THE BEE-KEEl^ERv^' REVIEW. 



31s 



,ifrcal, and luidcr favoralile circiinislauccs 

 it may he quickly exleniiiiialed. 



The cure of any partlcuhir colony is 

 very simple and certain, the cautions to 

 he ohserved havinj^ to ilo with prevent- 

 in}4 the access of hees from healthy colo- 

 nies to the diseased combs, since such 

 access would almost certainly spread the 

 disease to other colonies. To preclude 

 this dan_s^er all the necessary operations 

 must be performed when no bees are fly- 

 inji, or when the pasturaj^e offers so much 

 nectar that there is no disposition to rob. 

 These conditions being secured, take a 

 hive externally as nearly like the one 

 containing the diseased colony as possi- 

 ble, and having moved the hive with the 

 colony to one side place the new hive 

 furnished with foundation or starters on 

 the old stand, then rini the bees into the 

 new hive by shaking or driving. This is 

 all that is necessar\- for the cure of the 

 colony if nectar is coming in somewhat 

 freely. If nectar is .scarce or absent, ab- 

 sconding nuist be guarded against and 

 feeding resorted to. Without being cer- 

 tain that it is necessary, I advise feeding 

 scantily for four or five days and after 

 that as plentifully as desired. From this 

 it will be seen that it is preferable to at- 

 tend to the cure during a honey flow. 



The plan insisted on by some that the 

 colony be shaken out into still another 

 hive after being allowed to build comb 

 for four days I have proved in a hundred 

 cases without a .single failure to be en- 

 tirely unneces.sary. 



I wish here to put in a word of caution 

 against the placing of any reliante u])on 

 drugs for curing this disease. My earli- 

 est experience was with thirty disea.sed col- 

 onies upon which I tried the use of drugs 

 thoroughly. 1 rejjeated its use upon 

 other colonies later, sometimes with ex- 

 treme care, but with entire failure in 

 every case. 



Sometimes when the disease is discov- 

 ered in its early stages there are large 

 amounts of healthy brood in colonies 

 that are to be treated and the disposal of 

 this is a problem that deserves consid- 



eration. vSamelinies such colonies cast 

 swarms in the swarming season. In such 

 case I hive the swarm on foundation or 

 on frames with starters, always avoiding 

 combs for that purpose. Then in three 

 weeks I shake out the bees from the old 

 hive according to the directions already' 

 given. Other colonies that are fit to 

 swarm during the swarming season but 

 are not disposed to do so I compel to 

 swarm, /. c. I shake out a swarm and then 

 I treat both old hives and swarms as in 

 case the swarms were natural ones. With 

 weaker colonies and at other seasons this 

 course is not always practical. Under 

 such circumstances if there are several 

 colonies it is sometimes convenient 

 to shake out all but one or two and give 

 all the brood to that one or two, 

 which are to be treated three weeks 

 later. If there is but one colony it ma}' 

 sometimes be desirable to cage the queen 

 for three weeks — but not often— ^it is gen- 

 erally better to sacrifice the brood and 

 give the colon}' a new start. 



If colonies have become greatly redu- 

 ced in strength by the disease, as the bees 

 are mostly aged under such circumstan- 

 ces, it is advisable either to unite or destroy 

 them, but in doing this extreme care is 

 necessary to prevent the escape of any of 

 the bees into hives containing healthy 

 colonies. 



I have already intimated that the chief 

 difliculty in effecting a final cure is the 

 exi.stence of the disease among neighbor- 

 ing bees especially among wild bees. 

 The reason of this is that the spread of 

 the disease is owing principally if not 

 wholly to the visiting of diseased combs 

 by bees from healthy colonies — or in other 

 words by the robbing of diseased colo- 

 nies, and if there is any other way of 

 contracting the disease it is because there 

 are other ways by which the germs of 

 foul brood may get into hives of healthy 

 bees. If one considers that diseased col- 

 onies in the woods or belonging to care- 

 less neighbors are sure in time to fall a 

 prev to healthy colonies the serious na- 

 ture of the difl&culty is readily apprecia- 



