No. 6. DEPARTiMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 407 



there are sunken and perforated at the center. On opening one of 

 these cells there will be found a dead larva lying on one side of 

 the cell, somewhat shrunken, and of a brown color, varying all the 

 way from a light pale brown to a dark brown. In the more ad- 

 vanced stages the brown is of the color of a coffee-berry after being 

 roasted. In the incipient stages the brown is the color of the coffee 

 we drink, when greatly diluted with milk. But so far all these 

 symptoms may be present as the result of chilled, overheated, starved 

 or pickled brood. But to determine whether it is the real foul brood, 

 run a toothpick into the dead larvae and then draw it slowly out. 

 If the matured mass adheres to the end of the pick, about like spittle 

 — stretches from one-half to one inch — and finally the fine thread 

 breaks when the pick is drawn back, it is probably a case of foul 

 brood. With all other forms of diseased brood, with perhaps the 

 exception of black brood (which, at certain stages, ropes very slightly, 

 but never more than one-eighth of an inch, and the matter of black 

 brood has a jelly-like consistency), this ropiness does' not appear, but 

 with foul brood it invariably appears. Now, there is another symp- 

 tom, and that is the odor, while not exactly foul, resembles greatly 

 that of a cabinet-maker's glue pot, and when the disease is pretty 

 well advanced in a hive, the odor will make itself manifest upon lift- 

 ing the cover or quilt, even before exposing the brood. If other 

 colonies are affected, and the disease spread©, it is unquestionably 

 foul brood." 



It would take much room to enumerate all the foul brood cures 

 that have been ott'ered as sure, only to be rejected after trial. No 

 man living has probably had more experience with foul brood that 

 AVm. McEvoy, foul-brood inspector for Ontario, Canada, and the 

 following is the treatment by which he says he has cured hundreds 

 if not thousands of cases: 



''In the honey season, when the bees are gathering freely, remove 

 the combs in tlis evening^ and shake the bees into their own hives; 

 give them frames with comb-foundation starters on and let them 

 build comb for four days. The bees will make the starters into 

 comb during the four days, and store the diseased honey in them 

 which they took with them from the old comb. Then in the evening 

 of the fourth day take out the new combs and give them comb-founda- 

 tion to work out, and then the cure will be complete." 



Too great care cannot be taken to avoid the introduction or spread 

 of foul brood. After handling a diseased colony, ha«ds and tools 

 must be thoroughly cleansed before touching a healthy colony. 

 It is never safe to feed honev to bees unless vou know that it did 

 not come from a diseased colony. There is no way that a diseased 

 comb can be cleansed so as to be used again. It must be burned 

 or buried beneath the possible reach of plough or spade. Opinion 



