THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



$9 



GETTING RID OF FOUL BROOD. 



BY R. L. TAYLOR. 



How to Detect it; How to Hold it in Gheck; and 

 Finally get rid of it with Slight Loss. 



"If you had an apiary of 200 col- 

 uiiics with cases of foul brood scat- 

 tered through it, how would you man- 

 age throughout the entire season to 

 g(>t rid of the disease, or to keep it in 

 check," the editor asks me. 



lu the tirst place I would avoid, as 

 far as possible, getting into a panic. 

 Foul brood is bad enough, to be sure, 

 and its cure entails considerable labor 

 and loss, but It is, fortunately, not 

 without a x'emedy. I should try to 

 preserve my equanimity, and thor- 

 oughly mature plans for effecting a 

 cure; for there must be no halting 

 while taking any step in the opera- 

 tion. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DISEASE. 



The tirst point that claims serious 

 ;;tlention is the distinguishing of the 

 diseased colonies from the healthy 

 ones. This is a matter that is attend- 

 ed with more or less difficulty, at any 

 sfason of the year, but with more at 

 some seasons than others, except in 

 cases where the disease has made con- 

 siderable progress. In these eases, 

 even one Avith no experience, need 

 have no hesitancy in coming to a cor- 

 rect derision. All the earmarks of 

 the malady are but too evident; the 

 Aveakness of the colony, listlessness 

 of the bees, the repellent odor, the 

 ragged cappings of the Ijrood, the 

 shapeless dead brood, and the general 

 nnprosperous appearance of the combs 

 and the honey, make the diagnosis 

 easy. But if the colony be yet strong, 

 and but slightly affected with the mal- 



ady, the case is quite ditferent. If it 

 be in the fall, after breeding has ceas- 

 ed, or in the spring before it has be- 

 gun, the liees, OAving to the strength 

 of the colony, have almost, if not en- 

 tirely, removed the cappings from the 

 diseased cells, the odor is faint, if not 

 practically absent, and the colony ap- 

 pears prosperous, so that even the 

 adept, on a hasty examination, is liable 

 to be deceived; and one Avithout ex- 

 perience is sure to be. Tlie diagnosis 

 of those of this sort is the most diffi- 

 cult of all, and the difficulty increase^? 

 Avith the slightness of the affection. 

 HoAA% then, may the disease be discov- 

 ered in such cases? I^et us go to one 

 of the colonies badly diseased and 

 take from the center of the brood-nest 

 a comb— the neAver it is the better- 

 in which there has been brood during 

 the past breeding season; now w^e Avill 

 hold it in a good light, so that the 

 light falls upon the comb not quite 

 perpendicularly but at an angle of 70 

 or 80 degrees from the top of the 

 comb; now we look down at an angle 

 of about 40 degrees from the top of 

 the comb into the cells and what do 

 we see? In many of the uncapped 

 cells on their lower sides— not bottoms 

 — we see brownish, or greyish black, 

 scales nearly as AA'ide as the cells, and 

 reaching nearly to the opening of the 

 cells. These scales are the remains of 

 brood destroyed by foul brood. 



We will spend a little time in look- 

 ing at them to fix in our minds the 

 image of their forms; will examine 

 the other side of the comb, and even 



