1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



127 



ish spot enlarges, the larva dies, stands out, 

 swollen and sharp at the ends. In this they 

 are like pickled brood, except that the brown 

 spot is not present in pickled brood, but pick- 

 led brood sometimes becomes brown after 

 death. Foul brood turns brown only after the 

 action of putrefactive germs have brought 

 about decomposition. No decomposition from 

 putrefactive germs takes place in pickled 

 brood. In black brood the dark and rotten 

 masses, in time, break down and settle to the 

 lower side of the cells, as a watery, syrupy, 

 granular liquid — not the sticky, ropy, balsam 

 or glue like semi-fluid substance of foul brood. 

 It does not adhere to the cell walls like that of 

 foul brood ; has not the characteristic foul 

 odor which attracts carrion-flies, but a sour, 

 rotten-apple smell, and not even a house-fly 

 will set her foot upon it. Cappings in foul 

 brood are sunken in the center when broken, 

 sometimes puffed out by internal gases. In 

 black brood, the cap is disturbed from without, 

 sometimes uncapped, and cell contents remov- 

 ed by the bees ; not so in foul brood. The 

 cap in pickled brood is usually undisturbed. 

 The decayed brood masses do not adhere to 

 the cell walls like either of the others. t^ 



During a good honey-flow, of a few weeks' 

 duration, if the colonies are strong, black brood 

 and pickled brood entirely disappear so far as 

 appearances go ; and even in foul brood, col- 

 onies seem for the time to improve. The most 

 common causes for this apparent improvement 

 are that in black brood and foul brood the old 

 foul combs are filled with honey instead of 

 brood ; and eggs are laid in cells hitherto 

 not used for brood, and in new combs when 

 comb building is going on ; or where comb- 

 foundation is used, the queen takes advantage 

 of this and deposits her eggs before the cells 

 are drawn out and filled with honey. Again, 

 proportionately, there is less brood rearing and 

 more comb-building during a heavy honey- 

 flow in strong colonies than in weak ones. In 

 weaker colonies these diseases do not disap- 

 pear, as more brood is reared and less comb is 

 built, in proportion to the mature bees, than 

 in strong ones. In pickled brood the infection 

 is in bad pollen: nice new pollen always causes 

 it to disappear. Why these diseases should 

 recur when there is a dearth of honey in the 

 field, would be of interest to many. 



In strong colonies, as we have seen, propor- 

 tionately less brood was reared during the 

 honey-flow, and now we have fewer bees to 

 keep up the strength of the colonies against 

 the normal death-rate. Again, the brood is 

 gradually finding its way back to the center of 

 the brood-nest, where there are many infected 

 cells which were filled with honey during the 

 rush of the honey-flow. These, with inclem- 

 ent weather and other unnatural surroundings, 

 are conducive to recurrence. Often new pol- 

 len is stored on old infected pollen — in the 

 same cell — and when this new pollen is ex- 

 hausted, and no other to be had, the old pol- 

 len must be used ; hence a recurrence of pick- 

 led brood. 



REMEDIES. 



The best time to effect a cure is during a 

 honey-flow. 



Adopting a modified McEvoy plan : 



Make your stocks strong by uniting ; place 

 them upon comb-foundation starters, and cage 

 the queen. After five days remove the start- 

 ers and make them into wax, and give full 

 sheets of foundation— keeping the queen cag- 

 ed five days longer. This will give time for 

 all infected mature bees to have disappeared 

 before any brood is reared. 



Don't try to save infected mature bees by 

 drugs. They are not worth the trouble ; yet 

 salicylated syrups,* during a dearth of honey 

 in the field, would in a measure prevent a re- 

 currence, but would not cure the disease. It 

 would not destroy the germs, but prevent their 

 growth, by placing them in an antiseptic t 

 medium. 



If a cure is contemplated when little honey 

 is coming in, the above modified McEvoy plan 

 should be observed in every detail, and the 

 bees fed with salicylated syrups until the 

 combs are well filled, so that all food may be 

 rendered antiseptic by the time brood-rearing 

 begins. 



Great care should be taken to melt all old 

 combs and removed starters into wax at once. 

 Do not use a solar extractor, but remove the 

 material at once to hot water or a steam-ex- 

 tractor. Until further investigations shall re- 

 veal the longevity of these germs in open air, 

 I shall recommend a thorough disinfection of 

 the hives, frames, etc., by boiling in linseed 

 oil for half an hour. This would not injure 

 hives or fixtures ; besides, the high tempera- 

 ture reached would insure thorough disinfec- 

 tion. Careful, practical, and experimental 

 work, coupled with microscopical investiga- 

 tions in the presence of this disease when at 

 its worst, will, I feel confident, discover some 

 practical plan for its successful eradication. 



A MODEL APIARY. 



Essentials of Success in Comb-honey Production ; 

 tall Plain Sections. 



BY J. W. YOUNG. 



So far I have been quite successful in this 

 business, although at times I have had consid- 

 erable loss in wintering, but have learned that, 

 by having all colonies strong in the fall, and 

 provided with plenty of stores, they will usu- 

 ally come through the winter in good condi- 

 tion. They are all in chaff hives on their 

 summer stands, as can be seen by the photo- 

 graph which was taken in the month of De- 

 cember last. To-day, Jan. 19, the bees appear 

 to be wintering nicely, and were out flying as 

 lively as in the summer season, something 

 very unusual in this locality at this time of 

 year. 



Starting in a small way I have gradually in- 

 creased my apiary until now I keep about 80 

 colonies, which is about all I am fble to attend 

 to with my other business. 



* Sodium salicylate one ounce, water five gallons, 

 white sugar forty pounds. Make syrup without heat. 



t Antiseptics prevent germ growth. Disinfectauts 

 destroy the life of germs, by actual contact only. 



