THOUSAND ANSWERS ' 91 



A. I have used both, but now use plain wood separators one- 

 sixteenth pi an inch thick. 



Flour for Pollen.— Q. Why is rye-flour put into the hives in 

 March? 



Where can I put rye-flour in the beehives? 



A. Rye-flour and other meals are given to the bees as a sub- 

 stitute for pollen. 



If you want to put it in the hive, you can sprinkle it into the 

 cells of a comb. But it is not generally put in the hive, but out- 

 side. Put it in a shallow dish or box outside in the sun, and if 

 the bees are in need of it they will take it from there. But if they 

 can get plenty of natural pollen they are not likely to touch the 

 substitute. Use old combs for bait. 



Foulbrood Versus Chilled Brood. — Q. How can a person tell 

 the difference between foulbrood and chilled brood? I can find 

 nothing regarding chilled brood in the text-books. 



A. Chilled brood doesn't string out like foulbrood. 



(Foulbrood is irregular, not all the brood dying at one time. 

 Chilled brood is all dead.— C. P. D.) 



Foulbrood. — Q. I am requeening my entire apiary with Car- 

 niolan queens, as I have come to the conclusion that the most 

 prolific bees are the most resistant to foulbrood. How about it? 



A. There is a very general belief that the introduction of 

 pure Italian blood is an important step toward the eradication of 

 European foulbrood and some think the same of Carniolans. It 

 may be that there is something about Italians or some other 

 blood through which it comes to pass that if two colonies side by 

 side are of equal energy, one of them being of pure Italian 

 blood and the other mostly black, the one of pure Italian blood 

 will be the more nearly immune to foulbrood. But I doubt it. I 

 think that Italians will fight foulbrood better than blacks, not 

 because they are Italians, but because they are more energetic 

 than the others. So the most energetic bees, no matter what the 

 kind, will be the ones that will do the most toward keeping down 

 foulbrood. I do not remember seeing prolificness claimed as a 

 thing to help against foulbrood. Yet prolificness helps toward it 

 in one respect, in that it helps to keep strong colonies, and it is 

 very important with European foulbrood that colonies be strong. 



Q. Is foulbrood ever found where there is no manipulation of 

 bees? 



A. Yes, indeed. Manipulation cannot produce the disease, 

 and the right kind of manipulation does not necessarily favor its 



