PRACTICAL HINTS TO BEE - KEEPERS. CHAS. F. MUTH. Cincinnati, Ohio. 18S1. PBICE: lO CENTS. QSsfp X ' Practical Hints to - Bee-Keepers. INTRODUCTION. Quite a number of books have made their appearance of late giving all the details not only of the history of the Bee, its habits, the flowers which it frequents, but also decrib- ing the manipulations necessary to secure good results. Among the foremost of late works that have come under our observation, we may mention A. I. Root’s A. B. C., and Prof. Cook’s Manual. Difference of locality, however, and differ¬ ence in our own habits of manipulation brings about not only different results, but are often causes of gross misunderstanding and mis¬ management. It will, therefore, not be amiss to reproduce a few practical hints from our own experience, and if any of our friends will take a “hint” occasionally, our object is accomplished. Bee-keeping is a knowledge of small items, without which ordinary results only are ob¬ tained. The most important item when starting out in Bee Culture is the selection of the most prac¬ tical hive. There .shpylffjbe no complicated 4 manipulation to open and close it, and every part of the hive should be of very easy access. A number of side-opening hives have been in-* vented, but in spite of all the assertions of enf. thusiastic friends we have failed to see theii practical utility. The top bars of frames should be at equal distances of about ^ to -| of an inch apart. Aq open space of the same size should exist be¬ tween all the combs, between the side combs 'and the sides of the hive, between the bottorq bars of frames and bottom of hive, and also be¬ tween the top bars and the covers or super¬ boxes. This open space between every two objects in the hive was, if we remember right¬ ly, one of the principal points of Mr. Lang- stroth’s patent. A space less than ^ inch inside of a bee-hive will be filled with bee-glue or propolis, and a space wider than -| inch will be closed with comb, while a space just wide enough to give the bees a free chance to move between, and no more, remains undisturbed. Consequently when a colony of bees is un¬ covered and the place and extent of the cluster at once seen, the queen is easily found, and not a bee need be crushed. Tight-top bar-frames do not afford the same facilities, especially not when colonies are strong and speedy work is essential. To show the reason why we prefer THE LANGSTROTH HIVE, We will quote from an essay, read before a bee-keepers’ meeting in Kentucky, by the writer: 5 OUR BEE-HIVES, When we observe the manner in which a strong colony, hived in a common box hive, and during a good yield of honey, builds its combs, we find that the hive is filled almost exclusively with worker combs, which are apart from cen¬ ter to center just about i-| inches, or a little less, with an open space of about f inch between all the combs. But little drone comb is built, and we find it generally to be the last combs on the sides of the hive and the lower ends of the worker combs. Such will be the case if the colony and queen are in a normal condition. A colony of this kind will be prosperous in the future, and the owner will say of it, that he had good luck with his bees. The reverse will be the case, however, if the queen is old, or shows signs of weakness, as drone comb will then be predominant in the hive, and its owner will not know why that colony gives him no honey. He may say the next spring that the bee-moth got among his bees. As stated above, a prosperous colony has worker combs built if to i-| inches apart from the center of one to the center of another comb, with a space between the combs of about f of an inch. If we give them room enough, we find further that, when their combs are built 12 or 14 inches long, that brood is in the lower third or lower half and honey in the upper part. If the bees want more room for brood, they build to the lower part of their combs, while for honey they add to the upper part. In this manner bees proceed if they have their own way, when they can follow their 6 own inclination. Everyone who has done his share of transferring bees from box hives has a chance of judging of the correctness of this statement. If we deprive a colony of the room above their brood to deposit their stores, they will put honey alongside, behind and in front of their brood, and even below it. During a good yield of honey I have seen comb built on the outside of a hive and filled with honey, extend¬ ing about 4 inches from the hive and about 6 inches or more in length. We may expect the best results only when we assist nature to the best of our ability, and bees are no exception to this rule. Wonders are claimed by some men for their hives, as if hives were doing it all. We may have good results in almost any bee hive, if it is only composed of movable combs and of easy access, as we may remove, one fine morning, the very obstacle to prosperity, which would take the bees, perhaps, all season to accomplish. It is therefore very essential to use hives which afford the greatest comfort to our bees and to us. Bees must be looked over occasion¬ ally, as there may be something to clean up or cut out, the combs in brood chamber may have to be rearranged to promote breeding. Queen- cells may have to be inserted, or a young queen introduced. If you come across the passage of a moth-worm under the capping of your brood combs, and pull him out, you have done some¬ thing which paid you well for the trouble of opening your hive. If a party tells you that 7 bees get hurt when opened, you may depend on it that he is a poor bee-keeper, or that he, at least, does not understand how to open a hive of bees. I have had frequently a comb in my hands with the queen quietly keeping on depositing her eggs. A good bee-keeper should always be acquainted with the state of every one of his colonies, that he maj^know what to expect when the honey season commences. There is, in my estimation, no hive which combines so many advantages and has less ob¬ jectionable points than the Langstroth. The only objection made to it has been that the frames are too shallow for successful wintering; an objection which hundreds of us, for years past, have proved to be none at all. We win¬ ter bees in Langstroth hives as successfully as bees are wintered at all, and Langstroth’s dis¬ ciples are counted among the most successful bee-keepers in the country. The shallowness of the brood frame with the honey chamber immediately above imitates nature closely, and is apt to give us the best results; consequently we must keep in view that not wintering alone is our object, but a full honey harvest. Give me, therefore, a shallow frame, just deep enough to insure successful wintering. A RATIONAL INCREASE OF THE APIARY. An essay, also by the writer, read before the National Bee-keepers’ Convention, at Cincin¬ nati, which we herewith reproduce, if carefully read, will acquaint the beginner with the modus operandi essential to success. 