EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAE BOOK-PART X. 681 



On the lower side wall, just back from front end of the cells, will be 

 seen the apparently dead foul brood, nearly black, with a sharp pointed 

 head slightly turned up. The body portion o'f the bee flattened to a 

 mere black lining of its cell, no thicker than one side wall of the comb 

 cells. The other side walls and bottom of the cell look clean. The scales, 

 if present as described, are a sure proof of foul brood. Such infected 

 combs must be burned or melted in boiling water, thus killing all disease 

 and saving the wax. Diseased combs melted by sunshine heat will not 

 kill all disease. I always use abundance of boiling water in saving wax 

 from old combs. I first melt the combs in large kettle of boiling water, 

 and when all melted and well stirred, is then strained through the wax 

 press, thus saving everything of any value. 



TREATMENT. 



McEvoy Treatment — In the honey season when the bees are gathering 

 honey freely remove the combs in the evening and shake the bees into 

 their own hives; give them frames with comb foundation starters and 

 let them build combs 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 foundation (full 

 sheets) to work out, and then the cure will be complete. By this method 

 of treatment all the diseased honey is removed from the bees before the 

 full sheets of foundation are worked out. All the old foul brood combs 

 must be burned or carefully made into wax after they are removed from 

 the hives, and all the new combs made out of the starters during the 

 four days must be burned or made into wax on account of the diseased 

 honey that would be stored in them. All the curing or treating of dis- 

 eased colonies should be done in the evening, so as not to have any 

 robbing done, or cause any of the bees from the diseased colonies to 

 mix and go with the bees of healthy colonies. By doing all the work in 

 the evening it gives the bees a chance to settle down nicely before morn- 

 ing and then there is no confusion or trouble. 



TO PREVENT SWARMING OUT WHEN TREATED. 



This same method of curing colonies of foul brood can be carried on at 

 any time from May to October, when the bees are not getting any honey, 

 by feeding plenty of sugar syrup in the evenings to take the place of the 

 honey flow. It v/ill start the bees robbing and spread the disease, to 

 work with foul brood colonies in warm days when the bees are not gath- 

 ering honey, and for that reason all work must be done in the evening 

 when no bees are flying. 



When the diseased colonies are weak in bees put the bees two, three 

 or four colonies together, so as to get a good sized swarm to start the 

 cure with, as it does not pay to spend time fussing with little weak 

 colonies. When the bees are not gathering honey any apiary can be 

 cured of foul brood by removing the diseased combs in the evening and 

 giving the bees frames with comb foundation starters on. Then also in 

 the evening feed the bees plenty of sugar syrup and they will draw out 

 the foundation and store the diseased honey which they took with them 

 from the old combs; on the fourth evening remove the new combs made 



