THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



327 



different colonies (in tiering up) when 

 thev needed surplus room. Of course 

 these colonies had brood nests below, 

 with brood in all staj^^es of development, 

 but the bees apparent!)' carried none of 

 the honey below, or else there were no 

 disease germs in it. 



The results of the above experiments 

 convince me that there is not much, if 

 any, danger in using unfiu'shed sections 

 from a slightly disea.sed colonv when 

 placed on a healthy colony during a 

 honey flow. They also indicate that all 

 that is necessary in curing a diseased 

 colony, having a force of bees sufficiently 

 numerous to draw surplus combs in .sec- 

 tions and not inclined to cast an early 

 swarm, is to wait for a honey flow, get 

 the bees nicely started in the sections 

 and then remove the contents of the 

 lower story, brushing oflf all the bees from 

 the combs and replacing the combs with 

 frames furnished with narrow starters of 

 foundation, a queen-excluding zinc be- 

 tween them and their partly drawn and 

 filled sections. The combs of brood can 

 be taken to a new location and given the 

 McEvoy treatment after most of the 

 brood has hatched. 



Ten minutes work and the colony is 

 cured, and will keep on storing in the 

 sections the same as a newly hived swarm 

 hived on the Hutchinson plan. I arrived 

 at this conclusion too late in the .season 

 to test it, but shall try it at the first op- 

 portunity. 



York, Neb., Sept. 27, 1903. 



[There is no doubt that much of the 

 honey in some hives containing foul 

 brood is free from contamination. Sup- 

 pose, after the honey season is over and 

 the honey is sealed, germs of foul brood 

 are brought into the hive. Thev will 

 start the disease in the colony, if they 

 come in contact with any of the brood, 

 but the .sealed honey will remain free 

 from the germs so long as it remains 

 sealed. 



Mr. R. L. Ta^'lor once reported taking 

 a comb of honey from a foul broody 

 colony and giving it to a healthy colony 



without its starting foul brood. This 

 comb of hone}' was taken from the upper 

 story, or else was an outside comb from 

 lower story — I don't remember which. 



When honey containing germs of foul 

 brood is brought into a hive and fed to 

 the brood, each larva so fed dies. It 

 settles down into a ropy, gluey mass, and 

 finally' dries down into a thin, hard, 

 brown scale upon the lower side of the 

 cell. Honey stored in this cell becomes 

 contaminated, and, if fed to larvae causes 

 them to die with foul brood. In this way 

 it gradually spreads in the hive. 



When there is a good honey flow every 

 available cell is filled with honey. The 

 cells containing germs of disease are filled 

 with honey and sealed up. All of the 

 diseased honey becomes covered up with 

 new, healthful honey, and is sealed up 

 and the honey fed to larvae is of this 

 new, healthful honey. Brood is reared 

 successfully in all cells that have never 

 contained foul brood. So completely is 

 the foul brood covered up and out of 

 sight during a good honey flow, that 

 many have been deceived and led to be- 

 lieve that it has been overcome. It is 

 simply covered up, and all of the honey 

 that the bees are handling is new, pure, 

 healthful honey; and honey put into the 

 supers at such times is almost sure to be 

 free from foul brood. This probably is 

 the explanation of why the putting upon 

 healthy colonies of unfinished sections 

 taken from foul broody colonies did not 

 cause foul brood to appear in the colonies 

 upon which they were placed. 



Another thing: When honey is com- 

 ing in freely, the brood is almost sure to 

 be fed upon the freshly gathered honey, 

 and it is not at all likely that honey 

 would be brought down from the sections 

 and fed to the brood. 



Mr McEvoy has repeatedly told us 

 that extracting combs from the supers, 

 combs that has contained no brood, 

 might be saved and used with safety, after 

 being cleaned up by the bees; and it is 

 more than likely that in many cases the 

 honey, too, might be used with safetj'. 



