AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.. 



271 



Fonl Brool— An Experience. 



Written Jor theAmeHcaii Bee Journal 



BY SAMUEL, SIMMINS. 



On my first acquaintance with foul 

 brood, now nearly 20 years ?ince, I did 

 not fully realize what I had on my 

 hands. 



I have already mentioned (on page 

 501, of 1893) how I considered I had 

 brought on the disease in the particular 

 colonies alluded to, and when I dis- 

 covered the combs in the spring of the 

 following year just one rotten mass of 

 dead brood, capped and uncapped, with 

 holes in the sunken cappings, some of 

 which were as black as ink, I found it 

 was time something was done. 



I was not on hand in time to prevent 

 robbing, but I at once proceeded to de- 

 stroy the whole of those foul smelling 

 combs, together with the frames. In 

 consequence of the robbing it was not 

 long before other hives showed evidence 

 of disease, and the brood was cut out as 

 often as the disease was noticed in the 

 combs. But this was, I found, only 

 playing with a plague which had made 

 up its mind to appear again, and yet 

 again, holding on with increasing tenac- 

 ity, until the entire life of the colony 

 would be threatened by its insidious in- 

 roads, where it had once got a hold. 



Was this foul brood, about which I had 

 read without feeling any special interest, 

 little thinking what vital importance the 

 question would one day have for myself ? 

 Yes, indeed, I had found a cooler for the 

 bee-fever. I was determined not to give 

 in, but now recognizing the virulent 

 character of the plague which faced me, 

 I proceeded with more caution. 



I used no tool without seeing that it 

 was carefully cleansed and disinfected 

 after each operation ; and carried out 

 all manipulations in the evenings. Long 

 after I had seen the last of the disease, 

 I on no occasion went from one hive to 

 another without disinfecting my hands, 

 etc., in the same way. 



I no longer cut out the parts of combs 

 showing diseased larvas, but made new 

 colonies, and after two days' confine- 

 ment, started them on empty frames 

 having wax guides. The old combs 

 were allowed to stand for the healthy 

 brood to hatch, while succeeding 

 " swarmed " combs were piled up above 

 the earlier lots, until by removing and 

 burning the combs as fast as cleared of 

 brood that would hatch, I at last suc- 

 ceeded in confining the disease to one 

 "hospital," and that in its turn was 

 " swarmed," when all the combs were 

 destroyed. 



As soon as I adopted this systematic 

 process of dealing with the disease, al- 

 lowing no laying queen with the combs 

 of hatching brood, I found I was on "the 

 right road, and at last complete success 

 rewarded my months of weary, profitless 

 toiling ; and yet not profitless, surely, 

 for I do not think I ever learned a bet- 

 ter lesson in bee-keeping. Occasionally 

 since that time I have had colonies sent 

 to me, having the plague, but its career 

 has been short every time ; and in no 

 instance has it spread to any of my 

 other colonies. So cautious and sus- 

 picious did that experience make me, 

 that the slightest discoloration or dis- 

 placement of a single larva among ten 

 thousand, my eye will immediately de- 

 tect. 



During the course of my experience I 

 hived several renovated colonies upon 

 frames that had been thoroughly scraped 

 and scalded after destroying the dis- 

 eased combs, but in each case the 

 trouble appeared again. The same oc- 

 curred with hives so used again, and 

 thereafter each colony (always after two 

 days's confinement) was started in a new 

 or disinfected hive, and the disease did 

 not appear again. 



It may be that in my earlier opera- 

 tions with the disease it re-appeared 

 through some over-sight of my own, for 

 in the face of the mass of evidence 

 brought forward by Mr, McEvoy, I am 

 not prepared to say that the same hives 

 cannot be used again without disinfec- 

 tion. The whole matter may resolve 

 itself into a question of how long the 

 microbes can exist after being deprived 

 of their natural element; and I must 

 await further personal experience along 

 this line before deciding for or against 

 the plan. However, disinfection is very 

 little trouble, and one is always on the 

 safe side in taking this further precau- 

 tion. 



I have never found the partial starva- 

 tion plan the least detriment to the bees, 

 and it must cause less wear and tear to 



