is; 14 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



17 



Oy transferred, but I believe much better queens 

 will be produced from them than from larvie 

 that barely have enough to eat, or may be half 

 starved, for aught we know. Larva? intended 

 for queens should always be well fed; and. from 

 the lime th(! egg hatches, should have the most 

 favorable surroundings possible, if the best 

 queens are desired, and no haphazard way 

 should be allowed. 



This has been the poorest season for some 

 years. .Mangrove was a total failure, and the 

 early crop was not an average one. We have 

 had two gales this fall that stopped honey-gath- 

 ering, and drowned out and desti'oyed a good 

 many stands that were on the low lands. 1 be- 

 lieve one man, at least, lost all his colonies. I 

 had :{0 colonies near the river, and the water 

 reached the combs of 9 nearly to th(! top of the 

 lower story of part of them, but did not destroy 

 any colonies. I had a few colonies blown over 

 at my home yard: and as I was away and could 

 not get back until the day after, they got to rob- 

 bing; and as the honey- How was entirely cut 

 jff, I let them alone. ,]. B. Case. 



Port Orange, Fla., Dec. 11. 



TREATMENT OF FOUL BROOD. 



ROOTS PLAN indorsed; A SCHEME FOR I'HK- 



SERVING DISEASE - AFEKCTED COMBS 



WITHOUT DESTHOVING THKM. 



In (ii-EANiNGS for July 1, page r)39. we have a 

 most excellent article on foul brood, from Bro. 

 Root, which, if fully carried out, will surely 

 eradicate the disease: but we think it a little 

 too expensive, and by permission we will try to 

 supplement said article. We know we are lia- 

 ble to draw fire from all sides, as Bro. Alley 

 and others say cremation is the only remedy; 

 but. in the language of Bnrns, " My leained 

 •<irs, ye's may be wrang." 



The first thing 1 will notice is in the symp- 

 toms. While Bro. Root gives the symptoms 

 perfectly, I will say. don't trust the nose on foul 

 bro(Jd. That is where I made my mistake years 

 ago. While the ecZur-afef? nose will readily de- 

 tect the disease, any one not acquainted with 

 foul brood would pass it by and wait for a ter- 

 ribly bad smell that never comes, and so lose 

 his apiary before he finds out what the matter 

 is. 



Now, while we have tried the remedies rec- 

 eommended in the books and journals, such as 

 salicylic acid, barite of soda, fumigation with 

 various things, etc.; and while we don't con- 

 demn tiiem we must say that we failed in every 

 instance. We have long since decided that 

 •'doctoring " larval bees is out of our line of 

 business. Mr. Root says the phenol treatment 

 is perhaps as good as any; but when it is strong 

 enough to kill the germs of the Jxu-lUus alvei 

 it will kill the bees too. We suppose he means 

 the larval bees. Certainly it will; but it will 



save the comb, which is of more importance. 

 Bro. Root speaks of phenol diluted .WO times. 

 ItuunVt do. We use It diluted only .50 times, 

 and we don't trust the druggist to do the dilut- 

 ing either. 



OVll PI-AN. 



After shaking your diseased colony off, and 

 hiving the bees on comb foundation, as Mr. 

 Root says, leave enough bees to care for the 

 brood in the old hive, if it is worth caring for, 

 until all the brood has hatched out — say 4 days; 

 then make the second drive. The combs will 

 then be mostly clear of brood; but keep the 

 bees by themselves. DorVt put them with any 

 others unless it is with another just driven out, 

 as they will caiTy the disease with them. Now 

 for the combs. 



Make a tank just large enough to take a comb 

 and frame lying in the bottom, eight inches 

 deep. Get a pound of pure phenol, or carbolic 

 acid; have the druggist put it in solution with 

 3 oz. of glycerine. Make a bath of one part 

 carbolic acid to fifty of water, or half a pound 

 of carbolic acid to three gallons of water. Now 

 take the combs, and. after extracting the honey, 

 dip them in the bath, turning them so that you 

 get both sides full. Put them in the extractor, 

 and throw out the fluid, letting it run back into 

 the tank. This fluid may then be put in jugs 

 and sealed up for future use, as it holds its 

 strength pretty well. Having made sure that 

 every part of the frame is touched with the 

 fluid, your combs are ready for use. If any of 

 the combs have dead, rotten, or sealed brood, 

 after dipping take a common bulb syringe and 

 inject the flui (into the cells. It will surprise 

 you to see how fast you can wash them out. 

 I5urn or boil all cloths; scald or burn out hives 

 as directed by Mr. Root. 



If your colony is not worth saving, don't tiy 

 to burn it. Brimstone at night, when all are at 

 home, if possible. Don't let a single bee get to 

 you or away from you while working with foul 

 brood, as that is the only way the disease is 

 propagated. 



If. after all. your bees take it again, they are 

 either carrying it in from some other hive in 

 your vicinity, or the queen is diseased, which, 

 by the way. is a mooted question. But I have 

 stopped it by simply killing the queen. Of 

 course. I treated the partly drawn foinidation 

 as above. I. have between 700 and 10(X) combs 

 in my home apiary, that have been so treated, 

 that have never shown the disease since, and 

 never will unless carried in by the bees. Use 

 your combs for hiving new swarms, or for any 

 other purpose. If the bees refuse to stay in, put 

 an entrance-guard, such as is furnished by the 

 Roots, on your hive. It will settle the question. 

 Kntrance-giiards or queen-traps area necessity. 

 I give the preference to the entrance-guard, as 

 it is more easily manipulated. But I use both. 



Now for a few short rules. 



1. Carbolic acid, or phenol, whicii means the 



