134 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feb. 25, 1904. 



buying honey for feeding, we should be very careful to 

 place no foul brood combs into healthy colonies ; watch the 

 brood-cells at all times, in order to detect the presence of 

 the disease in the beginning. Disinfect all used hives, 

 which come from other apiaries, fumigate them with forma- 

 lin. All bacilli and spores are positively killed by the 

 formaldehyde fumes under the following conditions : They 

 must be so exposed that the fumes can come in contact with 

 them; they may only be covered with thin materials, for in- 

 stance,paper, one cubimeterof airmust at least contain eight 

 grains of formaldehyde ; the air of the respective depart- 

 ment must be very moist and warm, and the fumigation 

 must be continued for at least seven hours. 



Formaldehyde is highly recommended, because it leaves 

 no odor or residue in the hives or combs. For fumigation, 

 pastilles in a retort may be used, the fumes out of the 

 retort to be led into the hive, into which a vessel with boil- 

 ing water had been previously placed. After ten hours all 

 foul brood, bacilli and spores will be dead. Or, the lamp, 

 which I described about a year ago, may be used. 



A 40 percent solution of formaldehyde is called forma- 

 lin. One pastille produces one grain formaldehyde. First, 

 it acts as formaldehyde, then as formic acid into which it 

 was transformed by oxidation. C H ljO (formaldehyde plus 

 zO oxygen)^C H O formic acid). Formaldehyde readily 

 oxydizes into formic acid in the air. It is not impossi- 

 ble that the escaping formic acid, which is generated in the 

 brood-cells, originates from formaldehyde. 



Is it not interesting to know that science has found the 

 way of Nature, and that the antiseptics we now use and 

 which are acknowledged to be the best are the same which 

 Nature has forever used in the bee-hive 7 We no longer 

 place all our hopes upon the application of one remedy, but 

 rather upon the colony itself, upon the conditions prevail- 

 ing in the hives, upon the conditions of the colony, so that 

 it is able to produce the substance which is needed for the 

 prevention of evil, upon the energetic spirit which will 

 make the bees throw out the dead larv;e and nymphs. 



The strength of the colony which has to be treated 

 must be taken into consideration. When the disease is no- 

 ticed in a weak colony, I would not try to cure it, but would 

 unite it with another one of the same condition, as the value 

 of time thus employed would repay the trouble. The sick- 

 ness passes through various stages. We may therefore make 

 two divisions, calling the one the first or harmless stage, 

 and when it is further advanced, the second or dangerous 

 stage. A strong colony throws out the nymphs and larv;i; 

 when dead at once, and can not become foul-broody. 



If the colony suffers, however, under the depression of 

 unhealthy conditions by not having enough supply of 

 healthy food, or from exposure to the cold, or from over- 

 heating, then we notice dullness and laziness on the part of 

 the bees, and they no longer throw the dead larv^e and 

 nymphs out of the cells. These suffering bees may make 

 an attempt to do so, or may gnaw at the dead larvae and 

 nymphs, removing the cappings of the cell in which they 

 had died two days after being capped. In such combs, we 

 see uncapped cells among the perfectly capped brood. These 

 uncapped cells contain white and brownish nymphs which 

 died two days after being capped. This can be seen plainly 

 on the pointed head. Such a colony, which has uncapped 

 foul-brood cells, suffers from the harmless stage. If the 

 bees notice the foul brood, they gnaw the larva;, nymphs 

 and cappings, but cannot resolve to clean the cells. If, 

 however, better weather and food sets in, they often awake 

 to new life ; they clean the cells, and by so doing destroy the 

 harmless foul brood. The same result may also be obtained 

 by artificial means. If such a colony, where there is no 

 flow of honey, be daily supplied with prepared honey-pollen, 

 at the same time placing a piece of blotting paper on which 

 from 40 to SO drops of Ajowan oil, rosemary oil, melissen 

 oil, or anise oil had been poured on the bottom-board of the 

 hive, you will be astonished at the stimulating effect the oil 

 will have upon the colony ; how it will bring out new life, 

 and how the colony will recommence to clean up and cast 

 out the dead larvje and nymphs. It occurs that a colony 

 becomes affected with the harmless foul brood, and is again 

 cured without the owner noticing it. 



