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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



brood I have yet seen. I was scarcely able 

 to tiud a healthy cell, in said cases, but, on 

 the contrary, the brood was fairly rotten 

 with the disease. The cells were sunken, 

 and in many cases the characteristic small 

 hole in the cappings was seen. The young 

 diseased larva^ have that brown, maturated, 

 sticky appearance. If a toothpick be dipped 

 into such a eel!, the matter will adhere to 

 the point when withdrawn, forming a tine 

 thread. The older larvae shrivel into a 

 brown color. The disease certainly has a 

 hold of us, is contagious, and is spreading. 

 So far, we have had fifty cases of foul 

 brood. I have found all stages of it in the 

 apiary, from one hive with oniy an occasion- 

 al diseased cell, to one having Ihe combs 

 fairly rotten. No, friend Doolittle, were you 

 here to take a look into our colonies, you 

 would be no longer in doubt. We should 

 like "awful well"' if we could believe that we 

 didn't have foul brood, and I do think 1 

 should throw up my hat and yell if such 

 were the case. Now, perhaps you will ask, 

 " How is it that we reported no foul brood 

 in the last issue, and have it so badly now?" 

 For some reason our apiarist has not caught 

 on to the knack of finding it ; and as he 

 stated that he had found no foul brood, it 

 was so reported in Gleanings. Feeling a 

 little doubtful that such crndd be the case, 1 

 went at it myself and arrived at the results 

 as above recorded. See reply to the follow- 

 ing article. Ernest. 



FOUL BROOD. 



ITS NATURE ILLUSTRATED BY EXPERIMENTS. 



XN writing this article I believe I ain prompted by 

 lH notliing but a real sj'mpathy for you in your 

 ^[ misfortune— foul brood in your apiary. On 

 "*■ page 734, ill one of your foot-notes you make this 

 unqualified assertion: "In spite of all we can 

 do, it continues to exist in our apiary." Now, it 

 does seem tome that, if this assertion is to be taken 

 with all the force that the auxiliary verb "can " 

 gives it, that it would be inconsistent to contend 

 any longer with the disease; but as I think it con- 

 tinues to exist in spite of all you liave done, rather 

 than in spite of all you crt/t do, I shall offer you a 

 bit of experience in connection with some experi- 

 ments with foul brood in m3' :y)iary. But let me 

 first remark, that, as foul brood is caused by a mi- 

 croscopic vegetable growth, I would proceed upon 

 exactlj' the same principle to get rid of it that I 

 would to get rid of Canada thistles or any other 

 vegetable growth; namely, destroy every living- 

 plant and every existing germ. Then, and not till 

 then, have you conquered. But, to proceed: 



A few years since, 1 had in mj' apiary one colony 

 afifected with foul brood. Just what I did was this: 

 I exchanged the cover for a new one. I caged 

 about a pound of the affected bees, took one comb 

 containing honey and pollen, without brood or bees. 

 I then smoked the colony at short intervals for 

 several hours, until every bee was in. I then smok- 

 ed them with sulphur until every bee was dead. I 

 then carried the hive some rods from the apiary, 

 where I dug a pit, in the bottom of which I burned 

 the hive with all its contents. The affected cover 

 of comb card and caged bees T placed beyond the 

 possible reach of beCtS. I then formed nuclcu.s col- 



onies, and waited twenty days, that I might have 

 plentj' of brood in my nuclei. 



Now I will here remark, that up to this time no 

 trace of the disease was discoverable in the apiary. 

 Now for the experiment: In nucleus number one I 

 dropped down, between two of the frames, a small 

 section of the affected cover, and burned the re- 

 mainder of it. In number two, upon the top of the 

 frames I ]>laeed a small piece of enameled cloth, 

 upon which I emptied my cage of bees, which by 

 this time were not only dead, but so decomposed 

 that they had ceased to throw off any unpleasant 

 odor. In number three I i)laced a small quantity 

 of the affected comb, from which I had carefully 

 washed all the honey. To number four I fed a 

 quantity of sugar syrup, made with the water that 

 I had used in cleansing the above-mentioned piece 

 of comb. In number five I placed a sheet of foun- 

 dation suspended in the aforesaid affected frame. 

 After carefully scalding, I scraped it in such a 

 manner as, if it wei"e possible, to destroy every 

 germ of foul brood. The result was, in a short 

 while every colony thus experimentally treated had 

 foul brood. This drove me to the conclusion that 

 the only true remedy is to burn the affected hive 

 with all its contents, and every thing else, indeed, 

 however valuable, with which any foul brood had 

 come in contact. 



Just here I will remark, that I plowed the apiary 

 ground; burned the saw, hatchet, smoker, and oth- 

 er things that had been used in the above experi- 

 ments, together with the five affected colonies in 

 the bottom of the above-mentioned pit. 1 then 

 filled the pit with dirt, burying the ashes some two 

 feet beneath the surface. I had one case after this, 

 to which I gave the double rite of cremation and 

 burial, and thus ended my experience with foul 

 brood. 



Now, Mr. Editor, it seems to me to be the plainest 

 of propositions, that if foul brood depends upon a 

 vegetable })roduet for its origin— and I suppose that 

 no well-read bee-man would deny this pi'oposition— 

 that the method indicated in the above experiments 

 is the only one left us with which to conquer this 

 terrible disease. 



As I am conducting a poulti-y-yard in connection 

 with my apiary, I will give you an item from it. 

 Last July I set eleven hens on 143 eggs. They did 

 not hatch very well, as only 101 chicks were brought 

 off. I caged ten of the hens and gave the 101 chicks 

 to one heu. Our three-year-old boj' stepped on and 

 killed one; two I killed, burned, and buried, be- 

 cause thej' showed symptoms of gapes; the othei' 

 died from an unknown cause. The remaining 97, 

 at this writing, I see all in perfect health upon the 

 lawn; and I assure you, to me this is one of the 

 most pleasurable sights I ever beheld. Now, as 

 this, at least in this section of the country, is uuusut 

 al success, and depends upon a great deal of detail 

 in the matter of handling, feeding, pasturing, and 

 cooping, I will refrain from giving it unless it 

 should be wanted. 



The honey season continues to be a very poor one, 



W^ords would certainly fail me were I to attempt 

 to tell you of our appreciation of Gleanings. 

 "Sweet "and I have been seriously thinking of 

 sending for an additional Gleanings, so that nei- 

 ther will be compelled to read stale news. 



Hearn, Ark., Sept £9, 1886. P. H. Marbuby, Jr. 



I grant, friend M., that complete extermi- 

 nation of hives, bees, frames— i:i fact, every 



