802 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



III the Febrii:uy issue of Gleanings, Tim- 

 berline Kiggs gives a cure, but says in sub- 

 stance he (iocs not claim that it will hold 

 good in all cases and in all localities, and I 

 say that also is true. And so it goes. From 

 time to time men of experience will tell you 

 things which do not agree, and yet in one 

 way or another all may be good sense. 



But when you once get thru the mill, and 

 the grist is ground [A painful operation, I 

 think. — R. F. H.] you can rest assured that 

 your own experience will be your best doc- 

 tor [Thanks. I think it will be, in my own 

 estimation, at least. — R. F. H.] I have been 

 in this locality ever since Frank Boom- 

 hower was our first ins^jector; and to say 

 that I have seen the disease in all its forms 

 and ravages is putting it mildly. 



THE TREATMENT ATTEMPTED. 



We bought up all the old box-hive bees 

 we could get, at a low figure, and drummed 

 the bees out into modern hives, and in so 

 doing we helped to a great extent to clean 

 up the disease, for the brood in these same 

 box hives was generally in a diseased condi- 

 tion, and, with the o-ld black bees, a favor- 

 able pasturing-ground for European foul 

 brood. 



I have been thru this disease thru thick 

 and thin, night and day. I was here when 

 the disease was in its youth in New York, 

 and I am here yet. I have seen and handled 

 it from a light case to complete rottenness; 

 and for my part I can say that I do not care 

 to go over the ground again — at least not on 

 as extensive a scale as I have done. In 

 our treatment we shook and we drummed 

 the bees. We fumigated with formalin, and 

 we fumigated with brimstone. We bathed 

 the combs in a strong solution of salt water. 

 We put the bees on starters as well as on 

 full sheets of foundation. We doubled up 

 colonies, and we tiered them up as many as 

 four bodies high to get strength. At that 

 time our inspectors were new in the work 

 of the treatment of European foul brood, 

 and all or nearly all recommended shaking 

 as the only nieans of eradication. We washed 

 our hands and tools in carbolic-acid water. 

 We made all new hives, etc., because we 

 were told that anything that was infected 

 must be cleaned up, and fire was the rem- 

 edy, even to the burning of bees in some 

 cases. 



WHAT HELPED. 



Not until we began to tier up to get 

 strength did we begin to see that there 

 might be some way out besides melting up 

 all combs, getting rid of all the honey, 

 making comb foundation or buying it, which 

 was a great expense and muss. 



We today know by experience and proven 

 facts that even our authorities may be wrong 

 in some things, and this method of cure was 

 one of them. I am speaking from experi- 

 ence, not theory; and I will say the field 

 has been well covered; and where the dis- 

 ease is not jiist making its appearance it 

 would be wisdom to follow the advice of 

 those who have fought the battle well before 



present experiences were available, the ben- 

 efit of which I will now offer you. This ad- 

 vice has been given you before, but perhaps 

 I can say it in a different way so that it 

 may soak in better; and the same is my very 

 best advice that experience has taught me 

 and many others in this vicinity ever since 

 the disease struck us fairly in the face. 

 THE CURE. 



1. Be prepared for the disease, and before 

 you enter into the actual battle by having 

 your colonies hit by the disease, by getting 

 good young Italian queens in your apiary. 

 In such a case you will not be hit so hard. 

 Get these queens from a reliable man in a 

 locality where the bees survived the disease. 

 Know that he is honest in furnishing you 

 with his best immune stock (a hard matter). 

 You could get a breeding queen of such, and 

 do the trick yourself — breed the queens, but 

 better if you can do the former. When the 

 disease appears, do not let it get bad before 

 you attend to it, but either shake or change 

 combs of brood to the upper story, and keep 

 the queen below on clean combs, and have 

 the colony strong in bees, and this will save 

 you combs and honey; and once you get all 

 Italianized you will not have much to con- 

 tend with more than to see that young and 

 prolific queens are in all colonies. Then the 

 work "is more than half done. 



Of course you will ojcasionally find a mild 

 case after either treatment, when action 

 should be taken at once. 



Here is a good thing in connection with 

 the treatment: Do not have a lot of weak 

 colonies around. Avoid all things that 

 arouse the apiary; do not work with the 

 bees out of curiosity, but attend strictly to 

 the treatment in one way or another as 

 given heretofore. 



Every fall, if any colonies are affected, 

 take them up, especially the weaker ones. 

 This is a great advantage. 



We have had no disease to speak of for 

 three or four years; but once in a while a 

 very light case appears, the origin of which 

 we do not know; but it is there nevertheless. 

 Such a case we treat at once, and with that 

 it generally ends. 



BEES MUST GATHER DURING TREATMENT. 



Of course it is conceded that bees need to 

 be getting honey when treating them for the 

 disease, otherwise they must be fed. 



The object of this is not to cure the dis- 

 ease but to help the colony prosper again. 

 And let me say right here you cannot treat 

 the colony and get as much honey as tho 

 they could go on without being shaken. 

 I Jvist what I felt sure of.— R. F. H.] But 

 something must be done, and your very best 

 weapons are: 



1. Good young immune Italian queens. 



2. Strong colonies. 



.3. Mean business when you attempt to 

 stamp out the disease. [I siippose a man 

 who expects his wife to get up and light 

 the fire and get breakfast while he would be 

 resting in bed would not do for the above. 

 — R. F. H.] 