8 When in early spring the days begin to leng¬ then, the queen of every hive in normal con¬ dition begins to deposit her first eggs, if not induced to commence sooner by warm weather. At first she lays a small circle of eggs on each side of and in one or two combs, according to the strength of the colony. About twenty-one days after the first eggs^are laid, the first young bees make their appearance. The circles of brood become larger and more combs are made use of. Bees older than io or 12 days are poor nurses, and do all housework reluctantly. They are foragers. Young bees, however, are nurses and comb-builders, and do all housework per¬ taining to the well-fare of a colony, such as cleaning hives and combs, preparing cells for the reception of eggs, honey or pollen, supply¬ ing the larvaB with food, etc. The brooding is carried on with more energy after the first lot of young bees are hatched. No colony is in a prosperous condition without the necessary, quantity of young bees. Here many beginners miss it when making artificial swarms. In this part of the country, where white clo¬ ver is almost our only resource for honey, it is of the greatest importance that our colonies should be strong early. Bees require heat for brood-rearing and comb-building, and we can promote breeding very much by contracting the space in their hives according to the size of each colony by means of division boards. Give them just as many combs as the bees can well cover, and the result will be sheets full of brood from top to bottom and from end to end. Without 9 this precaution, we will have about half as much brood or less, in as many combs. Division boards should not touch the bottom by from ^ to % inch so as to give the bees access to combs of honey placed on the other side. An empty comb is to be added from time to time as the growth of the colony requires. The proper use of division boards in early spring is such a stimulus to breeding up, that perhaps none of those would do without them who gave it once a fair trial. When we have a number of colonies which are all treated alike, we find, in spring, always some much stronger than the balance, while other colonies are rather slow in increasing their population. If their queen is too old, or unprolific for some reason, she should be re¬ placed by a better one. But it happens, some¬ times, that no good reason can be assigned for the slow progress of such colonies and we are often surprised at their energy and rapid growth as soon as a few combs with hatching brood and adhering bees from a strong hive are added to them. The proverb of old, “Make your swarms early/’ is, therefore, not my motto. But I strengthen up my weak colonies with combs of hatching brood and adhering bees from strong colonies in order to be ready for the harvest. As old bees only are foragers, it re¬ quires a large number of them at the time when flowers are yielding the nectar, to insure a full crop of honey; consequently, we should secure our honey-harvest first, and then make our swarms. IO As a rule, a colony will not swarm when the queen has plenty of room to deposit eggs, and the bees to deposit honey. Without one or both of these requirements, a swarm may issue on any fine day. A queen, however, may be crowded in the course of a day, and we must prepare for an occasional exception to the above rule. I use the Langstroth hive with io frames in the brood chamber, giving a capacity of about 1,320 square inches of comb. My greatest care in spring is to have these 10 frames filled with brood by the time that white clover commences to bloom, and I do not put on the second story or honey chamber until that object is accom¬ plished. A comb filled with too much honey in proportion to the brood is exchanged for an empty one, and placed in the upper story of some hive, or used to build up a weak colony or a nucleus. The empty comb is placed next to the one on which I find the queen, who will not be long in finding it. When 10 Langstroth’s frames are filled with brood and the honey- chamber is put on the hive, at least partly filled with empty combs, bees will follow at once their natural inclination of storing above their brood, providing the flowers are secreting honey and weather permits. We should always make it a point of having at least one full comb in the honey-chamber reaching down to the brood, serving the bees as a ladder to run upon. This is an inducement for them to enter more readily. There are now so many young bees hatching every day that the queen is kept busy refilling with eggs those vacated cells. Under these 11 circumstances she will hardly ever enter the honey-chamber. If honey combs are emptied promptly with the extractor, or the necessary room is given them to build comb honey we shall have but few natural swarms. I am pro¬ ducing principally extracted honey, but it is due to the above management that I have had but one natural swarm during the last 15 years or more. While our colonies are all very strong and bees busily engaged collecting honey, we may quietly prepare for the increase of our apiary* Worker-bees are females imperfectly devel¬ oped, and a perfect female or queen can be de¬ veloped from a worker-egg. Accordingly, the bees select their cells, make them larger and longer, and supply them with the necessary food, so-called royal-jelly, a mixture of pollen and honey. In due time the cells are capped over. The hive containing our choicest queen may be deprived of the same. The restless motion of the bees about their hive soon afterwards tells an experienced eye that they are missing their queen. In less than 24 hours, however, their loss has been realized and the bees pro¬ ceed quietly to repair it by commencing to build a number of queen-cells, each one of which oc¬ cupies about as much room as 4 or 5 worker cells, wfith a downward tendency and shaped much like a peanut. About 16 days after the eggs are laid, young queens emerge, but as bees will often form queen-cells over larvae 5 or 6 days old, we may expect the first queens to issue on the 10th day 12 after the colony was deprived of its queen. We should, therefore, form nucleus colonies the preceding day. We take from every strong colony (according to its strength) i or 2 frames with hatching brood and adhering bees, and replace them with empty combs or comb foun¬ dation. Two combs being sufficient for a nuc¬ leus colony, we place these in a hive