308 



THE Bj_'E-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



called me one side and asked me if I knew 

 Wheadon, and finally he told me what he 

 wanted and showed me the warrant. I see 

 by the last American Bee Journal that 

 Wheadon has finally been arrested, and I 

 only hope that he will get his just deserts. 

 You see, when it gets too hot for these fellows 

 they keep out of sight, bnt keep a man 

 there to receive and sell what produce 

 comes in. An honest ( ? ) thief is a respect- 

 able person compared to these human vam- 

 pires that induce hard working men and 

 women to send in their products, represen- 

 ting, perhape, the toil of a whole season, 

 and then cheat them out of it. 



I have taken all this space that my readers 

 may know something of these human spiders 

 and their dens, and when sending away 

 their honey let them beware that it does not 

 get into one of these dens. Never send 

 honey to any dealer unless you know that 

 he is reliable. There are such dealers, and 

 we can learn which they are if we will take 

 pains enough. Remember, friends, that 

 these same men are likely to turn up again, 

 if not in Chicago, then in some other city, 

 and they will play the same game, but I beg 

 of you, do>i'i send your honey to new, un- 

 known firms, even if they do give what 

 seem like the very best of references. 



A Condensed View of Current 

 Bee Writings. 



E. E. HASTY. 



J WAS somewhat interested in Gerstung's 

 new theory of a colony of bees as an 

 organism. Review 278. It is exceedingly 

 " high and mighty " — and mainly true as 

 well — but the rules so far deduced from it 

 seem to be needless and vexatious, with no 

 particular profit in tham. Gerstung seems 

 to be afraid that the different items of his 

 organism will not know enough to get back 

 into place again when mixed up once by a 

 good smoking. If he would notice how 

 hard the bees which belong in a super 

 struggle to stay there, when one is taking 

 out everything above and shutting the bees 

 below, it would ease his mind somewhat. 



Dr. Howard in the opening article of the 

 American Bee Journal for Sept. 10, illus- 

 trates and describes a bee disease often mis- 

 taken for foul brood. He calls the disease, 

 "pickled brood," because the dead larvae 



are too acid to putrefy. One of the molds, 

 Aspergillus pollini, is thought to be the 

 cause. The germs of this mold or fungus 

 reach the brood mostly by way of the pol- 

 len, from which the nurse bees compound 

 the food which is given to the older larvae. 

 Naturally old pollen stored in the hive is 

 very much worse infected than pollen fresh 

 from the fields. And cellar wintering is 

 supposed to be specially unfavorable by 

 encouraging the development of the asper- 

 gillus in the stored pollen and its spread 

 along the surfaces of the combs. The 

 stringiness of foul brood when pulled at 

 with a pin, the disagreeable glue like odor, 

 the ragged holes in the middle of the cap- 

 pings, and the disposition to dry down and 

 stick to the cells, all are absent in pickled 

 brood. A few obvious precautions about 

 old moldy combs, and a little intelligent 

 care seem likely to prove sufficient preven- 

 tives ; and the care of a bad case is to be 

 sought by enforcing suitable fast, by a 

 clean hive, by sheets of foundation, and by 

 new pollen direct from the fields. Thanks 

 to the doctor for getting things inte intelli- 

 gible shape so promply. 

 • How awfully easy the brethren believe 

 things which they want to believe ! I'm 

 talking now about the oft repeated non- 

 sense that bees are incapable of cutting 

 through the skins of graps. The boys will 

 be mad at me for my repeated scoldings on 

 this point, but I'm going to scold all the 

 same. We had proof enough on the point 

 before, had we only been willing to use it ; 

 but friend G. W. Demaree, in the Canadian, 

 page 88;) does a timely thing by presenting 

 knock-down evidence. A sound grape was 

 used to stop a hole which bees were freshly 

 nibbling in their enameled quilt, and they 

 cut into the grape very quickly. Next a 

 wild plum was put on as a tougher job for 

 them, and they cut that through also. A 

 harvest apple was also cut into in the same 

 way. 



The Pacific Bee Journal suddenly took a 

 notion to bloom. The last number is a 

 thing of beauty, with a multitude of half 

 tone pictures little and big. Friend Bennett 

 seems not ashamed of his " day of small 

 things ; " and not being able to show us his 

 four story brick factory and ^20,000 resi- 

 dence he just in quiet simi^Iicity shows us 

 such as he has. I was specially touched 

 with the picture of his little daughter in 

 her play yard. The yard is very narrow. 