On longer duration of the disease it becomes more and 

 more contagious, the number of dead larvae and nymphs 

 grow together with the depression of the colony. The bees 

 no longer uncap the cells, but leave the most untouched ; 

 they bite a small hole in the capping, and then the dead 

 nymphs begin to putrefy and transform into the well known 

 bad-smelling brood-mass. This is the dangerous stage of 

 foul brood. It now declines from step to step. But even 

 this dangerous stage is not always so bad but that the col- 



ony may become re-encouraged if fed for some time or 

 treated with the above-mentioned remedy. There are sev- 

 eral cases known where affected colonies were cured by a 

 honey-flow. In such cases in which the colony was treated 

 with stimulating food and etheric oil without the desired 

 effects having been obtained, a better queen must be substi- 

 tuted for the old one. Disinfecting and changing the hives 

 is only necessary when the malady has developed to a high 

 degree. 



Whosoever treats his colony carefully, and takes care 

 that his colonies are supplied with good and plentiful food, 

 fresh blood, good ventilation, and good queens, will be safe 

 from the bad or dangerous stage of foul brood. If foul 

 brood ever appears, the careful bee-keeper will surely cure 

 it in the described manner ; he will constantly watch the 

 brood, and if he notices any gnawed cells he will attend to 

 them at once, so that the evil does not gain the upper stage. 

 L,ast summer, after the honey-flow was over, I had the op- 

 portunity to witness a party using the McEvoy treatment. 

 For awhile we thought it had cured, but after some time the 

 sickness reappeared, although the treatment had been care- 

 fully performed. But, as only sugar syrup was fed, the 

 energetic, active, ambitious spirit of the bees was missing. 

 This I also noticed when formaldehyde fumigation was used 

 exclusively. This leads me to the conclusion that if healthy 

 honey and pollen in oils had been used the cure would have 

 been perfect. There always will be bee-keepers who will not 

 take proper care of their bees. For such, a foul brood law 

 compelling them to disinfect hives and colonies is necessary. 



The prevention of disease and the natural care of colo- 

 nies are the main thing, but not the destruction and the 

 curing of the malady. The enemy is only to be kept out of 

 the apiary by natural ways. Keep them so that when 

 spring reappears and revives all Nature, your bees awake 

 from their slumbers strong and healthy, not weak, perhaps 

 so weak they are beyond recovery. 



Hamilton Co., Ohio. 



[ Convention Proceedin§s j 



THE COLORADO CONVENTION. 



Report of the Proceedings of the Colorado State 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention, Held in Den- 

 ver, Nov. 23, 24, and 25, 1903. 



BY H. C. MORBHOUSE, SEC. 



(Continned from page 121.) 

 THIRD DAY. 



The morning of this day had been appointed to visit the 

 foundation factory of H. F. Hagen, and see it in operation. 

 Three bee-keepers were somewhat earlier than the rest in 

 arriving, and witnessed the processof sheeting by the Weed 

 sheeting machine, which rolls out a continuous plain sheet 

 of wax, about an eighth of an inch thick, from a receptacle 

 of melted wax. Unfortunately the machine balked before 

 the rest of the convention arrived, but the latter viewed the 

 milling operation on another machine, and with the various 

 automatic devices for expediting the work and making it 

 exact. Mr. Hagen explained that the new machinery re- 

 quired some little time to be "broken in " before it would 

 run uninterruptedly. The factory seemed to be well 

 equipped for turning out a large quantity and good quality 

 of foundation. 



The president of the Denver Chamber of Commerce 

 then addressed the convention somewhat as follows : 



The time has arrived when the welfare of the commu- 

 nity can not be attained without the associating together of 

 individuals. The Chamber of Commerce has 600 members, 

 who are associated not for making money for themselves, 

 but for increasing the welfa'-e of the city of Denver, and 

 they naturally also increase the welfare of the State and of 

 their own pockets in attaining that object. The bee-keep- 

 ing industry of the State, he is told, amounts to many hun- 

 dreds of thousands of dollars, and adds to the wealth of the 

 community. The output of the cultivated soil of the State 

 is greater than the output of the mines ; and were it not for 

 the farmers there could be no rearing of bees. As repre- 



