Deceml)er 22, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICTJLTUKE A_ND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



503 



hives, effected a radical cure in this manne-v: — Dui-ing the 

 middle of a fine, warm day look over the combs one by one 

 until the queen is found, and then imprison her in a queen- 

 cage. Next carry the hive to a short distance, and stand it 

 on the ground, putting an empty hive in its place. This 

 done, spread a cloth close to the removed hive, and, lifting 

 out one of the combs, brush every bee from it on to the cloth, 

 and then put the comb into the hitherto empty hive. Repeat 

 this process with the other combs until the hive be empty, 

 when stragglers should be brushed out and the hive itself 

 removed, not to be agai-n used until it has been thoroughly 

 washed and purified. Finish the operation by putting the 

 crown-board on the new hive, and introducing the queen at 

 the top. Any very young and immature bees may be picked 

 up and conveyed to their new domicile, but no adult bee 

 should be suffered to enter it that cannot rise from the 

 ground and reach the alighting-board by the use of its 

 wings alone. 



As I have found this process effectual when every other 

 means have failed, it would appear that the disease is in- 

 fectious within the limits of the same habitation, although I 

 have never found it spread like foul brood from one stock to 

 another. By shifting the colony into a pure hive into which 

 healthy bees alone — i.e., those able to fly — are suffered to 

 enter, they are at once removed from their diseased brethren, 

 and the plague is stayed. 



This disease would seem to be wholly distinct from foul 

 brood, although I have seen both co-exist in the same hive. 

 As, therefore, there are a few cells containing either chilled 

 or foul brood, it certainly would be the safest plan to con- 

 sign the whole of the combs to the melting-pot. — A Dkvon- 

 SHiEE Bee-keeper.] 



FOTJL BEOOD. 



When I sent my last communication on this subject 

 (page 181), I had not the slightest intention or desire to 

 give any offence to those who held opposite opinions to my 

 own ; neither could I see any good reason for the style 

 adopted by some towards Mr. Woodbury, more especially 

 when he so honourably came forward, and publicly announced 

 his failures as well as his success. I also thought it a pity 

 that those who had adopted the " tilting " style of argu- 

 ment should be allowed to have it all their own way, and 

 that they ought to be able to take a little of the " poking " 

 themselves. If I have given offence to any one in the re- 

 marks I then or now make, I am truly sorry for it; all I 

 desu-ed and desire is to ai-rive at the truth, so as to enable 

 us to get rid of foul brood from whatever cause it originate; 

 and if each would merely detail his own experience and 

 observations the trutli wiU be elicited, and good will follow. 

 Without saying more on that " foul " subject, I will state 

 what has taken place in my neighbour's apiary as well as 

 my own since our bees came home from the heather. 



When my neighbour's bees came home he found all the 

 old stocks diseased, and out of five swarms of this year one 

 was diseased. The swarm had been put into an old hive, 

 which at one time had diseased brood, but the combs had 

 all been removed. In the month of June he cut out all the 

 foul comb fi-om one of his own hives and also from one 

 belonging to a neighbour, but without any good effect, as 

 both were diseased again in September. 



Since they came home lie has put down all the old stocks 

 as incurable, and has kept the bees, uniting three stocks into 

 one, and put them into a hive full of empty comb which I 

 gave him, and which had been robbed by its neighbours at 

 the hills, but was free of diseased brood. Previous to putting 

 the bees into the clean hive he put them into an eke with 

 some clean comb, and fed them there for ten days with 

 Australian honey and sugar that they might cleanse them- 

 selves, and take none of the disease with them. 



The feeding caused the queen to commence egg-laying in 

 six days, although she had ceased doing so seven weeks 

 before. He then put them into the hive which I gave him, 

 and supplied them with 23 lbs. of honey and sugar in ten 

 days. 'I'he result is that the hive has increased 7 lbs. more 

 than the weight of honey and sugar he gave them, owing to 

 the young brood which she is now rearing. From the late- 

 ness of the season he does not expect success in this experi- 

 ment, stiU something wUl be learned from it I expect. He is 



careful in keeping this hive well covered, and win use every 

 possible means to protect from cold. 



