1S94 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



647 



tluM'e will be neither drone nor crooked combs; 

 il this can't be done, then use full sheets of 

 fmindation, as permanent success Is most cer- 

 tainly coujiied with straight, perfect, all-worker 

 combs in the brood -nest. 

 Flint, Mich., July 31. 



[On page 588 reference was made to the fact 

 that W. Z. HiiLcliinson was making some beau- 

 tiful phuiographs illiislrating some of the dif- 

 ferent pnases of apiculture. One of these pic- 

 tures was especially line. Wo, wrote to friend 

 H., requesting the privilege, if he had not made 

 arrangement to dispose uf it elsewhere, of sub- 

 mitting it to our readers in half-tuue; and in 

 case hi! consented, to write an article on why 

 swarms build imperfect or drone combs in the 

 brood-nest. We thought he had, perhaps, plan- 

 ned to have it appear in his own .journal; but 

 as he had not, he kindly consented' to let us use 

 the photograph, and sent the article above, 

 whicli covers jnst what we had in mind. 



We regret that the half-tone does not show 

 all the delicate details of the original photo- 

 graph; but it does fairly well. The accom- 

 panying article, we are sure, will be read wiih 

 inierest, as it boils down in a nutshell the very 

 information that so many have been seeking of 

 late— how to get worker comb without founda- 

 tion. We presume, however, Bro. Hutchinson 

 would use foundation starters, as tne frames 

 before appear to have a narrow strip fastened 

 to the comb-guides. 



Although we are foundation-makers, we shall 

 gladly welcome any plan that will save the 

 bee-keeper expense, for he needs all the help he 

 can get. The prices uf honey seem to be tend- 

 ing downward, and, of course, expenses, where 

 possible, must be cut down.— Ei>. 1 



THE PHENOL CURE FOR FOUL BROOD. 



FULL I'AKTICULARS HOW TO PROCEED, ETC. 

 By H. Stephenxon. 



Friend Root:— I was glad to see, in your 

 issue for Jan. 1st, that my experience with car- 

 bolic acid as a cure for foul brood was so fully 

 indorsed. I feel sure tliat, if you give it a 

 proper trial, should you be unfortunate enough 

 again to encounter it, you will never try any 

 thing else. 



Cheshire's mode of irocedure fully carried 

 out leaves nothing to be desired; but no half 

 measures will succeed ; and before you con- 

 demn his methods you ought, in all fairness, 

 to conform to his suggestions. So far as I can 

 gather, the solution you tried was only one- 

 tenth of the strength of that he prescribes. If 

 you will reperuse his article you will discover 

 that he employs two distinct solutions: 



1. For disinfecting— Carbolic acid, l ; water, 

 50. 



2. For remedial treatment.— Carbolic acid, 1 ; 

 syrup, .")(J(J. 



For the benefit of those who may not have 

 his book I will give a summary of what is, in 

 my opinion, the most reliable system to adopt. 



Alas: I have indeed been " through the mill," 

 and can speak feelingly; but now I am glad to 



say I am master of the position. Cheshire 

 has established two most important points: 



1. That the ovaries of the queen are frequent- 

 ly infected— so much so that every egg she lays 

 will contain the disi^ase in embryo. 



3. That the spore of this bacillus will not de- 

 velop in acid solutions. 



Acting on these two axioms, the diseased col- 

 ony mu>t be re queened; and any syrup fed to 

 them muM have a distinctly acid reaction. 

 The acidulation of syrup for bees, we all well 

 know, is important as a preventive of recrystal- 

 lization in the cell; but the fact that bacillus 

 alvei requires an alkaline pabulum for its de- 

 velopment makes the point doubly important. 



I must here add a special note of caution, be- 

 fore proceeding further, on thu great danger of 

 spreading the disease; and this being the case, 

 our mode of procedure must be most sys- 

 tematically thought out before we undertake 

 to tight it. I will here give a list of our require- 

 ments. 



Besides the necessary tools and smoker, we 

 must be prepared with— 



Solutions 1 and 2; a small ball syringe; a 

 bowl of water for washing the hands; a com- 

 plete hive; one division-board; 4 strips of 

 gauze for closing entrances; one drone-cage 

 and a healthy queen, together with a frame of 

 unsealed brood on which she is to be caged. 

 The frame selected should contain little or uo 

 honey but plenty of empty cells. The adherent 

 bees, of course, are to be swept off in front of 

 their hive. 



While we have the frame in hand, a few 

 ounces of solution No. 3 are to be carefully in- 

 jected into the cells adjoining the*brood. The 

 frame with caged queen is now to be placed in 

 the new hive, the division-board drawn up to 

 it, and the quilt adjusted to prevent chilling. 

 The entrance having been closed with oue of 

 our strips of gauze, the hive may be placed-in a 

 convenient position for receiving the bees of the 

 colony to be operated on. 



We next proceed to find and destroy the 

 queen in the diseased colony. This having 

 been done, the hive is to be undisturbed till 

 bees have ceased flying in the evening, except 

 that we should now take the opportunity of re- 

 moving all hopelessly bad combs, leaving one 

 less than the bees can well cover. The remov- 

 ed combs must be strongly sprayed in solution 

 No. 1, and put away for rendering. If they 

 contain honey it can be saved by melting the 

 comb in an inner vessel surrounded by boiling 

 water or steam. The wax can be skimmed off 

 on cooling; and the residual honey, after a 

 careful scalding, can be fed back with perfect 

 impunity. 



We will now give all our tools a good spray- 

 ing, and have a general wash-up, using water 

 to which a little of solution No. 1 has been 

 added. 



