Paul Bashore writes back to Elroy:  "Mineral oil would cost a lot less."
 
Has any goverment agency, like Dr. Shimanuki at ARS, Dr. Bill Wilson at
Weslaco, Dr. Tom Rinderer at Baton Rouge or any noted research groups like Dr.
Nick Calderone at Cornell, Mary Ann Frazier at Penn State, Dr. Jim Tew at Ohio
State or any tutorial associations like EAS or ABF scientificly proven or
endorsed the use of mineral oil?
My bees do NOT get medicated without the medicine being approved by scientific
study.  Likewise, I doubt if any of us would solicit our highly skilled meat
market butcher to perform an appendectomy on my child because cheaper.
Frugality, or "guarding one's pennies" has value, but I want scientific
endorsement of any product used to control disease or pests.  The days of
ringing bells and wrapping on pans to bring a swarm of bees to settlement is
as obsolete as your grandmother's bustle.
George Imirie, retired scientist, 65 years in Maryland beekeeping