ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. tl 



run like water on the soil, and in the morning the robber bees will be busy taking home 

 the diseased honey that was not heated enough to kill germs of foul brood. 



I also cage the queen while the bees are on the five or six strips of foundation. It 

 helps to keep the colony from deserting the hive and going to other colonies. 



R. L. Taylor, Michigan University Experimental Apiary, reports: "The plan 

 that the colony be shaken out into another hive after being allowed to build comb for 

 four days, I have proven, in 100 cases, to be unnecessary. " 



In Wisconsin I, too, have cured several cases by the one transferring, when honey 

 was not coming in very freely, but it is better, and a great saving of time to both bees 

 and owner, to exchange in three or four days, those foundation starters, for full sheets 

 of foundation. Diseased brood-combs and those with honey in, if melted in a sun or 

 solar extractor, the wax, honey or residue is not hot enough to kill germs of foul brood. 

 This I have proven by several experiments. It must be boiled and well stirred while 

 boiling, to be safe. 



I do not believe in, or practice, burning any property, such as hives, bees, beeswax 

 or honey, that can be safely treated and saved. Many times it is poor economy to 

 save all, and so many bee-keepers are not so situated as to keep all diseased materials 

 from robber bees while taking care of it ; the best and only safe way is to bum the diseased 

 combs and frames. 



UTAH. 



Utah has county inspectors, and from one who has remarkable success I copy the 

 report of his method of treatment. 



"Wherever found it should be dealt with earnestly and with dispatch. If the colony 

 is weak, I recommend something to kill the bees, and, in order to do this without letting 

 a bee escape, take a tablespoonful of sulphur and place it in the hive entrance of the 

 hives; if there is any breeze, turn the hive so it will blow in the entrance. Then fire 

 the sulphur and it will soon kill the bees. This should be done early in the morning, 

 before any of the bees are flying, as one bee escaping from the hive might carry the disease 

 to any colony with which it may take up its abode. If the colony is a strong one, I 

 would keep the entrance partly closed, so as to prevent any other bees from getting in. 

 Then as soon as fruit blossoms come out so the bees can obtain honey, I treat them. I 

 procure an empty box of any kind, so,it is clean, then find the queen, put her in a screen 

 wire cage, which is easily made. Take a small piece of screen roll it up and tie a string 

 around either end; cork up one end, then place the queen and a few workers, for com- 

 pany, in the cage, and place in the other end cork. Put same in this box, and shake all 

 the bees out of their hive into this box. This must be done in the evening, when no 

 bees are flying. Keep the queen in this box for 24 to 48 hours, allowing the bees to fly 

 in and out as they please. Next take a clean hive, with good, healthy combs or founda- 

 tion, and shake bees into it, letting the queen go, and they will be free from disease. 

 The old combs are melted into wax, bringing same to a good boil. Often washing with 

 boiling water any hives or implements that might contain disease. Whenever stricjly 

 followed, this has affected a cure. " — C. Wilcox, Emery Co., Utah. 



PICKLED BROOD. 



Some seasons pickled brood is quite bad among bees, and in a few cases I have 

 known it to reduce large colonies, even large apiaries, to doubtful hopes, but those same 

 colonies, after I gave them treatment, were in a month free from disease. Sometimes 

 it takes as careful handling as if foul brood. I do not believe it is contagious, for all I 

 have seen 60 colonies in one apiary badly reduced by it. As an experiment, one of my 

 out-apairies had 50 colonies at one time with pickled brood. I treated them, and all 

 were soon free from dead brood. At the same time I took ten of the worst brood-combs, 

 where at least two-thirds of the brood were dead, and placed these combs in other strong, 

 healthy colonies. They at once cleaned out the dead brood, and reared as nice brood as 

 one could ask for. 



SYMPTOMS. 



The larval bees (in last of May and through June show light brown spots; a little 

 later the cappings have small holes in — the cappings are not shrunken or dark colored, 

 as in foul brood The dead bee will be first swollen, with a black head dried to a hard 

 bunch, and often turned up — Chinaman-shoe-like. The skin of the dead bee is quite 

 tough, and, if punctured, the thin, watery fluid of the body will flow ^s freely as water, 



N. 