between 2 division boards. All old bees having gone back to their old hives, within an hour or two afterward — we proceed to cut out the queen cells, using a sharp, thin-bladed pen¬ knife, leaving ^ to \ of an inch of comb all around them so as not to injure the young queens inside. A queen cell is placed between the top-bars of the frames of each nucleus, in such a position that one may see on raising the cover whether the ceil has hatched. The bees lose no time in fastening and taking care of it. In due time the young queen emerges, is fer¬ tilized, and begins her avocation as mother of the colony. She lays her first eggs generally 8 to 12 days after she was hatched. We may now let her fill a few combs with eggs, or give some useful work to the colony, accord¬ ing to their strength and the season, such as the building of worker combs or the building out of comb foundation, etc. When our honey season is over, we have kept our bees from swarming by the above method and by adding occasionally to our nu¬ cleus a frame of brood from our strongest colo¬ nies, without, however, depriving them of their force of honey-gatherers. If we have manipulated properly, a full crop of honey x 3 (according to the season) has been secured, and we have not been troubled with natural swarms. We may now strengthen up our nuclei with sheets of hatching brood and adhering bees from our old colonies which have an abundance of brood and stores. As every swarm made, is more or less at the expense of the honey harvest, we are satisfied with about one swarm from every 2 colonies. We make less if we can; but if swarms are the object, the most ambitious can satisfy themselves by the above method and with the aid of comb foundation. Another good method of starting queen cells is as follows: Divide the colony from which you desire to breed by means of a division board; lay the entrance blocks in the middle, letting the bees enter on each side of the portico, and leaving most of the capped cells on the same side with the queen. All communication be¬ tween the two sides must be prevented. The queenless part will proceed to build queen cells at once, which will be ready to cut out on the ioth day and be placed in the nuclei as described above. At least on the ioth day we should be¬ gin, as the young queen hatching first, will un¬ ceremoniously dispatch every rival queen in the hive, by biting open the cells and intro¬ ducing her sting, thereby killing the young queen inside. We may continue rearing queens in the same hive all the season if we choose, and from the same queen, by changing her from one side to the other. The Langstroth hive is well calculated for rearing in it 3 queens at a time, by means of 2 H division boards, letting the side swarms fly out from side ventilators, and the middle swarm in front—3 nuclei in one hive. The advantage of this method is, that any of our combs answer for the nucleus, and after our 3 queens are lay¬ ing eggs, we may make use of 2 of them, take out the division boards, and let the remaining queen take charge of the hive. This queen will be safe among the bees, being of the same scent, and in the same condition. WINTERING. Very many articles have appeared from time to time on in and outdoor wintering, and the present severe and lasting winter will not fail to renew the subject. But the whole art of wintering is perhaps enclosed in the following short sentence: “Have a strong colony with plenty of honey, and the air in your hive as pure and dry as you require it for your own room.” A cold draft is as destructive to the health of bees as it is to your own. But when the air is not renewed in a hive of bees, and their exhalations condense into water during cold spells, the bee-hive resembles a damp cel¬ lar, the hone} T , souring in those combs on which the bees cluster, gives them dysentery, and, if the cold lasts perhaps only a week longer, the fate of the colony is sealed. People wonder at what killed their bees, when they had them covered up so warm! The straw-hive of old, as long as it is new, is known to be the best of all wintering hives, but it is no better than a wooden box as soon as its inside is coated with Dee-glue. Our winter covering is a straw mat, *5 which is combining the wintering quality of the straw hive with the advantages of the square box hive. In order to keep the mats from being glued over, a piece of linen cloth should be kept next to the bees. A small col¬ ony of bees should have its wintering place contracted by division-boards, as it cannot keep a large place as comfortable as a strong colony. A most dangerous winter-covering is an oil cloth or its equivalent. We should never forget in fall to cut a winter passage through the middle of every Comb and let the Colony occupy no more than the brood chambre during winter* INTRODUCING QUEENS. Perhaps the best way is to place the cage containing the new Queen between two brood combs and leave her there for 24 hours, when the cork is replaced by a chunk of comb-honey which the bees will gnaw out and thereby lib¬ erate the queen. Twenty-four hours confine¬ ment is better than a longer term, because, by this time, bees have not yet commenced to con¬ struct queen-cells, and therefore accept a queen more readily. It is a matter of course that, when introducing, we must be sure that no second queen or capped queen-cell is in the hive. No queen should be introduced in any colony which was without brood for a week or more, because only young bees take care of the queen and her progeny. If you have such a colony, take at least two combs with hatching brood and adhering bees from a strong stand put them in the middle of the swarm in ex- — i6 — change for two of their combs, and put your cage with queen between them. One end of the introducing cage should contain a sponge saturated with honey. A cage with a new queen may be placed in a colony for several days before the old queen is taken out, and the cork on the lower end of the queen-cage replaced by a chunk of honey at the time when the old queen is removed. A good manner of introducing a valuable queen, also, is to have the old queen caged for a day or less, then putting the new queen in the same cage (after the old queen is removed) and placing it in the same spot, closed with a chunk of honey. The cage retains the scent of the old queen, and the colony, believing their queen to be in the same place, put up with the stranger by the time the honey is gnawed out of the opening. When we open a colony and find a lump of bees as large as a walnut, or larger, in the bot¬ tom of the hive or on the side of a comb, the bees are bunching or balling the queen for some reason or other, and will starve her to