THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



•9 



the colonies the greater the incHuation to 

 swarm, seems to me a matter of course. 

 The proper method of procedure is to 

 accept one swarm and prevent more. 



HOW I.ONi; ISTHIv LAVING SEASON? 



In response to a question in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, 775: How many months 

 in the year should a good Italian (pieen 

 he laying ? Dr. Miller says somewhere 

 from seven to nine months. That reply 

 would be likely to unduly alarm a novice 

 in this part of the country when he found 

 that his queens under normal circumstan- 

 ces were laying only about five months. 

 My queens at least can be relied on to lay 

 only from April 10 to September 10 — five 

 months; although they frequently lay a 

 little sooner and a little later, five and 

 one half months would be a full average. 

 Can it be possible, doctor, that at Maren- 

 go queens sometimes get in nine months 

 of labor in the year? 



Lapeer, Mich., Dec. 31, 1S98. 



EDITORIAL 



fferings. 



Take nothing for granted. 



» It" *»»»*»»» 



If there is no bright side to jour life, 

 polish up the dark side. 



m^M'*t*M^^*^^ 



Sections i^ wide, used with separa- 

 tors, are the most po])ular in Canada. 



■•••■«a<<^«« 



Rambi.kr really has a vein of humor; 

 ami it is not so deeply buried, either, as it 

 often comes to the surface. 



Hives that have contained colonies in- 

 fected with foul brood need not be di.sin- 

 ftcted, says Mr. Mcl-A'oy, Inspector of 

 Apiaries for Ontario. If the hive becomes 

 daubed with honey, or there are attached 



to it brace combs containing honey, he 

 would have the honey cleaned off and 

 the hive scalded at the spot where the 

 honey had touched it. Said he, at the 

 last Ontario convention, "If the hives 

 need di.sinfecting, .so do the bees; and if 

 the bees need disinfecting, the Inspector 

 needs— to be burned up." 



'mf^lfaJ'f^*.^*. 



FoiTi. Brood is on the decrease in On- 

 tario, Canada, if we are to judge by the 

 report of Mr. McEvoy, Inspector of Api- 

 aries for that Province. In his report for 

 1898 he reported that in 1890 he examin- 

 ed 160 apiaries and found 150 of them 

 that were infected with foul brood; while, 

 in 1898, he examined 150, and found the 

 disease in only 35 apiaries. 



»»*«#^«^rf*«« 



Swarm Catchers are used with ex- 

 cellent success by Mr. F. A. Gemmill of 

 Canada. He keeps several of tl^eiu 

 scattered about the apiary, and, as soon 

 as a swarm is seen issuing, a catcher is 

 placed at the entrance. If the caged 

 swarm is allowed to stand an hour or two 

 in the shade, until the bees cluster, it 

 may be hived upon any stand — by the 

 act of clustering the bees give up their 

 old location. Bro. Holterman also re- 

 ported at the Canadian convention that 

 he had used the catchers and found them 

 practical. 



K<ia««M^<«^^ 



Combs that have never contained foul 

 brood, simply been used as store combs, 

 and are free from pollen and honey, and 

 have been licked clean and dry by the bees, 

 mav be used with no fear of their com- 

 nmnicating foul brood; at least, so says 

 Mr. McEvoy, Canada's Inspector of Api- 

 aries. A man who uses queen excluders, 

 and thus keeps the queens out of the su- 

 pers, need not sacrifice his extracting 

 combs if they are absolutely free from 

 honev — been licked clean by the bees. 

 .\n instance was mentioned where a man 

 in \'ernn)nt sa\eil 2,ikkj such combs and 

 used them with no bad results. 