I gave him a swarm of driven bees from one which I had 

 to destroy, where there had been no disease. He is feeding 

 them with honey entirely from diseased hives, which will 

 enable him to see if it has any effect in inducing the disease. 

 He has failed entirely in effecting a cure by cutting out 

 all the deseased comb, as Mr. Woodbury has done, although 

 he has done it with every care. 



When I stated in my last communication that I never 

 had seen the disease among any of my hives, I did not 

 expect that I should have it so soon ; as, I am sorry to say 

 it has come into one of mine, in a neighbour's hive, and I 

 destroyed it at once, and the disease does not exist in any 

 of the others. 



We find in this part of the country that there is more 

 foul brood than many are aware of. A person not far from 

 this told me that he had never seen it in his hives, but when 

 he took a piece of the diseased comb home to his wife, she 

 soon told him that she had seen it often ; and when he ex- 

 amined them he found one of them very badly affected. 

 This is a person who, I expected, would have observed it at 

 once, as he has had great experience in bees, and treats them 

 just in the usual way. 



I may just state that the queen I had from Mr. Wood- 

 bury, and noticed in page 303, is still laying eggs. On 

 November 3rd I inserted a thermometer through the straw 

 at the top of a Woodbury straw hive, between the bars, and 

 was astonished to find that it stood at 85°, and has done so 

 night and day ever since, falling only 2" when we had 10° of 

 frost. It is surprising to me how they can keep up such a 

 heat, as I am not feeding at aU. I have other two queens 

 egg-laying at present (October 18th), but would rather that 

 they would stop ; but it wUl enable us to see if it is reaUy 

 the cold that causes the disease. Whatever may occur- I 

 will not fail in letting it be known to the apiarian readers of 

 this Journal. 



The above was written more than six weeks ago, but seeing 

 the spirit which some of the writers on foul brood were 

 manil'esting on that subject, I delayed sending it week after 

 week, thinking that, as the cold weather came on, like the 

 bees they would become quiet. But I regret, as many others 

 do, that hands have not been shaken over this controversy 

 before now, and I for one will not add another word on it, 

 unless to detail what takes place here, either in my neigh- 

 bour's or my own apiary. I have no motive whatever but 

 to ascertain the truth, and it matters not to me who is right 

 or who is wrong. 



If foul brood is caused by cold so much the better, we 

 shall be able to prevent it. If a disease, then let us try and 

 find out the cause, that we may the more readily find a 

 remedy. 



On the 23rd of November, I found all the young bees were 

 hatched, not one remained in the cells, and no new-laid 

 eggs, which I was pleased to see. Temperature in the hive 

 85°, and on December 6th it was 65°, while the out-door 

 temperature was in both cases the same. — Alex. Sheaeee. 



BEES AT THE MOOBS AND IN SOUTH 

 LANCASHIRE. 

 Bees have done very badly on the moors in Lancashire, 

 Yorkshire, and Derbyshire. The hives that I sent to the 

 moors lost on an average 42 ozs. per hive, and only one 

 hive gained 17 ozs. Although the weather was so very bad, 

 the bees did much better than those left at home, as they 

 consumed on an average nearly double the weight during 

 the same time. It rained in August on twenty-two days, 

 the amount being 3-77 inches, and in September it rained 

 on twenty-two days, the amount being 5-02 inches. The 

 total amount of rain that fell in February, March, April, 

 May, and July was only 5-79 inches, so that in September 

 alone there fell within about three-quarters of an inch as 

 much rain as in the five months mentioned. It is astonish- 

 ing that the bees did so well with this enormous amount 

 of rain, and I can only account for it by the very large 

 quantity of bloom on the heather. I think I never saw so 

 . much before, and if the weather had been favourable the 

 f amount of honey collected would have been unprecedented. 



