1870, 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



268 



(uuc tlic disocasc without the destruction ol' a single 

 bee, or the loss Ola drop of honey or of an atom of 

 comb. The discover of the remedy cured 25 Ijadly 

 ;;fi"('cted stocks--, and other bee-keepers have cured 

 lliirty and forty without a single failure.' 'And what 

 is thi?, to bee-keepers, really priceless treasure ?' I 

 enquired, eagerly. 'Salicylic acid.' 'This news is 

 ceitainly as wonderful as it is important,' I said. 

 'But how is it used ?' '1 will lend you a paper giving a 

 full description of the discovery and the means of 

 preparing and using the preparation,' said the bee- 

 master. 'Many thanks— 1 should be charmed to read 

 it,' I answered. And from this paper I have extrcted 

 the following lines :— 



'Put 50 gramms [ 1 lb. ] of the best crystallized acid 

 into a bottle with eight times the weight of good 

 spirits of wine, and cork it up till required for use. 

 This (|uantity of the acid should not cost more than 

 a lh:iler [ 3s. ] and will be found fiifficient for about 

 13 uccks. The salicylic acid thus prepared should be 

 mi.Ked uith water in the proportion of one dro]) ol the 

 spirits of «ine and acid to one gramm of water [a 

 gramm is the one-hundreth jjart of a lb.]. The water 

 employed for this purpose should, if possible, be soft, 

 and of a temperature of not less than 13° Reaumur 

 [o'.r Fahr.], as otherwise the acid i? likely to crystal- 

 ize, and also Ihe brood would be chilled. With this 

 weak preparation of the acid, tlie combs and brood, 

 as well as (he hive Itself, of an affected stock should 

 be well sprinkled, after, of course, having thoroughly 

 shaken the mixture. The combs are to be replaced 

 in Uicir lilves as soon as the operation is completed; 

 and if the above proportions have been strictly adher- 

 ed to, it win be found that, though the young brood 

 will not have been in Iho least injured, yet the virus 

 of the disease will have been elfeclually destroyed. 



.Sliould the weather be cold, the hive should be 

 taken to a warm room. Care must be taken not to let 

 bees from neighboring hives suck the afl'ected honey 

 before the application of the acid.' 



Amongst other things he told me that he had that 

 spring used the salicylic acid as a preventative 

 against foul brood, having mixed it with the sj rup. 

 Salicylic acid is said to be used as one of the best 

 remedies for diphtheria, etc. In the provinces of 

 Hanover and Brandenburg he tol<l me there wei-e 

 bee-masters with as many as 500 stocks. 'But,' I ask- 

 ed, 'is it possible for one person to attend to so many ?' 

 'Ao; one person cannot attend to more than about 

 seventy. I intend to increase my apiary next year to 

 about that number.' 'I suppose, then, Hanover is a 

 great province for honey ?' I asked. 'There are 

 several thousand stocks there altogether,' was the 

 answer. 



BEE-KEEPERS' MAGAZINE. 



We think the number of frames of different sizes that 

 have any claim to be adopted as the standard can l^e re- 

 duced to two, one about square, 12.^1'2 and one 12xl(). 



While we should thus have tvco standard frames, we 

 claim that there need be but one standard hive wliich 

 will receive 12 frames 12x12, or eight frames 12x10. 



We can not see that having a frame with di- 

 mensions in whole inches, will be of any par- 

 ticular advantage, for in that case we should 

 have to use fractions for our hives, and also 

 for the inside dimensions of the frames ; and 

 this latter item, bids fair to be of some mo- 

 ment, since fdn. is coming into use. We have 

 frames in use now that can be used of two di- 

 mensions in the same hive, l.^ut although the 

 idea was a long time advanced, no one seems 

 to have profited by it. The Gallup aud Stand- 



ard frames as given in our diagrams, and also 

 the Gallup and suspended Quinby frame being 

 of equal deptli. can be used in the same way. 

 We should be very glad iiuleed to see some 

 progress made in the direction of one frame. 

 Perhaps all hands are going to settle down on 

 the L. without farther discussion, at least the 

 matter now seems going strongly that way. 



BEE WORLD. 



In the early part of November, 1S73, 1 noticed that the 

 bees of some of my stocks were dying, and I began to an- 

 ticipate a serious loss during the wintei". I opened the 

 hive that seemed to be most affected, and found the whole 

 interior dripping wet. The hive was so tight that there 

 was not a particle of ventilation anywhere but at the en- 

 trance. I got a piece of old rag carpet, and folded it so 

 that it was six inches in thickness and laid it on the 

 frames. I left the honey board off, and put on the cap, 

 which had int'li holes, covered with wire cloth, in the ga- 

 bles. A few days af ervvard I examined the hive, and 

 found it dry, and the bees apparently healthy. I had 20 

 hives, which 1 fixed in the same way, and they all win- 

 tered and "springed" well. The winter was a very mild 

 one. Rev. M. MAiiiJf, D. D. Newcastle, Ind. 



Abundant testimony seems to point out that 

 bees must not have a hive that is too tight, yet 

 a very strong colony will many times do well 

 with so little air, that some claim they need 

 no upper ventilation. May it not be that the 

 quality of stores has something to do with tills 

 matter 'i 



LOS ANGELES HERALD. 

 The editor has very sensibly been making a 

 flying trip among the bee-keepers of California, 

 and accordingly will be able hereafter, to talk 

 bees undei'standingly. Listen to the wonder- 

 ful things our brothers are doing in the land 

 of perpetual summer : 



* * * The setting sun found us at the apiary of J. W. 

 Kazen, a live Yankee bee-keeper, who started last spiing 

 with I'M colonies, which have increased to GOO, and he 

 took IC.OOO pounds of honey. * * * We wound our 

 way up into Hall's canon, where we found our old friend, 

 R. Hall, and lady, far up in the world for people of their 

 age. He has 130 colonies that are in la!'go movable frame 

 hives and very strong. He has no one to assist hiin and 

 though bowing under the weight of years he has accom- 

 plished much, having taken 12,000 lbs. of extracted 

 honey, made hives for the increase, and attended to do- 

 mestic matters generally alaout his ranch.. He has sent a. 

 sample of his honey to his native land (Scotland) with the 

 hope of receiving an order for a shipment. May our aged 

 friend receive a lich return for his labors. 



Crossing over a neighboring mountain we found our- 

 selves at the a])iary of Mr. Sallie, a bee-keeper of notorie- 

 ty. The proprietor not being at home our stay was short. 

 We were informed that he had 350 colonies and had taken 

 about 20,000 pounds of honey. 



* * * We next stop at the apiary of A. S. Hamilton. 

 His comb guides are worthy of particular mention. They 

 are made of melted wax, are straight and an ex- 

 act distar.ce apart, which makes uniformity in size of the 

 combs. He levels his hives with a spirit level, letting 

 th.:m tip a litllo fo'.'ward. We have yet to see the neat 

 appearance of his box honey excelled. Ho commenced 

 late in the season vd.h about 25 colonies and now has 11'2 

 and has taken EOOO pounds of box honey. He is a modest 

 and imassumin.'j man and does not blow his own horn, 

 but is doing inr.ch for the advancement of bee culture 

 around Iiim. 



