188 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
dition of zinc to the acid. What does it do 1 
Upon llie addition of zinc hydrogen is given off 
in quantities, which carries with it infinitesimal 
quantities of the formic acid through the hive, 
not perceptible to the sight. This can be 
proved b.v placing a little of the acid upon a 
piece of highly polished zinc, and causing a very 
mild, continuous current of air to pass over 
same in one given direction for an hour. A 
•mark will be made upon the plate, speaking 
nauticallv, from windward to leeward of the 
acid caused by these particles of acid brine 
•carried along its surface with the hydrogen, and 
acting upon the highly polished surface ; in 
other words, the addition of the zinc causes a 
more rapid and thorough evaporation of the 
acid, as formic acid, as I have said be'ore, will 
not give off vapour at G0° F. Whether the ad- 
dition of the zinc caused the marked improve- 
ment iu the health of the colony I must leave 
for future completion ot experiments now on 
hand. 
There is one most important point to be con- 
■sidered in these experiments. You will re- 
member that I commenced to treat No. 1 colony | 
from seven to eight weeks ago, at this time they 
had varying of sealed honey iu each comb 
gathered and stored while the hive was in a dis- 
eased condition ; now each of these cell-fulls of 
honey I looked upon as so much ‘ botcled-up 
foul brood,’ and from a subsequent experiment 
I find that I was quite right in my surmise. I 
have, after curing the colony, again infected it 
from itself. Directly after my last examination 
I uncapped nearly all the honey-cells on top of 
combs and smeared a quantity of the honey 
scraped therefrom well over the floor-board at 
the back of the division-board ; it was not long 
before the bees swarmed from under the division- 
board and cle ired it all away ; with this they, 
as I supposed they would and wanted them so 
to do, feil several of the larva upon, with the 
result that upon my next examination to-day 
.(seven days after) several of the larvse are dead 
with ‘ foul brood,’ and two cells had dead (foul) 
larvte in them. These two cells I disinfected 
by placing in them a straw dipped in formic 
acid, and marked such cells for future reference. 
I have now again applied the vaporiser to this 
hive, and will publish results. 
The bad weather aud want of time have pre- 
vented a thorough examination of the other 
colonies under experiment, so I will leave these 
for a future issue, feeling more and more con- 
fident of the future success of this remedy. 
In my own mind I do not believe that this 
cure will simply be confined to formic acid. I 
have an idea that other acids, such as sulphuric 
oxalate, will have an equal, if not better effect. 
Of this later accounts shall be published. 
I should wish that a few bee-keepers who 
have ’foul brood ’ in their colonies, and who are 
willing to follow to the letter definite instruc- 
tions given, would communioate with me that a 
much larger number of colonies may be under 
.treatment at one time : in point of fact I can- 
not give the time, neither have 1 the inclination, 
to treat a dozen or so of colonies. I have one 
gentleman’s promise to .do so, and I "bink that, 
say, two more would be sufficient, but they 
must agree not to deviate from the path laid 
down one iota, and also be willing to compare 
notes. I will provide two such with the gutta- 
percha troughs together with sufficient formic 
acid for one colony free of expense . — British 
Bee Journal, 
W. B. Webster. 
SWARMING. 
THE THEORY OF ITS CAUSE, AND HOW IT MAY 
BE PREVENTED. 
What causes the swarming spirit of a colony ? 
is a question not fully answered as yet. I will 
hereby give my theory, and 1 think it is as new 
as it is correct. 
We know that, 21 days after the egg is laid 
by the queen, the young worker-bee will gnaw 
out of the cell, Two days later it commences to 
work, hut inside of the hive only. About 1C 
days later she commences to gather pollen and 
honey. In summer time the worker bee will 
generally be dead 27 days after the first flight ; 
so we see that the proportion of brood, house- 
bees, and field-bees, is 23 to 16 to 27, in the 
normal state of a colony. Of course, this is 
correct only if the queen has laid the same num- 
ber of eggs daily for some time. In early spring, 
when breeding commences, no house-bees are in 
the hive, and the older bees have to do their 
work. The amount of brood is by and by 
increased, and the proportion of brood to house- 
bees gets gradually nearer to the normal condi- 
tion. As soon as the queen has laid, for more 
than 23 days, as many eggs as she possibly can, 
we have the norma! condition, and the colony 
is on its highest point of prosperity. The grow- 
ing number of honey-gatherers has meantime 
filled the empty cells of the hive partially with 
honey, and consequently the number of eggs 
daily laid by the queen is by and by decreasing. 
It makes no difference whether the greatest 
number of eggs laid by the queen is attributable 
to her fertility, or to the room in the hive 
devoted to breeding, or whether the number of 
eggs laid is, later on, decreasing from any other 
cause ; we always have the fact, that hereby a 
surplus of house-bees is in the hive at a certain 
time, because more young bees will come from 
the cells as the queen lays eggs. These young 
bees are desirous of feeding lai vse, but not all of 
them can possibly do so : and this condition of 
a colony starts the swarming impulse. The 
desire of young bees for more brood causes it. 
As much as possible, prepared food is given to 
the queen, aud so she is induced to lay eggs in 
the started queen-cells, and a swarm is the con- 
sequence. 
This theory explains every cause of swarming 
coming to my notice, and the different ways by 
which swarming cau be prevented to a certain 
degree. w e know of 
