■•--J 



ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPEES ASSOCIATION. 



19 



must be either burned or carefully melted. 

 Be sure not to mistake such marked combs 

 in the spring for those soiled with bee 

 dysentery. The latter have a somewhat 

 similar appearance, but are more or less 

 surface soiled, and will also be spotted or 

 have streaked appearance by the dark 

 brown sticky excrements from the adult 

 bees. 



TREATMENT. 



"A bee-keeper who does not discover 

 foul brood, before his nostrils remind him 

 that there is something wrong with his 

 bees, is not the proper person to treat the 

 case." Dr. Howard, in his valuable book 

 on foul brood, states: "I regard the use 

 of all drugs in the treatment of foul brood 

 as a useless waste of time and material, 

 whoUj'' ineffectual, inviting ruin and total 

 loss of bees. Any method which has not 

 for its object the entire removal of all 

 infectious material beyond the reach of 

 both bees and brood, will pros^e detrimental 

 and destructive, and surely encourage the 

 recurrence of the disease. " In Wisconsin, 

 I have tried many methods of treatment, 

 and cured some cases with each method; 

 but the one that never fails, if carefully 

 followed, and that commends itself, is the 

 McEvory treatment. Canada's foul brood 

 inspector has cured foul brood by the 

 wholesale — thousands of cases. 



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 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-foundation (full sheets) to 

 work out, and then the cure will be com- 

 plete. 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 

 diseased 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 morning, and 

 then there is no confusion or trouble. 

 This same method of curing colonies of 

 foul brood can be carried on at any time 

 from Maj'^ to October, when the bees are 

 not getting any honej% by feeding plenty 

 of sugar syrup in the evenings to take the 

 place of the honey flow. It will start the 

 bees robbing and spread the disease, to 

 work with foul brood colonies in warm 

 days when the bees are not gathering 

 honey, and for that reason all work must 

 be done in the evenings 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 

 colony 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 i?yrup, 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 out of the starters, 

 and give the bees full sheets of comb- 

 foundation, and feed plenty of dugar syrup 

 each evening, until every colony is in first 

 class order. Make the syrup out of granu- 

 lated sugar, putting one pound of water 

 to every pound of sugar, and bring it to 

 a boil. As previously stated, all the old 

 comb must be burned, or made into wax, 

 and so must all new combs made during the 

 four days. No colony is cured of foul 

 brood by the use of any drug. 



"a. I. Root, of Medina, Ohio, says: 

 The starvation plan, in connection with 

 burning the combs and frames and build- 

 ing the hives, has woiked the best in 

 treating foul brood. It never appeared 

 after each treatment, though it did in 

 some cases where the hives were honey- 

 stained and not boiled, thus comfirming 

 the theory or fact of spores."' 



All the difference from the McEvory 

 treatment that I practice is this: I dig 

 a deep pit on level ground near the diseased 

 apiary, and after getting a fire in the pit. 

 such diseased combs, frames, etc., as are 

 to be burned are burned in this pit in the 

 evening, and then the fresh earth from 

 the pit returned to cover all from sight. 

 Often I use some kerosene oil, a little at a 

 time being poured on old brood combs, or 

 those having much honey in, as they are 



