit you: Put into an upper story 

 all brood but one, leaving in the lower story 

 the one brood and queen, filling vacancies 

 with empty combs or frames with full sheets 

 of foundation. Put an excluder over the 

 lower story'* an extractingsuper over that, and 

 then the story of brood. A week later you 

 should find sealed cells above, when you can 

 divide the brood into two, three or more parts 

 and start that many new colonies, of course 



having at least one good queen-cell in each 

 one. 



2. I'm afraid I can't help you much. But 

 you can keep your colonies strong, and de- 

 stroy all yellow jackets' nests you can find. 



Disinfecling — Golden s — Moving 



1. Will oainting the inside of n hive with 

 gasoline disinfect it from American foulbrood? 



2. Can one with ordinary skill and intelli- 

 gence in apiculture successfully combat Ameri- 

 can foulbrood? 



3. Which is the best, golden Italians or the 

 leather-colored; or is there any difference? 



4. Will moving bees as late as December 15 

 eause the queens to start egg-laying' 



CALIFORNIA. 

 Answers. — 1. No; but good authorities be- 

 lieve it unnecessary to disinfect anything but 

 the combs, and the only thing to do with them 

 is to melt them up. 



2. Yes. If you are uncertain about the case 

 send sample to Dr. E. F. Phillips. Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, and he will 

 tell you what the disease is, and give instruc- 

 tions for treatment, with no cost to you. 



3. Probably the majority prefer tin leather- 

 colored. 



4. Probably not; but if it should it would 

 likely continue only a few days. 



(I recently visited a California apiary moved 

 about that date and found nearly all queens 

 were laying.— F. C. P.) 



Carbon Disulfide Will Not Kill Eggs 



I notice on page 27 that Dr. Miller 

 says : "If you fumigate with carbon 

 disulfide no second fumigation will be 

 needed, as eggs and all will be killed." 



Texas Bulletin No. 158, which I 

 think is an authority on bee moths, 

 page 29, says : "In all the experi- 

 ments, the eggs of the bee moth were 

 uninjured by the fumes of carbon di- 

 sulfide." 



One-fourth ounce per cubic foot, or 

 an ounce for three standard large su- 

 pers (10-frame) for 12 hours was 

 recommended for worms. The moths 

 were killed in 20 minutes. Every 

 beekeeper ought to have Texas Bul- 

 letin No. 158 (June, 1913). 



The eggs hatch in from 10 to 12 

 days, when a second fumigation will 

 be necessary. C. E. FOWLER, 

 Hammonton, N. J. 



Raw Sugar for Feed 



This has been a very favorable 

 winter in this Southern Ontario dis- 

 trict for outside wintering of bees. 

 My bees had a splendid flight as late 

 as the 18th of December, and up to 

 that time the weather was warm 

 enough every few days for them to 

 come out — and the bees took full ad- 

 vantage of the opportunity. 



Acting upon the suggestion of the 

 Department of Apiculture at Guelph, 

 I fed six colonies with syrup made 

 from raw sugar crystals. The syrup 

 was very dark in color and most un- 

 appetizing to look upon, and I fed it 

 with misgivings; but being unable to 

 get the requisite quantity of granu- 

 lated, I used that sugar instead of 

 frames of honey. I have noticed one 



peculiar thing about the bees in those 

 six colonies — they appeared to be 

 much livelier than any others of the 

 forty-five colonies in my apiary. At 

 the first sign of higher temperature 

 those bees were out and flying, while 

 the others would remain inside. If it 

 happened to be very warm (and we 

 had quite a number of unusually 

 warm days in the fore part of De- 

 cember) the bees fed upon the raw 

 sugar syrup were very lively, indeed, 

 so much so that it was quite notice- 

 able. As most of the bee literature 

 relating to fall feeding states par- 

 ticularly "be sure and use nothing" 

 but the best of granulated sugar," I 

 shall be greatly interested in the fate 

 of those six colonies. 



E. V. TILLSON, 

 Ontario. 

 (There is little doubt that the ac- 

 tivity of the bees fed this syrup was 

 caused because they were uncom- 

 fortable. Whenever an inferior 

 grade of honey is stored for winter, 

 the bees are always more or less ac- 

 tive, even in cold weather, if confined 

 for long. If the bees do not have fre- 

 quent flights they suffer seriously. — 

 Ed.) 



About Goldens 



A California reader wants a dis- 

 cussion of the Goldens. He says 

 that if there is a strain of goldens as 

 good as the leather-colored Italians 

 lie wains them, For they are beautiful. 



There is an old saying "Handsome 

 is that handsome does," which ap- 

 plies to bees as well as other things. 

 We cannot afford to sacrifice produc- 

 tion for beauty, but if the Goldens 



will hold their own with the others 

 when it comes to counting up the re- 

 turns after the crop is sold, then 

 beauty is an added attraction. We 

 invite letters from our readers who 

 have given then 1 , an extensive trial. 



Chenango County Beekeepers Meet 



On December 14 the Chenango 

 County Beekeepers' Society held its 

 first annual meeting in the County 

 Court House at Norwich. The meet- 

 ing was well attended by a large 

 number of enthusiastic beekeepers 

 from Chenango and adjacent coun- 

 ties in New York State. 



The meeting was called to order 

 promptly by appropriate remarks by 

 the Chairman, T. K. Gorton. The 

 program committee had prepared a 

 very interesting and instructive pro- 

 gram consisting of addresses by 

 prominent beekeepers. The ad- 

 dresses by George H. Rea, of the 

 Department of Agriculture, Wash- 

 ington, D. C., on "Organization and 

 Its Benefits to Beekeepers," and 

 "Modern Beekeeping, the Cycle of 

 the Year Including Wintering," were 

 presented in Mr. Rea's easy, free 

 manner. 



Charles Stewart, of Johnstown, N. 

 Y., gave an address on "Foulbrood 

 and Its Control," which was very ' 

 timely, as European foulbrood is 

 causing heavy losses in the County. 

 He dwelt on the importance of young 

 Italians of a good resistant strain in 

 the control of European foulbrood 

 and securing a maximum crop of 

 honey. 



The address by E. P. Smith, "Ob- 

 servations in Reference to Beekeep- 

 ing in the County," brought out the 

 fact that only a small proportion of 

 the available nectar from the flowers 

 was gathered. 



With the discussions of the ad- 

 dresses brought out and the question 

 box, it was a very busy day. 



The society decided to have an ex- 

 hibit at the County Fair and to hold 

 a field day during the summer. They 

 also affiliated with the State Asso- 

 ciation and the Farm Bureau. 



The officers for the coming year 

 are O. W. Bedell, Earlville, PresP 

 dent; C G. Brown, South Otselio, 

 Vice President; T. R. Gorton, Nor- 

 wich, Secretary and Treasurer. 



Remedy for Propolis Skin Poisoning 



Mr. O. A. Hostetter, of Yreka, Cal., 

 sends us the following remedy, which 

 he takes from the "Scientific Ameri 

 can Cyclopedia of Receipts," and 

 which he says is good both for the 

 skin itching from propolis and for 

 poisonous ivy: 



"Dust aristol on the parts affected. 

 Do not apply with the fingers, as it 

 would at once melt. It gives instant 

 relief and one-quarter ounce cures 

 any case of skin poison." 



Aristol is thymol iodide, and is rec- 

 ommended for skin affections. Its 

 properties are similar to those of 

 iodoform. It is also used in an oint- 

 ment. It is very high in price now, 

 $2 per ounce, but it certainly would 

 take less than a quarter ounce to 

 procure relief. 