death if left alone. The best manner to save that queen is to take up the ball with your hand and drop it in a tumbler of water (luke¬ warm if the temperature be cold), dip them under with your finger, the ball loosens, and the queen escapes without being stung. Put her in a cage closed with a good chunk of honey, and place it between two brood combs. You are very apt to see her the next day, walk¬ ing among the bees as if nothing had happened. l 7 TRANSFERRING BEES From common box hives to frame hives is a simple arrangement. Bees mark nothing bet¬ ter than the location of the entrance to their hive. They make a bee-line for their alighting board or entrance for a distance of four miles or more, and are apparently in great trouble when their hive is turned around or moved to one side for only a few inches. A few whiffs of smoke blown under or in the box-hive a few minutes before it is re¬ moved alarms the bees, causes them to fill themselves with honey, and makes them harm¬ less. An overdose of smoke is always detri¬ mental. Now set the old hive on a handy spot and put in its place the lower story of the new frame hive, with its entrance in as near the same position as the old, cover the new hive with a board or cloth. Pry off one side of the box hive without paying atten¬ tion to the bees; cut out one or two combs which you can reach handiest, brushing adher¬ ing bees into the front of the new hive or on its entrance, which should be connected with the ground by a board. Bees are not apt to go down hill, but travel up hill easily, and every healthy bee will find its new home by the con¬ necting board. Place the combs on a table covered with a cloth, and laying the frames over them, fit them in, using the inside of the frame as the rule to cut by. You can fill your frames with a number of pieces of comb, and hang them in the hive, one after another, as you get them ready, frames with brood in the i8 middle and honey on the sides. Cotton wrap¬ ping-twine, taken double, is, to us, handier in fastening pieces of comb into frames than any¬ thing else. Aptitude of the operator, and some practice is necessary to acquire proficiency in transferring as well as in every other business. After all the other combs are fastened in frames and hung in the new hive, the bees which were in the fields enter their new home as well as those which were brushed from the old combs. The bulk of the Colony has clustered, meanwhile, under the upper board of the old hive and may be taken off by bunches and placed at the en¬ trance of the new hive or shaken in front of the board which leads to the entrance. They proceed at once to repair their combs and if the Colony is strong enough and their combs contain enough honey or the flowers yield the necessary sweets, all twines, clasps or slats may be taken off in less than 12 or 24 hours. The best time for transferring in this part of the country is the month of April and beginning of May when bees find sufficient honey from fruit blossoms to repair damages, when combs are not too soft for handling from the warm tem¬ perature , and when bees are not inclined to rob. FEEDING. The best way of feeding bees, under all cir¬ cumstances is to give them a full comb of Honey or as many as they may need. It is therefore the beekeeper’s best policy never to see his hives short of stores, and when fall comes on, every colony should have a full supply. Too x 9 much honey over winter, has never harmed a colony, and when spring arrives an equalizing of stores comes very handy when some colonies are short. However when our supply of filled combs is at an end and bees need feeding, they can be assisted in various ways. As bees never leave their cluster during cold weather and as above them is the warmest place, we find a screwtop fruit Jar with perforated cover in¬ verted over a hole above the cluster the handi¬ est arrangement. For stimulative purposes or for feeding during warm weather, the boss bee-feeder or an inverted fruit Jar arranged on a block at the entrance of the hive so that bees from the inside only can reach it, answers the purpose. Pure Honey diluted with water in the pro¬ portion of three or four parts of Honey to one part of water is the natural and best food for Bees. In order to guard against the infection of desease,add -J to^ oz of fhe Foul-Brood medi¬ cine, as given below, to every quart of food. It would be wise to add it to all Beefood as a sanitary measure. The next best food is syrup made of cane Sugar (Coffee A is perhaps best) about a pint of wafer or a little more, to a pound of sugar, boiled up, is a fair proportion to make it the consistency of thin honey. The introduction of Glucose or Grape sugar is just as unfortunate for feeding bees as it is to consumers of Honey, Maple Syrup, Molasses and Sugar of any kind, all kinds of candies etc. Our children don’t like candy any more, and like consumers of adulterated Honey, don’t know the reason why. Grape sugar appears 20 to be a misfortune to all, but its manufacturers and dealers and to adulterators. It is a known fact that its nutriment is only 30 to 35 per cent of that of Canesugar, but it has a body and having no flavor, partakes readily of the flavor of any admixture. Grape Sugar is a very dangerous adulterant and bound to damage the interest of Bee-keepers. It is cheap per pound, but as 3 lbs. of it will only do, theoreti¬ cally, as much good as one pound of Canesugar, it is expensive after all. It is designed to de¬ ceive. Other qualities injurious to the health of bees should condemn it as food. A friend of the writer states having read in his medical periodical of recent date that one of the causes of that apparently incurable disease Bright’s disease of the Kidneys is said to be Grape Sugar. The best stimulative Food in spring is, per¬ haps, Sugar Syrup thickened up with Pea flour. Pea flour is said to be first cousin to natural Pollen and a lump of the mixture placed on top of the frames is said to perform won¬ ders in the way of stimulating to breed. FOUL BROOD AND ITS CURE as read by the writer before the National Bee- Keeper’s convention at Cincinnati is pertinent and should be read by every beekeeper. It is gratifying to observe the growing atten¬ tion paid by bee-keepers in this country to the dangers of the spread of foul brood. Utah has a bee inspector in every county, a State officer, drawing pay from the State. It would be a move in the right direction if other States would 21 imitate our Mormon brethren in this especial particular, since bee-keeping has become so important a factor in the commonwealth of the country. It is very essential for every bee-keeper to know his position in regard to foul brood, should it make