120 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Again, the brood is gradually finding its 

 way back to the center of the brood-nest, 

 where there are many infected cells which 

 were filled with honey during the rush of 

 the honey-flow. These, with inclement 

 weather and other unnatural surround- 

 ings, are conducive to recurrence. Often 

 new pollen is stored on old infected pol- 

 len — in the same cell — and when this new 

 pollen is exhausted, and no other to be 

 had, the old pollen must be used; hence a 

 recurrence of pickled brood. 



The best time to effect a cure is during 

 a honey-flow. 



Adopting a modified McEvoy plan: 



Make your stocks strong by uniting; 

 place them upon comb foundation start- 

 ers and cage the queen. After five days 

 remove the starters and make them into 

 wax, and give full sheets of foundation — 

 keeping the queen caged five days longer. 

 This will give time for all infected ma- 

 ture bees to have disappeared before any 

 brood is reared. 



Don't try to save infected mature bees 

 by drugs. They are not worth the trouble; 

 yet salicylated syrups, * during a dearth 

 of honey in the field, would in a measure 

 prevent a recurrence, but would not cure 

 the disease. It would not destroy the 

 germs, but prevent their growth, by plac- 

 ing them in an antiseptic t medium. 



If a cure is contemplated when little 

 honey is coming in, the above modified 

 McEvoy plan should be observed in everv 

 detail, and the bees fed with salicylated 

 syrups luitil the co!nbs are well filled, so 

 tiiat all food may be rendered antiseptic 

 by the time brood- rearing begins. 



Great care should be taken to melt all 

 old combs and removed starters into wax 

 at once. Do not use a solar extractor, 

 but remove the material at once to hot 

 water or a steam extractor. Until further 

 investigations shall reveal the longevity 

 of these germs iu open air, I shall recom- 

 mend a thorough disinfection of the hives, 

 frames, etc., bv boiling in linseed oil for 

 half an hour. Thi"! would not injure 

 hives or fixtures; besi'les, the high tem- 

 perature reached would insure thorough 

 disinfection. Careful, practical, and ex- 

 perimental work, coupled with microscop- 

 ic iuvestitrntiou iu the presence of this 

 disease when at it worst, will, I feel con- 

 fident, discover some practical plan for 

 its successful eradication. 



BEE-MOTHS AND ROBBING. 



* Sodium salicylate one ounce, water five gal- 

 lons, white .sugar forty pounds. Make syrup 

 without heat. 



t Antiseptics prevent germ growth. Disinfec- 

 tants destroy the life of germs, by actual contact 

 only. 



How to Avoid Trouble from Both, and Stimu- 

 late Brood-Rearing in the Spring. 



We have been taught to believe that 

 the way to avoid trouble from moths and 

 robber bees was to keep the combs of 

 honey shut up closely. To a certain ex- 

 tent, and under certain conditions, this 

 is probably true, but there are other con- 

 ditions and circumstances when an op- 

 posite course may be pursued with an 

 additional profit. This plan was de- 

 scribed about a year ago by Harry S. 

 Howe, and published in the American 

 Bee Journal. Mr. Howe said: — 



During the past few weeks I have at- 

 tended several bee-conventions in differ- 

 ent parts of the State. 



Among the things that struck me as 

 worthy of note was the number of people 

 who had questions on the two subjects 

 — bee-moths androbling. Generally the 

 man who was interested in one also had 

 some questions on the other. 



And not less curious to me were the 

 remedies proposed. One man advised 

 that the combs to be kept from the rava- 

 ges of the moth be first soaked in brine, 

 then dried and packed away. When 

 they were to be used again they were to 

 be soaked in fresh water to remove the 

 salt, and then dried again ! 



Some years ago I bought out a bee out- 

 fit. The formei owner wintered the bees 

 in a double-walled house. Some time 

 during the previous winter he died, and 

 the family, being afraid of bees, opened 

 the door hut left the bees just as they 

 were. When I got them later in the sea- 

 son there was a sight. The rats had eat- 

 en the lower tier of hi\es about all to 

 pieces. Some of the bees had moved out 

 and lakrn u)) their abode in the corners 

 of the room. Others had succummed en- 

 tirely, while 15 colonies still held the 

 fort ill their hives, and the moth.s — well, 

 ther ■ was a great chance for mis.sionary 

 work. Yet in a season or two, without 

 any special treatment, there were no moths 

 to be seen. .\nd the bees were not Ital- 

 ians either. 



All the precautions necessary to keep 

 my large stock of extracting-combs even 

 at that place are to space them one less 

 to the hive than they are used in the 

 simnner, and then leave them where they 

 will freeze during the winter. 



