THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



121 



entire responsibility for the facts and opin- 

 ions which he advances. " The latter, F. 

 Julien, a ('apuchin priost, has practiced the 

 metiiod for two years, aud claims for it 

 great precocity of spring development 

 ( three weeks ahead ; ) radical and absolute 

 suppression of rol)l)ing in the colonies so 

 " federated ; " ease of wintering the feeblest 

 colonies ; no precautions necessary for ex- 

 changing queens, uniting, or strengthening ; 

 surplus more than doubled, even when only 

 three colonies are so joined. To sup[)ortthe 

 latter claim, however, he only advances one 

 case, in which a triple colony yielded ;")(!! 

 pounds, or an average of 187 pounds, while 

 a single colony of the same race in the same 

 yard yielded N8 pounds. In subsequent 

 articles he will describe his "federative" 

 or "Capuchin" hive. 



At the apiary of Rauclifuss Bros, in this 

 State I lately saw three colonies in one hive. 

 They were divided in the brood- chamber by 

 wood partitions, with sheets of perforated 

 zinc above, and the super in common. I was 

 told that the plan gave satisfactory results, 

 and seemed as if it could be extended still 

 farther with success. By this method laying 

 workers never occur ; when a colony loses 

 its queen, it simply unites with its neighbor. 

 None of these colonies had swarmed. 



CoNDUiTE du RuoHER ( April ). — In treat 

 ing foul brood, the author has such confi- 

 dence in drug cures tiiat the transferring 

 plan is not even mentioned. He highly 

 recommends salicylic acid, in fumigating 

 and feeding. A piece of camphor of the 

 size of a small nut, wrapped in a rag and 

 placed in the hive, removed as often as evap- 

 orated, arrests the developement of the 

 disease and permits the bees to clean the 

 cells. Cures l)y camphor alone have been 

 reported, as also by a mixture of carbolic 

 acid and Norway pitch kept in a small box 

 in the hive, but this is recommended rather 

 as a preventive. Naphtaline is also recom- 

 mended, but not too much at once. 

 About as much of the crystals as will lie 

 on a silver (luarter is dropped in the hive as 

 far as possible from the entrance. Creoline, 

 essence of ecualyptus, naphtol beta, and 

 formic acid, have each been employed with 

 success as cures. 



Whatever success drugs had, it must be 

 remembered that they cannot affect infect- 

 ed honey which is sealed, or not used up 

 during the treatment. Wherever there is 

 such honey, we should expect the disease to 



breakout again if the treatment is discon- 

 tinued after the cure; and, in fact, experi- 

 ence shows that drugs sometimes cure and 

 sometimes do not. Our European friends 

 do not seem to take this into consid- 

 eration as much as they should do. 



A correspondent of L'Apiculteur lately 

 wrote that his two apiaries were completely 

 destroyed with foul brood "in spite of 

 treatment with naphtaline, salicylic and 

 formic acids, naphtol, etc., etc. " He 

 thinks that in a warm climate diseased col- 

 onies should be destroyed. This is some- 

 what like the opinion of W. W. Somerford 

 of Cuba, on page ;510 of Gleanings for 188.5, 

 that " foul brood in a hot climate, and in 

 large apiaries, is something too progressive 

 for any remedy yet known to the f rateraity " 

 short of checking it each year by melting all 

 combs and putting the bees on new founda- 

 tion. 



But, on the other hand, it seems, to meat 

 least, to be a mistake on our part, consider- 

 ering the great cheapness and ease of appli- 

 cation of these drugs, and their undoubted 

 eiiicacy, as far as they go, in temperate cli- 

 mates, to refuse their aid as preventives, 

 by constant use on healthy colonies in in- 

 fected districts. This is suggested by the 

 editorial note on page ol7 of the Review for 

 l.*^'.!."), which seems to imply that whatever 

 does not invariably cure should be aban- 

 doned. I always cure foul brood myself by 

 sure methods, but have also kept using car- 

 bolic acid as a preventive, and have had but 

 little foul brood since my lirst siege of it, 

 though in an infected district. 



The Bee-Keepek's Record. — Samuel Sim- 

 mins, speaking of his non-swarming sys- 

 tem, says " Many reports come in from pri- 

 vate correspondents showing that nothing 

 whatever was l)uilt in the frames below, 

 while work proceeded rapidly in the supers, 

 and this is what will generally be found 

 where my directions are carefully followed. " 



Mr. Cowan has for sale for a shilling 

 apiece photographs of a portion of a comb 

 affected with foul brood. On the back is 

 printed a deserii)tion of the phases of the 

 disease, and its effect on the larvse, with 

 other particulars. " Nothing like so realistic 

 a representation of foul brood has yet been 

 published, and it will form a means of enab- 

 ling any one to detect it. " 



The Australian Bee-Bulletin.—" Loyal- 

 stone" says the best thing to keep the weeds 

 down around the hives is three inches depth 



