1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



217 



framework at the entrance, and a portico is 

 attached above to keep off rain and snow. The 

 top-frame is made of %-inch stuff. 1^4 inches 

 wide. The cover is a frame made of ^-inch 

 boards. 23.2 inches wide, like a picture-frame, 

 and rabbeted on the inner top at tiie sides to le- 

 ceive the thin stuff to support tlic roofing tin 

 •or sheet steel, whichever may be used. The 

 .size of the case is such that a sheet of 20 x :2S 

 roofing tin will cover it and leave room to lap 

 ■over tli(> sides so it may be securely nailed. 

 Thus this winter case combines a bottom and 

 ■cover complete in itself, and is prefei'red with 

 the bottom attached solid to i)revent the effects 

 ■of dampness from the ground and rain, which 

 is sure to affect the bees more or less where the 

 bottom is not made fast. 



The management of this hive for comb honey 

 will be the subject for another article. 



New Philadelphia, O. Dk. G. L. Tixker. 



FOUL BROOD. 



HOW TO TELI. WHETHEI! COMBS HAVE BEEN 

 INFECTED. 



.[Read at tlie Michig-an State Convention at Detroit.] 



Though I discussed the subject of foul brood at 

 our last annual meeting. I liave. at the request of 

 ■our secretary, prepared a sort of supplemental 

 paper on the same subject: and. first. I shall 

 add a further word to aid in the identification 

 •of the malady. Enough has lieen written 

 about sunken and perforated capping, and the 

 color and viscid cliaracter of tiie 

 brood recently dead of the disease. 

 In the case of weak colonies general- 

 ly, and of all colonies during the 

 breeding season, some of these indi- 

 cations will be found if the disease 

 is present, and will furnish certain 

 means of a correct diagnosis; but it 

 is to be noted that, after the breed- 

 ing season is well over, a strong col- 

 ony, though Ijadly diseased, exhibits k 

 none of these indications. The cap- 

 pings, if ever present, are all nicely 

 cleared away, and the dead brood is 

 entirely dried up — mere scales, al- 

 most of the color of the comb itself, 

 lying fast to the lower side of the 

 •cell, and drawn back more or less 

 from the opening. I have samples 

 ■of affected comb with me, one of 

 which illustrates tliis ))oint. though 

 the sample is hardly a fair one. as 

 the scales resulting' from the dead 

 brood are more apparent than they 

 usually are. being less drawn back, 

 and thicker, and ratlier darker than 

 they are often found. 



To detect the disease in strong col- 

 onies, some little time after brood- 

 rearing has ceased, open the hive 

 .and apply your nostrils directly to 

 the combs as they hang in the liive. 

 If the disease is present to any ex- 

 tent, and your olfactrtiy organs are 

 sensitive, you will detect an odor 

 more or less strong, which may lie 

 described by the term "old."' But 

 not many, at least at first, could say 

 by this test with any degree of certainty wheth- 

 er the colony were diseased or not. It is to be 

 taken only as an indication. 



Now take out three or four comics, one by one, 

 from near the center of the brood-nest, and 

 hold each with the bottom-bar from you, in dif- 

 ferent directions, until the light strikes well 

 into the lower side of the cells, when, if affected. 



the scales I have described are very evident. 

 The sample makes this plainer than any 

 amount of description can do. 



In contending against the evil there is noth- 

 ing so important as an active knowledge of the 

 sources whence the danger of spreading the 

 contamination arises. With tliis knowledge, I 

 am convinced th(>re is little necessity for fear 

 tliat the disease will spread to healthy colonies, 

 if only the sources are within reach of the api- 

 arist.' If many wild bees, among wliich it has 

 a foothold, are in the vicinity, it must become 

 eradicated there in the course of nature before 

 the apiary is safe; foi' every wild colony affect- 

 ed will, ill time, surely die. and its honey, if any 

 be left, will be approjjriated by other bees, and 

 the plague unavoidably disseminated. This 

 danger can not well lie guarded against; imt 

 those at home may easily be reduced to a very 

 small tiguie. They fall under three heads— 

 those from infected honey, from infected combs, 

 and fi'om infected hives. 



Under the head of hives is included, of course, 

 all parapliernalia. I think the principal dan- 

 ger fj'om this source arises from infected honey 

 which may have l)een left on the parts of the 

 hive by daubing or otherwise. No bee should 

 be allowed to visit them: and, as soon as it may 

 be safely done, they should be Ijoiled in water, 

 scorched with flame, or burned up. Either 

 method is eft'ective. Infectedj combs are dan- 

 gerous, not only from the honey, but also from 

 the dead brood which they contain. Every 

 dead larva is a bundle of seeds; and when 

 moistened by honey, new lirood, or otherwise, 

 thev are releastHl. and carrv death wlierever 



f4^_^^-'' 



i0'lim<i^^^^0!T'^VS 



FOUL BROOD SCALE.S IX COMH. MAOXIFIED FIVE TIMES. 



they go. Such combs aie safely rendered innoc- 

 uous by fire or boiling only. The extremest 

 caution in changing combs from one colony to 

 another should always be observed. There is 

 no more certain and rapid way of propagating 

 the maladv. Infected honey itself, however, is 

 the chief "medium by which foul brood is dis- 

 seminated, and so it IS the principal source of 