its appearance in his apiary, as the pleasures and profits would be destroyed it this pest is permitted to become predominant in his neighborhood. A country like ours, where an abundance of forest trees afford homes for absconding swarms, is very favor¬ able for the spreading of the disease. There would be no end to foul brood in a neighbor¬ hood after a number of bee-trees become in¬ fested, as every bee running over those devas¬ tated combs for years afterward, is liable to take home to its own hive the germs of the disease. Let us, therefore, be on our guard. Foul brood is a disease, imported, and spreads by contagious spores. It is of vegetable growth —a fungus. Little specks of it, hardly discern¬ ible with the naked eye, are carried along on the legs of the bees running over infected combs. Wherever one of these spores drops into a cell containing larva, the larva dies, changing soon into a brownish putrid mass, settling into the lower corner of the cell, and foul brood begins its growth. It happens that larvae are affected and die just before the cells are capped, or while the bees are performing their usual labor, capping, unconscious of the trouble below, We find those cells, a few weeks afterwards, perforated at or near the centre, and easily recog¬ nize them as diseased. Larvae in uncapped cells, 22 killed by this disease, settle into the lower cor¬ ner as a ropish substance, and dry up in the course of time in a hard, coffee-colored mass. They are easily recognized. Bees continually running over these cells will soon carry the micrococcus to a large number of others containing larvae, uutil every comb is affected. The putrid stench becomes so strong in the hive that often the bees swarm out in despair, unable, however, to rid themselves of the curse of foul brood adhering to their bodies. The disease does not affect old bees, but, killing off the young, soon decimates a colony. Micrococcus dropped into empty cells, or cells containing honey or pollen, may remain dormant for years. As soon, however, as the queen deposits eggs in such cells, and they de¬ velop into larvae, the trouble commences. I have had a case where the spores from an in¬ fected hive were hidden among the fissures of a plank exposed to the weather for more than 12 months, and were ready to do the mischief the following season when I put a hive on that plank. The bees ran over it and dragged in with them the germ of foul brood. Dr. Schoen.feld has taught us the true nature of foul brood, and that its growth is destroyed by salicylic acid, while Mr. Emil Hilbert found the proper proportion and application whereby foul brood is destined without injury to animal life. Mr. Hilbert applied his medicine by means of an atomizer, subjecting every comb, cell and bee to a spray of the same. Every in¬ fected cell had to be disinfected, as also every 2 3 comb and frame, and the inside of the hive and adjoining surroundings. Several thorough treat¬ ments of this kind will cure a colony of foul brood. I have cured quite a number of them in this manner, and speak from experience. My modus operandi has been given in an essay to the meeting of our Association in Chicago, which makes a repetition here unnecessary. See page 502 November No. of American Bee Journal, 1879. The only objection I now have to the above method, is that bees from other hives, visit the combs under treatment in your hands, or the open hive before you, and take the spores home with them, and by the time one colony is cured we may find a number of others affected. So it was with me in spite of the greatest care. Mr. Hilbert treats his diseased colonies in a closed room, so that no bees from other hives have access during the time of treatment. I had come to the conclusion that it was the cheapest and safest remedy to destroy an in¬ fected colony, with all the brood, combs and every bee belonging to it. However, I learned a better method this summer. A neighbor offered me, in March, two empty hives and combs, the bees from which had died during winter and were robbed by other bees, as he stated. I was convinced at first sight, that those bees had died of foul brood, and sent a warning, to look out, to my neighboring bee-keepers, one of whom discovered one of his hives affected afterwards and burned it up. In April I dis¬ covered two colonies in my apiary affected with the disease. I brimstoned the bees the same 2 4 evening, burned up the combs and frames, and disinfected the hives. Another colony showed it in May. Feeling sorry to kill a beautiful queen, besides a very strong colony of pure Italians, I brushed them on io frames of comb foundation, into a clean hive, and placed over them a jar with food, as I shall describe here¬ after. The old combs and frames were burned up, and the hive disinfected, This feeding was kept up until all the sheets of comb foundation were built out nicely and filled with brood and honey. It was a beautiful colony of bees about 4 weeks afterwards, full of healthy brood, and with combs as regular as can only be made by the aid of comb foundation. Four more colo¬ nies were discovered infected, one after another. All went through the same process, and every one is a healthy colony at present. I was so convinced of the completeness of this cure, that I introduced into one of these colonies my first Cyprian queen sent me by friend Dadant. All are doing finely now, and no more foul brood. Should, however, another one of my colonies show signs of the disease, it would not be because it had caught it from its neighbor which I had'attempted to cure, but because the germ of foul brood was hidden somewhere in the hive, and of late had come in contact with a larva. The formula of the mixture is as follows: 16 gr. salicylic acid, 16 gr soda borax, i oz. water. I keep on hand a bottle of this mixture, so as to be always ready for an emergency; also a 2 5 druggist’s ounce glass, so that I may know what I am doing. My food was honey, with about 25 per cent water added. But we may feed honey or sugar syrup, adding to every quart of food an ounce of the above mixture. Bees being without comb and brood, partake of it readily, and by the time their comb foun¬ dation is built out, you will find your colony in a healthy and prosperous condition. Thus you see foul brood can be rooted out completely, and without an extra amount of trouble, provided you are sufficiently impressed with its dangerous, insidious character and are prepared to meet it promptly on its first ap¬ pearance. When an atomizer is used on combs and larvae, the medicine should be only half as strong as given in the formula. ARTIFICIAL COMB-FOUNDATIONS Are thin sheets of pure beeswax with correct impressions, of