EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS 309 



frames of foundation starters. Be sure that every bee is secured and placed in the 

 hive for a single escaping bee might fly to a neighboring hive and infect the colony. 



During the whole operation care must be exercised to prevent robbing. Before the 

 work is done, all scattering drops of honey must be removed by washing with the 

 corrosive sublimate and all bits of comb must be jjicked up. Never let one dioj) of 

 honey get away to infect other colonies. 



When you have a set of combs partly full of honey, it seems a sin to destroy them 

 but unless you have upwards of ten colonics to treat, it will not pay to try to save 

 an ounce of honey or wax. If you are a careful person you may make the combs 

 into wax. and the honey may be saved by adding a little water and keeping it at the 

 boiling |)oint for two hours. 



The old hive bodies may be scraped, the scrapings burned, and the inside painted with 

 kerosene and set on fire, ^^']len it gets to burning well, throw in about two table- 

 spoonfuls of water and clap on the cover. The water will be turned to steam and 

 this will scald the inside of the hive. 



If this operation be performed with sufficient care, the colony will be free from the 

 disease, but it will require close attention and the best of care because of the tender 

 condition in which the bees Mill be after the severe treatment, and the discouragement 

 following the loss of all their brood. This treatment may be used at any time during 

 the summer but preferably when honej' is coming in, as the danger from robbing is then 

 at a minimum. 



There are doubtless many instances where a mild case of foul brood is taken for 

 chilled brood, and it is possible that a case of foul brood may ap])car in a mild form 

 early in the spring and then disappear as the summer opens, only to reappear later 

 in the season. It is possible that this state of things is due to the fact that the 

 honey in the cells is infected with the germs, and when the spring honey begins to 

 come in freely, it is used to feed the brood, which spring honey, being free from 

 germs, is eaten by the brood with impunity \intil the combs become full of healthy 

 brood and the dead larvsE nearly disappear. 



Perhaps the most favorable condition for the spread of the disease occurs when it 

 becomes present in the yard of the bee-keeper \\ho does not examine his colonies 

 frequently. A colony becomes weakened from the failure of the brood to mature and 

 the keeper may not know that anything is wrong witli the colony. Soon the honey 

 flow stops and robbing commences, \^'eak colonies are attacked first and in this way 

 honey from this weak, diseased colony is taken to nearly every hive in the yard and 

 especially to the stronger ones with disastrous results. 



The extractor is an important factor in spreading the disease. A case of extracted 

 combs, t.iken from .a diseased colony, and after extraction put back into halt a dozen 

 different hives, may bring infection to each one of them. 



In the winter of 1808-0 the bees were wintered in a cellar at the station. They 

 were tiered up in the cellar in alternate rows with the bottoms of tlic hives removed. 

 A diseased colony was placed among the healthy ones and marked. During the 

 winter the bees did not remain quiet but ran out from the hives to quite an ex- 

 tent. In the spring the four hives, which had wintered in direct contact with the dis- 

 eased one, were also diseased. 



This shows that wintering the colonics in cellars with the bottom boards of the 

 hives removed, may also assist in spreading the disease. 



Another way in which the apiary may become infected is by llic carelessness of the 

 owner. Combs, partly filled with honey or brood are left lying on the top of the 

 hive "for the bees to clean up." The waste from tlrc wax extractor is thrown otit 

 where the bees can have access to it. A hive in which the colony has died is not at 

 once taken out of the reach of the bees, but allowed to stand in the yard and the 

 entrance of the bees not fully prevented. This is wrong. Even if there were no danger 

 from disease, the hive should be closed as soon as the colony is dead, and the refuse 

 from the wax extiactor burned, never leaving it where the bees can get at it. Such 

 carelessness encourages robbing and is an important factor in the sjiread of the dis- 

 ease. The extractor need not be discarded nor the practice of cellar wintering, but 

 every bee-keeper should make himself acquainted with the disease, keep a vigilant 

 watch, and stamp it out as soon as it appears. To leave one diseased colony in an 

 apiary may mean the total ruin of all the other colonies. Even one drop of infected 

 honey, if left where the bees have access to it, may mean the infection of the whole 

 apiary. The owner must then take extreme precautions to prevent the entrance of the 

 disease. He must even go to the trouble of rendering his hands, and whatever 

 tools he uses, antiseptic l)y washing them in .a three per cent solution of carbolic 



