hatched brood in the capped cells were 

 smothered. For two weeks I devoted every 

 spare hour (and more) to the straightening 

 up of combs and cleaning out hives and 

 several sympathizing friends lent me their 

 helping hands, picking the dead out of the 

 cells, etc. The dead larva? became putrid, 

 and I was alarmed at the bad odor when 

 opening a hive. Several colonies, unable to 

 bear the stench, swarmed out. I hived 

 them again, gave them new combs, in clean 

 hives, contracted the space to suit the. colo- 

 nies, fed them up, and when winter com- 

 menced, every colony was in good condi- 

 tion. Every comb was cleaned out by the 

 bees (i. e. the cleaning finished) and no foul- 

 brood anywhere. 



About four years ago. however, in the 

 fall, I bought a* few colonies of bees from a 

 neighbor who himself had bought them from 

 a party in Kentucky. I had noticed nothing 

 wrong, but the next spring one of them was 

 foul-broody and before I was aware of it, 

 several more colonies were afflicted. 1 knew 

 the disease from its description in the Ger- 

 man Bee Journal, and I knew also the 

 discovery of Dr. Schoenfeld, that foul-brood 

 was of vegetable growth and destroyed by 

 Salicylic acid, which was harmless to ani- 

 mal life, and even the tender larvse of a bee, 

 if properly applied. I knew furthermore 

 the discovery of Mr. Emil Hilbert (one of 

 our most enthusiastic and energetic German 

 bee-keepers), and the manner of application. 

 It consisted of 



50 grammes of crystal salicylic acid. 

 400 grammes of pure spirits. 



One drop of this mixture added to 1 

 gramme of distilled water was the propor- 

 tion and ready for application. It had to be 

 applied lukewarm in order to keep the acid 

 dissolved. Pure spirits was used to dissolve 

 the Salicylic acid, and while the latter is 

 harmless to animal life, an overdose of the 

 former will kill the larvae. My druggist, 

 therefore, made up for me the following 

 solution, which is essentially the same as 

 the above, but entirely harmless to larva? 

 and which may be used at any temperature. 



128 gr. of salicylic acid. 

 128 gr. of soda borax. 

 16 ounces of distilled water. 



I purchased a couple of good atomizers of 

 which there are a numberof different kinds 

 to be had in our drug stores and proceeded 

 to disinfect. One frame after another was 

 taken out and every part of it and the comb 

 was covered with a fine spray of the medi- 

 cine. Every bee received aducking. After 

 being done with the combs and bees, I dis- 

 infected every wart of the inside and front 

 of the hive, the alighting board and the part 

 in front of and around it. It was wonderful 

 to observe the clean sweep the bees made of 

 their diseased and disinfected larva? during 

 the next two days. This progress of disin- 

 fection repeated 5 or 6 times in a thorough 

 and careful manner and every other day, 

 will cure a foul-broody colony. If however, 

 one of the mummies remains in one of the 

 cells or a particle of the micrococcus is yet 

 hid in a crevice or corner of the hive or 

 frames, foul-brood will make its appearance 

 again, just as soon as a bee will run over it, 

 take it along accidentally and drop it in one 

 ■of the brood cells. 



503 



Salicylic acid will cure foul-brood without 

 a doubt, and it is not a hard matter to cure 

 a foul-broody hive. But, while you are 

 applying the medicine to one hive, visiting 

 bees from others will take the disease home 

 with them and before you know a dozen or 

 more of your hives are infected. This is 

 especially the case before and after the 

 honey harvest when bees naturally are in- 

 clined to rob. With all your precaution, 

 you will have a job on hand. Three years 

 ago I had cured quite a number of foul- 

 broody colonies which had been infected in 

 the above described manner. 1 had no signs 

 of the disease the following year, and a 

 large honey harvest. In the spring of last 

 year I purchased a number of colonies and 

 placed one on a plank, on which I had two 

 years previous dropped some of the larva? 

 of an infected hive, which had stood above. 

 Those larvae had been swept away and the 

 place disinfected every time. Still some of 

 the micrococcus appeared to have been hid 

 among the fissures or fibers of the wood, 

 attached itself to the feet of the bees and 

 infected that colony. It was one of the 

 strongest colonies I had. The bees being 

 black and standing in an odd place, I used 

 its brood-combs to strengthen up other colo- 

 nies. On the last comb 1 noticed foul-brood 

 that had just taken a fair start. An exam- 

 ination showed that every comb taken out 

 before had been affected likewise. Those 

 hives in which I had placed them, were 

 infected, of course. My energy was taxed 

 considerably that summer and my honey 

 crop damaged. I cured fourteen or fifteen 

 hives and, when, in the fall, on account of 

 rebuilding the house, my bees were moved 

 to the country I marked one hive as doubt- 

 ful. Foul-brood was gloriously developed 

 again in about a month from that time. It 

 goes against the grain of a bee-keeper to 

 kill a bee, but my patience was exausted. 

 Brimstone was resorted to, combs and 

 frames were burned and hive washed out 

 with salicylic acid for future use. This 

 was last fall. 



In the early part of last spring, I kept a 

 close watch over my bees and found, in one 

 hive the larva- of a few cells just at the 

 point of turning yellow. A few of those 

 mummies had been overlooked the previous 

 season and I noticed their effect in due time 

 to prevent trouble. I cut out the diseased 

 cells, gave combs, bees and hive a dose of 

 the medicine as described above and fed the 

 colony with honey to which was added a 

 small portion of salicylic acid. The remedy 

 was complete. 



I was not so fortunate with a strong col- 

 ony I discovered a month later. In this case 

 the disease was already developed too far, 

 and having a vivid recollection of my 

 troubles last year and three years ago, I 

 considered the brimstone pit the best 

 remedy. To this I proceeded after dark so 

 that no bee survived to tell the tale. This 

 I admit is cruel, but it is a radical remedy 

 and will be adopted by me in the future in 

 every case where the disease is far advanced. 

 1 admire the patience and endurance of 

 Mr. Hilbert. To him and Dr. Schoenfeld we 

 owe a great deal of gratitude, as without 

 their aid we should neither have the means 

 of curing foul-brood nor of preventing tr e 