the base of the cells of Honey comb, on each side. These impressions or foundations are .softened up by the bees and built out into cells during warm weather when bees are fed or flowers yield honey. Their perfect regularity makes them, in some re¬ spects, preferable to natural combs, although to careless queenraisers, it may cause a scarcity of pure drones in their apiaries and a consequent disappointment in the production of pure queens. Comb-foundations are fastened to the top bars of brood frames in various ways. The handiest way for us is to place a frame over a 26 board adjusted to fit inside of it and to reach barely half way up the frame. On this board (adjusting board) we place the sheet of foun¬ dation, which is cut to fill out the frame to within about £ inch along the bottom bar and within inch from the side bars. It is fastened to the top bar of the frame with melted wax, which is applied to both sides by means of a small painting brush. To avoid the heat of the stove in hot summer, we melt the wax in a small tin pan placed on a square tin-arrange¬ ment, so called Priming furnace, with a burn¬ ing candle inside of it. During the hot season, when wax is pliable, a pressing on of foun¬ dations against the beveled top bar of frame with the thumbs and smoothing it over with the blade of a knife affords often sufficient fastening. If very thin bottomed foundations are not used, only starters of about ^ inch width should be fastened under top bars of super-boxes or honey frames, thus showing the bees which way to build. With a proper use of comb-foundations, we never need be short of combs during the honey season, and great gains in the increase of the product may be consequently realized. Bees build comb only during a good yield of honey when they eat large quantities of it, and then small scales of wax apparently sweat out from between the segments of their body.* The bees take these scales wdth their mandibles from each other, and build them into brood- or honey-combs, as they may require. By supplying the bees with ready made 2 7 comb or comb-foundations, we save them; therefore, not only a great amount of time and labor, but also a large quantity of honey. They are said to consume 20 to 30 pounds of honey in order to manufacture one pound of comb. If we give to a late swarm a full set of combs, they are apt to rear an abundance of young, bring in enough of winter-stores and become a prosperous colony the following season, when otherwise, they would not have lived over winter. Comb-foundations should be used only dur¬ ing a good flow of honey, because bees would no more finish them, when the season is past, than they would their own natural combs. If however we supply them with the necessary food, foundations may be built out until the end of the warm season. HONEY PRODUCTION. Bees store their honey above their brood by natural inclination, as it is within their easiest reach in winter, because their own natural heat rises and warms the place for them. As they consume their stores about their cluster, they move gradually upward. Hence, where the brood ends at about the time of the honey season, there should be our honey chamber. When comb-honey is our object, our sec¬ tional boxes should be placed immediately above the brood chamber without so much as a honey board between them, but.not until the brood chamber is well filled with bees, brood and honey. Every frame should be provided with a guide comb and a full comb in the middle frame of every sectional box. Besides a good yield of honey, this is all that is necessary to have the bees enter the honey chamber readily. EXTRACTED HONEY Is getting into better demand every year and diminishes the consumption of combhoney in the same degree as the public becomes more convinced of its merits. The granulation of extracted honey has been a serious stumbling block to dealers and was looked upon with suspicion. But as the majority of consumers are already convinced that a solid granulation of extracted honey is the best proof of its purity, the demand for it exceeds now that of combhoney, and it is only a matter of time when it will also bring a better price, which it de¬ serves. Extracted honey, in general, is produced in frames of the same size as the brood frames. After the honey season has commenced and the lower story is filled with brood and bees, we place a box containing 10 frames of the same size as the brood frames, on the lower story, and whenever they are about filled we extract those combs, returning them to the bees to fill them up again and repeat the process as often as the season permits. There is no good reason for having the combs capped over before they are extracted as the honey “ripens’’ in an open vessel better than in a bee hive. To con¬ vince yourself, spill some of the watery a honey of newly filled combs on a board and put your finger to it about an hour afterward, when you 2 9 will find it thick and sticky like syrup. All extracted honey, whether it has been capped over or not, should stand in open vessels for at least a week or more, for evaporation and, perhaps to give vent to its animal heat. If in a warm place and exposed to the sun, a few days maybe sufficient. Honey being of heavy body will settle and all particles of wax and other impurities will rise to the surface, which should be thoroughly skimmed off before the honey is barreled or bottled. No strainer is necessary as an abundance of small specks is not retained by it. Honey, so treated, has well ripened and it will form a solid granulation at the approach of cold weather and contract when granulating. It will keep forever in a dry place. But honey which has been bottled or barreled before time was given it for evap¬ oration, will expand when it granulates, no matter how long the cells had been capped, its granulation will be loose and slushy and its taste becomes sour. UNCAPPING KNIVES Uncapping Knives should be thin bladed, of good steel and ground sharp before oper¬ ations are commenced. Drawing the clean blade over a piece of fat bacon keeps the gummy part of the comb from sticking to the knife when uncapping. — 3 ° — MUTH’S HONEY EXTRACTOR Is second to none in regard to material, work¬ manship, simplicity, durability and practical arrangement. Among its advantages over other extractors are the slanting sides of its combbasket. Cells having a downward ten¬ dency empty readier than when in a horizontal position because gravity is aiding centrifugal force and every practical test will prove the folly of the assertion made by competitors that the combs do not empty alike in top and bottom of frames. We are convinced of the fact that it is only a matter of time, and a short time indeed, when comb-baskets will be made with slanting sides only, as it does not take long in our country to take hold of an improvement. 