GLEAJJINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



General Correspondence 



A NEW OLD TREATMENT FOR AMERICAN OR 

 EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD 



Trapping the Bees Away from the Old Combs by 

 Means of a Bee-escape 



BY W. W. CASE 



[Last winter we attended a convention of the 

 Pennsj'lvania State Beekeepers' Association that met 

 at Harrisburg. Among others, we had the pleasure 

 of meeting Mr. W. W. Case, whom we had long 

 known by correspondence. In a paper he read in 

 that convention Mr. Case gave this method of treat- 

 ment ; and as he and his friends have had such ex- 

 cellent success with it, we asked him to prepare a 

 special article with drawings for Gleanings, describ- 

 ing the method, and here it is. — Ed.] 



After more than twenty years of contact 

 with and study of both American and Eu- 

 ropean foul brood, I have evolved, and am 

 at last ready to give to all beedom, a safe 

 and sane treatment that renders the terrors 

 of foul brood one of the least problems in 

 successful apiculture — far less than that of 

 always successfully wintering — a treatment 

 that will not interfere with the work of api- 



2. Any infected honey stored in the combs 

 during treatment will always cause a recur- 

 rence of diseased conditions. 



3. Normally, bees always leave the hive 

 with emptj' honey-sacs. 



4. Bees on being disturbed in the hive 

 always give more or less honey to their 

 fellows, wliich, after the disturbance is over, 

 is placed by the field workers in their han- 

 diest cells before they again go to the fields. 



5. At the commencement of treatment 

 there must be no comb in which honey may 

 be stored. 



From the above five principles I have 

 been able to evolve the following treatment, 

 which is just as safe in the hands of the 

 amateur as of the expert, and without the 

 loss of colony, brood, honey crop, danger 

 from robbing, or spreading the infection in 

 any way. It applies equally well to both 

 forms of disease. 



Infected colonies in early spring may. if 

 not too far advanced in a diseased condi- 



W. W. Case's method of allowing the bees to pass naturally and quietly away from foul-broody combs 



through a tube bee-escape. 



ary inspectors in the least, but will prove 

 a boon in solving their problems. In fact, 

 it already has the itncjaalified indorsement 

 of inspectors in Pennsylvania and New Jer- 

 sey; and while I have bred by selection a 

 strain of Italians absolutelj^ immune to 

 European foul brood, the treatment for in- 

 fected colonies is the same for both kinds, 

 and is based on the five following princi- 

 ples worked out and successfully proven in 

 my own apiary, while surrounded, even to- 

 day, by the most rabid infection of both 

 kinds of disease. 



FIVE PRINCIPLES. 



1. The adult bee does not carry infection 

 while digesting infected honey. 



lion, cast normal swarms, especially if con- 

 fined to the hive-body, in which case the 

 parent hive should be set to one side a few 

 inches, and the swarm hived on full sheets 

 of foundation on the old stand, after which 

 remove all cjueen-cells from the hive which 

 cast the swarm, return the combs, and close 

 the hive bee-tight. Next bore a one-inch 

 hole in the end of the hive, over which nail 

 a one-inch tin-pipe bee-escape about six 

 inches long, and tapering to a point just 

 large enough for a single bee (including 

 drones) to pass out at a time, and place 

 the hive in jiosition shown in the cut with 

 the small end of the tube about two inches 

 in front of and above the entrance. It is- 



