ditions favorable for the development 

 of the disease, if the bees retained any 

 virus in their sacks or about their 

 bodies. The old combs were melted 

 for wax, and the honey scalded and fed 

 back to the several colonies, which 

 stimulated them so greatly that they 

 grew rapidly strong, and to-day (two 

 months) are healthy, strong, and in 

 every respect perfectly satisfactory. 



The treatment with Salicy tate of soda 

 was not sucessful. When I used it live 

 or six years ago I was greatly pleased 

 with the result ; but as there were only 

 a few cells diseased then, the result was 

 the same as pruning, only not so safe. 

 The disease had not affected the hive 

 outside of the cells containing the virus. 

 In the hive selected for the Salicylie 

 trial, the treatment was made as 

 thorough as possible. Every cell which 

 showed any signs of disease was 

 uncapped and washed out, and nearly 

 every healthy cell was opened in the 

 search for the disease. The bees and 

 combs were thoroughly sprayed, and the 

 frames with adhering beeswere put in 

 a clean hive and honey-board. In 

 three weeks I again opened the hive, 

 and found it still thoroughly taken 

 possession of by foul brood ; that I 

 resolved to treat radically as I did the 

 others. The only difference was in the 

 mode of separating the bees from the 

 combs. As the honey supply had failed 

 there was danger of robbing and 

 diffusion of the disease among my 

 thirty healthy colonies if I opened the 

 hive for any length of time to brush the 

 bees from the combs into an empty 

 hive. I therefore carried the hive late 

 in the day in the bee house (winter 

 quarters), and after closing the entrance 

 of the hive, put the bees asleep with 

 puff-ball smoke. However distressing 

 it may have been to the bees, for the 

 operator it was a delightful way of 

 handling them— no filling up of sacks 

 with poisoned honey, no intruders from 

 the outside ; all the bees perfectly 

 motionless and as easily brushed into 

 an empty hive as so many dead fiies. 

 In twenty minutes they are again con- 

 scious, lively and amiable. 



The most practical and interesting 

 question to me is, how did the disease 

 originate V After being free from it 

 for some five years, with the combs and 

 hives in constant use without a trace of 

 the trouble, it is not reasonable to sup- 

 pose that it originated from any germs 

 which had laid dormant during that 

 time. 



I can only account for it by suppos- 

 ing that some of the combs which I 

 stored up last fall after uniting, had 

 become foul from fermentation of the 



451 



unsealed honey and from the droppings 

 and urine of mice which had made their 

 nest in them. 



I agree entirely with Mr. J. Corey in 

 his views, but wished to make a fair 

 trial of Salicylic acid for my own satis- 

 faction. 



New Bedford, Sept. 7, 1879. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Queen-Introducing Cage. 



J. E. MOORE. 



The "Old Reliable" A. B. J. for 

 September came to-hand August 30th, 

 and I was very favorably impressed 

 with your illustration and ideas in re- 

 gard to a queen-introducing cage, but 

 think the construction of the cage ob- 

 jectionable. A strip 16 inches long by 

 % wide covers up too much brood. I 

 send you a shipping and introducing 

 cage by mail, which I have made of 

 such stuff as we had on hand, so size is 

 not the same as given in the Journal. 

 To make it the same size as yours, take 

 a strip of tin 15x% inches, and notch 

 the ends \% inches long by % deep, 5)4 

 inches from both ends on same side ; 

 take the strip to a tin-shop, and get 

 turned over % at right angle whole 

 length of strip ; fasten a block 4 inches 

 square to the bench and bend tin 

 around, this gives three sides of the 

 cage ; turn narrow strips, making the 

 entrance, which is closed by a slide 

 4x3^ inch. Now fasten the slide so as 

 to hold it square, and lay it on the 

 bench flaps up and lay on a piece of 

 wire cloth cut so as to lap the flaps % of 



1*2 



V4 



an inch, and while holding it in place 

 with one hand, turn the lap around the 

 edge of the tin ; now turn the cage over 

 on the bench and hammer the wire- 

 cloth down, and the cage is made. It 

 is held in place by finishing nails put 

 through the wire-cloth inside of the 

 edge of the cage at the corners ; they 

 also hold the slide for the entrance in 

 place. This will also make a good 

 shipping cage, by tacking it to a block 

 furnished with sugar and water. In 

 shipping, I should use a block % thick, 

 and make receptacles for food and 

 water by boring nearly through the 

 block say 1 inch in diameter. For 

 water supply, I should cut a piece of 

 sponge to fill one hole, saturate with 

 water, and cover with a piece of per- 

 forated tin. In using the one I send, 



