376 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[OCTOBER, 
The cheapest and host food may be prepared by using 
A coffee sugar; ” add 4 lbs. to a quart of water, bring 
to a boil, skim, and allow it to cool. This syrup is more 
desirable than honey, as it is not liable to induce robbing 
while feeding, and the bees winter equally well upon it. 
Probably no question will interest bee-keepers more 
than the best way to feed. During the five years we were 
associated with the late M. Quinby, our experience in 
this direction was quite extensive. In the fall of 1869 
we fed over 5,500 lbs. of sugar. Those having box-hives 
may use some good feeder, or a dish of proper size to 
set under the cap on top of the hive. Fill the dish 
with the honey or syrup, and throw on line shavings 
or cut straw, to prevent the bees from falling into 
it. Those using movable frames will find the process 
we have most thoroughly tested and 
adopted, practical and convenient. We 
put the feed directly into the combs, 
as will be described. Each comb, 
if well filled, will hold about 5 lbs. 
Combs maybe removed from the hives 
that are to be fed, filled and return¬ 
ed ; or, if there is a surplus of empty 
combs, they may be prepared before 
hand, and exchanged for empty ones 
in the hive at one operation. Fill 
the combs as follows : Take a can or 
tub about two feet across the top, in 
which place the syrup made as above 
directed. Then take a board a little 
wider than the depth of the frames, 
and nail a strip on each edge, which 
shall project about one inch above, 
to prevent the liquid from running 
off the sides of the board, and to con¬ 
duct it back into the tub. Place one 
end of this board on the tub, and the 
other upon legs elevated enough above 
it, so that the feed will run off freely, 
(see fig). Then, in a common quart dip¬ 
per, punch Vie-inch holes, about % of 
an inch apart, over the bottom. Place 
the frame of empty comb on the board, 
and dip up the syrup, letting it drain 
into the cells. A little practice will 
indicate the distance the syrup must 
fall, as there must be force enough to 
drive it to the bottom of the cell, and 
not so much as to cause it to spatter 
out. In turning the combs to fill oppo¬ 
site sides, care should bo taken, or the 
combs may fall out of the frames. To 
prevent this, use a piece of thin board, 
the size of the frame, placing it under 
it while filling, and raise the comb 
with it to an upright position, and 
then place the board on the opposite 
side, and fill as before. As fast as the 
farmers much trouble. Doubtless the unusual wet¬ 
ness of the season has been the chief cause of the in¬ 
creased virulence of the disease, which has existed 
sporadically all over the country, for some years past. 
All the efforts of the farmers and veterinary sur¬ 
geons, aided as they have been by the legislative 
appointment of sanitary inspectors, charged with 
the duty of “stamping out” the disease by sum¬ 
mary slaughter and burial of infected cattle, or by 
the isolation of infected herds, have been unavail¬ 
ing. The disease attacks cattle, sheep, and pigs. 
Hares and rabbits suffer equally with these, and are 
a frequent cause of spreading the contagion from 
one pasture to another. The disease has appeared at 
times at several places in this coun¬ 
try,but fortunately so far no serious 
out-break has occurred. Neither 
do we think such an occurrence 
probable, on account of our more 
favorable and healthful climate, 
our less luxuriant pastures, and 
our less artificial style of feeding. 
Nevertheless, we have had an un¬ 
usual season. The long continued 
wet weather has furnished one 
condition favorable to the occur¬ 
rence of this or other epizootic dis¬ 
eases in low pastures, or in locali¬ 
ties where sudden alternations of 
temperature are experienced. Hot 
days succeeded by chilly nights, 
when the lower stratum of air 
Is filled with moisture or fog, are 
especially provocative of a typhoid 
type, such as aphtha, (“foot and 
mouth disease ”), anthrax, (black 
quarter or carbuncular erysipelas), 
or splenic apoplexy, which is the 
well known “Spanish fever” of 
the western herds. These are all 
blood diseases, marked by a very 
depressed condition of the animal, 
high fever, difficulty of breath¬ 
ing, disorder of the brain, evinc¬ 
ed by stupor or convulsions, and 
a highly inflamed and often gan¬ 
grenous condition of parts of the 
body. In the “foot and mouth 
disease,” the feet, tongue, and 
lips, are affected. Blisters appear 
on the coronet around the hoof, 
at the heels, and between the claws 
of the hoof; also on the lips and 
tongue. These break, leaving raw 
surfaces, which may run together and ulcerate. 