3 1 Another advantage of the slanting sides is that no combs need to be fastened and that pieces of comb of promiscuous shape and size lean against the wiregauze with the same safety and are emptied of their contents as easily as combs within frames. Neither will honey, in the shape of a fine spray, fly over the brim of the can; with perpendicular sides, this is a serious inconvenience. The rod of the comb-basket running in a socket in the bottom of the Extractor is a de¬ cided advantage over all Extractors having the socket above the reach of the Honey, because Honey is the most desirable lubricator in a Honey-Extractor and lubrication is necessary whenever there is friction. Every practical bee-keeper knows that the rod of the comb- basket is moist or wet with Honey whenever he is extracting,hence the socket below cannot keep dry no matter how high above the Honey. And thirdly we challenge any practical bee¬ keeper to tell us that he ever saw a discolo¬ ration of Honey caused by the iron rod running in the iron socket, even if rod and socket were not galvanized, when only ordinary cleanliness is exercised, in fact even if Honey is left in the Extractor during the whole season. Our honey-extractor need not be fastened down when operated. To place it on a level stand and put in two combs of about the same weight, is the only precaution necessary. Without a balance no steady motion is pos¬ sible in any machine. Having used for years, a four-frame-Ex- tractor we have been of the opinion that only 3 2 such a one would answer for speedy work. However, since we have used a two-frame-Ex- tractor along with a four-frame one also for several years, we are convinced of the fact that but little time if any is gained and that, in the whole a two-frame-Extractor is preferable An additional receiver is more practical. We are aware that we differ with a few bee¬ keepers of good practical experience in this respect but—they are apt to agree again w r ith us, (as we did once with them) when they get hold of a good two-frame-Extractor as we make it. It requires almost no more time to extract the Honey than to place the frames in the Extractor and it is here where the time is made up. The above statement is made merely to ex¬ press our opinion in regard to Extractors. We furnish a four-frame-Extractor at an additional cost of $2.00 over and above the price of a two-fiamed one. Two bee-keepers of prominence in our fra¬ ternity were infringing on my rights in an undue manner and in order to protect myself, I applied for a patent on my comb-basket and obtained it. Foul Brood, and a New Cure. By CHAS. F. MUTH, The number of letters I receive on foul brood from almost every part of the country convinces me that \his subject is of more importance than many of us think. It shows that this virulent disease does not only exist but that it has spread rapidly. I have some experience in the matter, and foul brood may not yet be a thing of the past with me, as a friend told me, only a few days ago, that his five hives on his roof in our city were foul with the disease. I have seen them since, and expect to brimstone them for him on some evening, and have combs and hives burnt up before morning, so that no visiting bees next day will have a chance of taking spores home with them. His stand will be disinfected with the atomizer before I shall quit. There is no use for any one to become alarmed upon finding dead brood in his hives, which is very often caused during cold nights in fall and spring, when bees contract their cluster and leave larvae exposed. The color of the larvae is white with a dark shade oc¬ casionally, until it is removed by the bees, while from foul brood they look brownish almost as soon as dead, and the color deepens until a dark brown mass lodges (On the lower side of the cells. When the attempt is made to remove it with a pin or a stick, it feels ropy, sticky, and cannot entirely be removed. The stench, of which so much has been said by different parties, does not differ any from that of any other decaying brood. But it becomes stronger as the bulk of dead animal matter accumulates. Invisible spores are thrown out from this brown larvae and carried along 2 on the bodies of the bees, drones and queens running over them. A queen from a foul-brood colony is just as liable to spread the disease as any other member of that family. It would be bad logic to consider it otherwise, and I had ample proof of it in several in¬ stances when I did not wish to give up a fine queen from a diseased colony, introduced her into a healthy one, and created a new trouble. She is just as liable to transmit the disease as are our fingers or the knife we use for loosening the frames. The brown larva on the lower side of the cell dries up, finally, into a solid mummy, when it will never be discovered, un¬ less by an experienced eye, and then not without an effort. Salicylic acid destroys all spores of foul brood it comes in contact with, but does not penetrate the mummy, which resembles ground coffee when scraped out of the cell. This mummy may rest liarmlessly for years when honey or pollen is packed on top of it. But, when an egg is laid in that cell again, the larva softens up the mummy, dies, and foul brood takes a new start. The colony would have been cured if that mummy had not been overlooked. Here is where the danger lies and wherefrom the many disappointments and failures emanate. It shows the danger of using again brood combs from diseased colonies, even if they have been disinfected. There is a milder type of foul brood which, in ap¬ pearance, is very much like the malignant type. It is contagious, also, but not so stubborn to overcome," and caused by surrounding circumstances. In the spring of ’83 I had purchased a lot of bees from the South. On their arrival here I found the hives full of dead brood in capped and uncapped cells. The tops of the hives were closed with wire-gauze. They had been strong colonies, but too many old bees 3 had been left with them for the long journey, con¬ trary to my advice to the shipper to let all the old bees fly off before closing the hives. It is always the old bees that create trouble in alarmed, and create such an amount of heat that the brood, in all stages, may smother in spite of all ven¬ tilation. This had happened with the shipment of bees referred to. I cleaned out all combs and hives but three, which seemed to be in a less damaged con¬ dition. These three colonies became strong, and filled quite a number of combs with honey, all of which I extracted and rendered