THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



153 



ly as possible. This did not amount 

 to anything'; I might just as well have 

 set my fumig'ator on the ground, and 

 hung- the combs on the limbs of an 

 apple tree. The combs must be in 

 something aii -tight, or as nearly so as 

 possible. I finally used one of my 

 larg"e honey tanks, such as I use to 

 keep my extracted honey in before I 

 put it into barrels. These tanks are 

 lined with the heaviest kind of tin, and 

 hold over 4,000 pounds of honey. I 

 made a cover of matched lumber, and 

 three sheets of tarred building paper, 

 putting' them tog-ether with paint. 

 This was clamped down to the top of 

 the tank by means of heavy rods, 

 reaching down through timbers under 

 the bottom of the tank. Racks were 

 make to fit the inside of the tank, on 

 which I could hang the combs of about 

 35 hives, and not have the combs touch 

 one another. I made a ^ inch hole 

 in each end of the cover; one in which 

 to insert the rubber hose which convey- 

 ed the gas into the tank, the other to 

 let the air escape as the gas entered. 

 Into my gas generator I then put two 

 quarts of the best formalin that I 

 could buy, setting it upon an oil stove, 

 and lighting the wicks. After it had 

 boiled about half an hour the gas 

 commenced to escape from the hole in 

 the other end of the cover, and I then 

 plugged up that hole and kept the 

 lamps burning about five hours, or 

 until all the formalin in the generator 

 had been turned into gas. I then left 

 it shut up air-tight until the next day, 

 when I put in another quart and turn- 

 ed that into gas. I then left it four or 

 five days, after which I opened the 

 tank, but I had to leave it open a daj' 

 or two before I could take the combs 

 out, as the gas was so very strong. 

 In this way I have during the past 

 summer, fumigated over a thousand of 

 the worst combs that I could find in 

 an apiary of nearly a thousand col- 

 onies; and, although some of them con- 

 tained a little capped honey and brood, 



I have since seen no trace of the dis- 

 ease after putting bees on them. 



IMPORTANCE OF ITALIAN BEES AND 

 YOUNG QUEENS. 



Yes, my friends, I think formalin is 

 all right; but there must be no child's 

 play in using it. 



There is another way which gives 

 good results in handling this disease, 

 and that is, as soon as you find a 

 colony affected, remove the queen; then, 

 in nine days, destroy all queen cells 

 and give a choice virgin just hatched. 

 I have done this with about 100 colon- 

 ies, and, for two summers after, have 

 not been able to find a trace of the dis- 

 ease in colonies so requeened. When 

 the bees have a young queen about 

 readj' to begin laying, thej' will clean 

 their combs up better than they will at 

 any other time. 



This treatment, remember, all 

 through, is for the best strains of 

 Italian bees. I would not bother with 

 any other in trying to fight a disease 

 like Black Brood. 



DESTROY ALL COMBS CONTAINING 

 FOUL BROOD. 



As for foul brood, if I had an 

 apiary affected with it, I would melt 

 up every comb I could find that con- 

 tained one cell of the disease. I never 

 knew the bees to remove a dead larva 

 from a cell of foul brood. It has been so 

 bad in my apiary, before we had comb 

 foundation, that I could hardly find a 

 cell, in the breeding part of the hive, 

 that did not have a dead larva in it. 

 No, don't waste your time in trying to 

 save combs that contain the spores and 

 germs of foul brood. You will cer- 

 tainly regret it if you do. I doubt if 

 there ever was a comb of foul brood 

 disinfected so that it would be safe to 

 put into a healthy colony. About 38 

 years ago I had a long siege with 

 foul brood. At that time it was quite 

 prevalent in this part of the state, but 

 have not seen a cell of it in over 30 

 years. It is as much worse than 