The animal can neither stand, walk, nor eat. It 
may recover in two or three weeks, when the dis¬ 
ease has spent itself, or it may die very rapidly, 
with the hoofs sloughed off, and abscesses formed 
upon parts of the body. The first symptoms are a 
fit of shivering, followed by a cough, indisposition 
to move, fever, and a desire to get away from other 
cattle. The hind legs are occasionally stretched 
out and shaken, and on examination are found 
blistered as above mentioned. Saliva flows freely 
from the mouth, and the lips will be found hot and 
blistered. The proper treatment is to give a gentle 
purgative, as 8 oz. of Epsom salts, with 2 ounces 
of ginger, in sweetened water, at once. Then care¬ 
ful nursing is all that can be done. The mouth 
should be washed frequently with a mixture of 1 
quart of water and 1 ounce of tincture of myrrh. In 
the absense of the myrrh, 1 ounce of alum may be 
used, with an infusion of a handful of sage leaves, 
in hot water. The large blisters on the tongue and 
lips should be opened with a sharp-pointed knife. 
The feet should he washed with warm water and 
carbolic soap, and hound up in cloths, wetted with 
a solution of 2 drams of chloride of zinc, in one 
pint of water. Warm bran and oatmeal slops 
should be given, and infusion of linseed meal. No 
solid food should he offered. The affected animals 
should be separated from the others, and kept 
quiet in well ventilated clean stalls. In case an 
animal should die, the stall where it has lain should 
he thoroughly cleansed with hot lime-wash, and 
the mangers washed with hot lye or soft soap suds, 
before another animal is put into it. 
combs are filled, set them up perpen¬ 
dicularly, where the extra syrup may 
drain off. These operations must be performed in a 
room where bees can make no trouble. Combs filled 
with syrup must be placed in the hives after the bees 
stop flying at night. Too much care cannot be taken to 
prevent robbing. After the required amount is put in 
the combs, it is well to weigh the whole again, to see 
that nothing is lost by robbing. Feeding should be done 
as early as possible this month, while it is warm enough 
for the bees to seal up the cells. In colder latitudes it 
would be well to do it in September, especially if the 
bees are to winter out of doors. If, by weighing, some 
moses quinby.— Born April 16 th, 1810, Died May 27th, 1875. 
FILLING COMBS. 
hives are found to contain more than the necessary 
amount of honey, heavy combs may be exchanged for 
light ones from other hives. Colonies may be unfit for 
him in the present number. The portrait is from a 
photograph selected by the members of his family, 
and very satisfactorily reproduces the features of 
our Great Apiarian. 
Cleaning Up. —The rubbish which is left in the 
fields, in the orchards, gardens, and around the 
yards, at the close of the season, furnishes hiding 
places for a vast number of vermin. Eggs and 
larvas of destructive insects, chinch hugs and other 
pests find a safe refuge, wherein to pass the winter 
in corn-husks, stalks, and stubs, left upon the 
fields, and upon or beneath pieces of bark, chips, 
weeds, loose boards, and in corners of out-build¬ 
ings. If the rubbish is gathered, raked up with 
horse or hand-rakes, and burned, and buildings 
Whitewashed, myriads of vermin would he destroy¬ 
ed and prevented from propagating. As soon as 
the fields are cleared from crops, and work in the 
gardens and orchards ceases, a general clearing up 
should he made, and no quarter given to vermin- of 
any kind or anywhere. 
The Foot and Mouth Disease. 
A severe out-break of the so-called “ foot and 
mouth disease,” or epizootic aphtha, has recently 
occurred in the southern part of England. In the 
county of Dorset alone, which is the center of the 
disease, 8,000 cases were reported in one week. All 
through the country, from the southern counties to 
Scotland, the disease is active, and is giving the 
winter from containing too much honey. The idea of 
wintering light swarms, or those with few bees, we can 
not oppose too strongly. In all our practice we have not 
found a point in its favor. A colony in good condition 
for winter has plenty of bees, a fertile queen, 20 to 30 lbs. 
of honey or syrup, and a free passage through the combs. 
-— . a, -- 
The Late Moses Quinby. 
In July last we announced the sudden death of 
Mr. Quinby, who for many years had been a contri¬ 
butor to the Agriculturist ; in response to the re¬ 
quests of several interested in Bee Culture, and as 
a tribute of our own respect, we give a likeness of 
