1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



309 



another prominent German bee-keeper, Mr. 

 Schroeder. at Frankfort-on-Main, who has 

 mixed up refined carbolic acid half and half 

 with coal tar, and thus cured foul brood. I, 

 however, prefer the unrefined carbolic acid, not 

 this mixture. Although among foul-brood-in- 

 fected apiaries at Brunswick, I have never lost 

 a, colony by this disease: yes, and I have cured 

 the foul-broody apiaries of my neighbors, except 

 one. which was a total loss, as the owner was 

 careless and did not follow my directions. I 

 bought his hives and combs, disinfected them, 

 and used them without harm to my bees. All 

 the bee-keepers who followed my directions 

 strictly, succeeded in getting rid of the disease. 

 To guard my bees against infection by foul 

 brood. I take J^ gallon rain water, add to it a 

 teaspoonful of unrefined carbolic acid, and stir 

 it. With a brush, dipped in this solution, I 

 wash the bottom -boards every spring, after the 

 first cleansing flight. By doing this I destroy 

 not only the germs of foul brood, but also the 

 eggs of bee-lice and wax-moth which may be 

 there. In badly infected apiaries, I found now 

 now and then some traces of foul brood in some 

 of my colonies. Then I applied such a washing 

 ■every eight days. The steam of this solution 

 disinfected the bees, the food, and the cells. 

 Now and then I examine the brood-combs of a 

 auspicious colony, and when I see that there are 

 many empty cells which I had seen some eight 

 days before filled with eggs or larvie, I am sure 

 I have before me the first traces of foul brood. 

 The bees, in helping themselves, had borne 

 out the dead larvte. Then, among the capped 

 brood are to be seen many empty cells. Should 

 I find, besides this, some sunken cells, and, after 

 opening them, that brownish, tough matter in 

 them, I spray such combs besides washing the 

 bottom-boards by means of a "refraicheur," 

 with a warm solution of four or five drops of ray 

 carbolic acid to a teacup of water, thoroughly 

 mixed up in a bottle. This does no harm to the 

 open or sealed brood. Besides this treatment 

 I feed now and then such infected colonies with 

 sugar syrup and add to a teacupful of the food 

 three or four drops of my carbolic acid. 



Colonies badly infected with foul brood I 

 treat in the following manner: At a time when 

 the bees will build comb I brush them upon 

 starters in clean hives, wash the bottom-boards, 

 and feed the bees with those solutions of food 1 

 have mentioned above. I have found out that 

 starters are better than foundations. I give 

 only four or five frames with starters according 

 to the size of the swarm: and later, before the 

 combs are finished; and, further, only founda- 

 tions. The combs of the colonies I render part 

 in'o wax and part are disinfected. Outof some 

 of the badly infected colonies I hunt the queen. 

 When all the brood is emerged from the sound 

 cells, I brush also the bees upon starters; or if 

 the bees do not build combs, from want of a 

 honey-flow, upon comb foundation or disinfected 



combs. Later in the season, when comb-build- 

 ing is out of the question, I unqueen the colonies 

 and unite tlie bees, after all brood is emerged, 

 with those I had brushed upon starters. Then 

 the combs are disinfected. This I do in the 

 following manner: At first I uncap the cells, 

 then I lay one frame after the other in a vessel 

 filled with a solution such as I use for washing 

 — perhaps a little stronger. The comb floats on 

 the solution. Now I take a hand-syringe and 

 squirt the solution with all my force into the 

 cells to fill them, first on one side, then on the 

 other. This is necessary, as otherwise the cells 

 will not be filled to the bottom; the foul -broody 

 matter will not give way, and the solution will 

 not penetrate it. If all cells on both sides are 

 well filled, then I extract the solution by means 

 of an extractor, or by jerking the combs, and 

 then hang them up to dry. After from eight to 

 fourteen days in the open air, when they do not 

 smell any more of carbolic acid, I use them as I 

 would any other good combs. 



The infected hives were also washed inward 

 thoroughly with the washing solution, and, 

 after laying two or three weeks in the open air, 

 were used as new ones. 



I am so very cautious in this matter that I 

 wash the inside of every hive in the spring, ex- 

 cept the new ones, with my disinfectant, before 

 I put in a new colony. I need not say that all 

 the tools used by infected colonies must be dis- 

 infected; also, that one must wash his hands 

 after he has had to do with infected bees. 



I know, however, that American bee-keepers 

 do not have much confidence in the carbolic- 

 acid cure of foul brood; but it is a question 

 whether they treated their sick colonies with a 

 remedy that is composed of and used in my way. 



If it is true, what Fulde says about lysol. and 

 if he is not misled, as are so many others who 

 recommend foul-brood remedies, then lysol will 

 surpass the unrefined carbolic acid as a disin- 

 fectant for foul brood, especially as it is em- 

 ployed with less labor and cost. On the other 

 hand, if lysol does not prove to be such a remedy 

 as is claimed, then I will use the unrefined car- 

 bolic acid in my way, as I have done till now, 

 which has saved rae from any loss by foul brood 

 under dangerous circumstances. 



Lysol consists of cresylic acid made soluble in 

 water by a patented process, by means of sapon- 

 ification. It is a powerful disinfectant and 

 antiseptic, and is largely in use in the hospitals 

 of the Old World as a substitute for the less 

 active but highly poisonous carbolic acid. It is 

 further much employed in horticulture, where 

 it has proved, in weak solutions, a very active 

 remedy against vermin and parasites of all 

 kinds. It is manufactured by Schiilke Sc Mayr, 

 Hamburg, and sold by their general agents for 

 the United States, Lehn ilk Fink, 128 William 

 Street, New York. It is put up in 1-lb. bottles, 

 at 60 cents. 



Wilsnack, Germany, March 9, 1895. 



