ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



125 



the cheaper. It is no secret, as Mr. 

 Selser thinks, and that he has gotten 

 in on the ground floor; that is accessi- 

 ble to the shipping public. 



Mr. Selser: I would like to say if 

 you have less than a car load of bees 

 to ship at any point it is always best 

 to charter a car in all cases. 



Mr. Hilton: If there is nothing else 

 of a general character we will resume 

 the matter of the questions. 



QUESTION BOX. 



Mr. France: The balance of the 

 questions which are here are com- 

 posed of those where it was requested 

 that some particular individual an- 

 swer them, which we will take up first, 

 and then other questions with no 

 names specified, which we will take up 

 later. 



•. Some of the questions have come 

 to me with this statement: "That 

 question to me, if answered by that 

 person, is worth my dues to the Asso- 

 ciation for years." Consequently we 

 will get the benefit of it and they will, 

 when they read the report. 



Question — How to prevent abscond- 

 ing swarms in an out- apiary run for 

 comb honey when the queens are not 

 clipped. Miss Matilde Chandler, of 

 Cassville, V/is. 



Reply by R. L. Taylor, of Mich. — The 

 question seems to imply that the 

 clipping of queens prevents the 

 absconding of swarms, which is only 

 true to a certain degree. The clipped 

 queen out with a swarm often fails 

 to find her way back to her own hive 

 or if . she does, after the effort to 

 swarm has been made, two or three 

 times, she is likely to be killed by 

 her own bees, in either of which case 

 a swarm issues attended by a virgin 

 queen and of course absconds. The 

 queen trap properly used has an ad- 

 vantage over the queen clipping in 

 that it prevents absconding, while 

 clipping does not. The trap has the 

 further advantage that when a visit 

 is made by the apiarist he can easily 

 tell which colonies have swarmed, 

 while with clipped queens there is 

 little to indicate the fact. There are 

 other evils which these two plans share 

 about equally; such as the uniting of 

 swarms that issue about the same 

 time and going together in the hive 

 of a single colony; perhaps a stranger 

 to all of them. In short the trap is 

 to ibe preferred to clipping, and will 

 answer well when the apiary contains 



but few colonies; but when the colonies 

 are numerous it will pay to hire a 

 capable person to keep them in (order 

 during swarming season. \ 



Question: Does famine originate or 

 cause foul brood? A. W. Tilson, Gal. 

 Replied by R. L. -Taylor, of Mich.: 

 No. It is caused by foul brood bac- 

 teria alone. 



By N. E. France of Wis.: No. But 

 poor seasons are favorable for robbing 

 and spread of disease among bees. 



Letter from A. C. Allen of Wis.: 

 This disease among my bees is a 

 fright. It is as fatal as foul brood. 

 No ropiness or smell, ibut resem'bles 

 foul brood to look at. A year ago I 

 had 148 colonies, now 78. Loss 70. 



A neighbor had 108 and lost 70. I 

 hope you and I>r. Phillips can decide 

 what it is and remedy. 



Mr. France: I was called to this 

 man's apiary three times, he insist- 

 ing that the bees were infected with 

 American Foul Brood, but in my judg- 

 ment I thought not. One time I went 

 to the yard and he had found it in 

 but one hive and he was so sure it was 

 that, and wanted me to see it in its 

 true condition, and avoid robbing he 

 had dug in upon the hillside and had 

 buried the hive, bees and all, till I 

 could come. It had been there some 

 little time. Now. he said, we will go 

 and dig it up and you can see the 

 remains. We took the sand off, and a 

 swarm of bees, like as if they were 

 coming out of their winter quarters, 

 were there fighting mad and ready to 

 get out. I said, "There is no foul 

 brood; there is what is commonly 

 known over some of the States as 

 pickled brood, but it is starvation more 

 than anything else; feed the poor little 

 fellows." And he did and got a super 

 and a half of comb honey off the dead, 

 buried bees. But there is a condition 

 in that yard now I cannot account for 

 or decide what it is. 



Question — Should bee-keeping be en- 

 tered into in partnership? A. L. As- 

 pinwall. 



Reply by R. L. Taylor — I only know 

 no reason such should not be formed 

 when circumstances favor it. 



Question — Is European foul brood 

 (black brood) in Michigan under con- 

 trol? 



Reply by R. L. Taylor — I only know 

 that since I became Foul Brood Inspec- 

 tor of Michigan I have had no call for 

 my services on account of it. 