the combs into wax, because the dead brood in the hives was slowly but surely increasing. Uncapping some sheets, I found most of the brood dead; but instead of finding a brown, dry matter under the cappings, a blackish, dirty liquid ran out, and very few^ cells had perfor¬ ations. It was plain that I was dealing with a differ¬ ent kind of foul brood from what I had been used to. I put one colony after another into a clean hive and gave them new combs, rendered all the old combs in¬ to wax, disinfected the old hives, and my three colon¬ ies are still prosperous. This, very likely, was that same kind of foul brood which my good friend D. A. f Jones can cure so readily by the starving process. It is not now my object to go again over the old ground describing all the particulars of the malignant type of foul brood, nor the different methods by which *a cure is said to have been effected by different par¬ ties. Enough of it can be found in the back numbers of our bee journals and in every bee book of late. Suffice it to say that the genuine foul brood, or the malignant type of the disease, spreads by spores, and that salicylic acid destroys those spores whenever brought in contact therewith. Consequently salicylic 4 • acid will rid a colony of bees of foul brood if properly applied. But this proper application is not an easy job. It requires energy, skill and experience—virtues not possessed by everybody; and if half a dozen or more men fail to effect a cure, their failure should be no criterion. I have succeeded in a large number of cases and dare say not many of my friends would subject themselves to the same amount of labor and expense I did, to accomplish the object. The observ¬ ations and treatises of Dr. Schoenfeld, Emil Hil¬ bert and others, as published in the German bee journals, were my basis; and, with my present ex¬ perience, I dare say that there is no better remedy known, and none as simple or more effective than my modus operandi given on page 20 of my pamphlet , “Practical Hints,” and published in every one of our bee journals. However, I should not apply the same remedy in every instance. While it is to be recommended before the honey season commences, at the close of and after the same, I should use the new remedy, I shall de¬ scribe below, during the season. A spraying with the atomizer may be the most practical in another in¬ stance, when the disease first makes its appearance and only a few cells are affected. I do not mean to say “when the disease is first discovered.” Brim¬ stone is in many cases the best and cheapest remedy. But brimstoning as well as any other treatment re¬ quires promptness and dispatch, unless one does not care if he sacrifices also the balance of his bees, or those of his neighbors. Just as certain as you post¬ pone the finishing of the job to the next day, just as certain do you stand the chance of having the disease spread by visiting bees. Last summer (1883) I made a discovery which may prove to be of the greatest importance to our afflicted • 5 brethren. Daring the honey season I found foul brood m a strong colony with a valuable queen. Brimstone was the first idea that presented itself. But upon second thought I proceeded as follows : the combs of the second story were extracted and rendered into wax, frames burned up, and the bees confined to the lower story or brood chamber. When I examined them again about two and one-half weeks afterwards, every comb was full of capped honey, and every mark of foul brood covered up. All the brood remaining was perhaps 40-50 square inches in two combs, wdiich looked healthy. I then gave the bees a clean hive and ten new combs. They are now T a prosperous colony. The old combs were extracted at once and shared the same fate as their predecessors of the up¬ per story, while the hive was disinfected by the atom¬ izer. It appears that the bees had labor and time enough to cleanse their bodies from the spores of the disease, and honey enough to bury them all. Objec¬ tions might be raised that a swarm might issue. So it may. But the danger is less with Italian bees than with blacks. A removal of their combs and hive seems to have completed the cure. At the beginning of this last honey season (June, ’84), I again discovered two colonies affected with foul brood. Honey came in pretty lively. These two col¬ onies were subjected to the same treatment as the colony of the previous season, and the same result was obtained. The success in each one of those three cases was complete, as I examined them carefully be¬ fore I commenced this article. No salicylic acid had been used, excepting that the bottoms of the new hives were sprayed with the atomizer. My exper¬ ience with those three hives may not warrant a suc¬ cess in every instance. Why should it, when neither two cases nor two bee-keepers, in their manipulations, 6 are alike ? But it may prove a valuable hint to a number of our friends. When many colonies in a large apiary are diseased, it would be a serious loss and labor to brimstone all, while the remedy mentioned above would be in no comparison to either. Again, it would be folly to re¬ sort to it in any case when the colony is weak in f numbers. Old hives with cracks and crevices should ti be burnt up, while good hives may be disinfected, to do which I proceed as follows: by means of a paint brush or a good atomizer I dampen, with the disin¬ fectant, the inside, top, front and most of the outside of the brood chamber, scrape it clean, and dampen again. Not a’crevice must be missed. If two stories are used I disinfect. the whole. My disinfectant is the same as that given on page 24 of “Practical Hints’ ’ viz: 16 gr. salicylic acid, 16 gr. soda borax, and one ounce of water. For application to brood combs with larvse this mixture is too strong; 100 per cent, of water should be added. To those who have not yet applied brimstone but wish to do so, the following may be of use: confine your bees to the lower story. After dark, when all are in, close up the entrance, take the cover from the brood chamber, place a brick-bat (or its equivalent) on the frames, on which to set some tin plate with the sulphur, light it, put second story on, 4nd cover up. Sulphur fume, being heavier than air, settles slowly but surely, aud in a few minutes every bee is ^ gone. The greatest point to keep in view, with any treat¬ ment we may adopt, is to put out of existence at once all and everything which has belonged to the diseased colony or colonies. Implements used, as well as your hands, should be disinfected before you proceed to handle a healthy colony. Cincinnati, Sept. 23rd 1884. Address CHAS. F. MUTH, S. E. Cor. Freeman ct* Central Arcs. CINCINNATI, O / i