1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1125 



How to Rid Your Apiary of Black Brood* 



A Cure that is Easily and Cheaply Applied without the Destruction of 

 Combs, Bees, Hives, or Utensils; a Valuable Article. 



BY E. W. ALEXANDER. 



[It may, perhaps, stimulate a more careful reading of this article than it would otherwise receive if I state 

 that we have paid Mr. Alexander for the privilege of giving this method to the world more money than we 

 have ever paid lir any otlier article we have ever published, several times over. Bl ick brood, or the New 

 York bee-disease, probably the most destructive of any brood disease, was raging among Mr. Alexander's bees 

 with unabated fury three years ago. When he blundered on to this cure he scarcely realized that he was 

 going to rid the bees of the disease; but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I personally inspected 

 hundreds of the very ci)>nbs that were, three years ago, badly infected, and which at the time of my visit were 

 filled with as nice solid liealthy bi'ood as one could wish to see. There was only one colony that had a cell or two 

 of the disease, but this one was not treated strictly according to the method to be dt scribed. One or two 

 of the details were omitted to see how far he could deviate from the plan. It is, therefore, with more than 

 ordinary pleasure that we are placing before the bee-keeping public one of the most valuable communica- 

 tions that it has ever been our lot to give in these columns. I expect to have it all printed in small pamphlet 

 form, and send it out for free distribution by the thousands. Of course. I may be mistaken as to its value, 

 but I hope it will be the means of entirely emancipating the State of New York from the ravages of this 

 dread disease, and other places where it may find a footing. — Ed.] 



This has been one of the hardest problems 

 for me to solve that I have ever met in bee- 

 keeping. For three years we tried every 

 thiner in the line of disinfectants that we 

 could hear of, also putting our bees on foun- 

 dation, which did but little good. Some of 

 the things we tried seemed to help at first 

 to check its deadly work; but in a short 

 time it would show itself again as bad as 

 before; and so the years went by while we 

 lost nearly our entire honey crop and over a 

 thousand colonies before we got the first 

 sign of a cure, and even then it was so sim- 

 ple it seemed like a drowning man catching 

 at straws. But I kept at the little proof I 

 had until I developed it into a perfect cure. 

 Then for three years we tested it thorough- 

 ly on hundreds of colonies, so that we could 

 be sure it was a cure which could be depend- 

 ed on, and now I send it to Gleanings for 

 The A. I. Root Co. to give to the world. 



This cure is on the line of introducing new 

 blood into the apiary, which will necessitate 

 getting a choice Italian breeding-queen, one 

 of the best honey- gathering strains that can 

 be procured. For this special purpose I pre- 

 fer quite yellow Italians. Now for the cure. 



Go to every diseased colony you have, and 

 build it up either by giving frames of ma- 

 turing brood or uniting two or more until 

 you have them fairly strong. After this, go 

 over every one and remove the queen; then 

 in nine days go over them agein, and be 

 sure to destroy every maturing queen-cell, 

 or virgin if any have hatched. Then go to 

 your breeding-queen and take enough of her . 

 newly hatched larvEe to rear enough queen- 

 cells from to supply each one of your dis- 

 eased queenless colonies with a ripe queen- 

 cell or virgin just hatched. These are to be 

 introduced to your diseased colonies on the 

 twentieth day after you have removed their 

 old queen, and not one hour sooner, for 

 upon this very point your whole success de- 

 pends; for your young queen must not com- 

 mence to lay until three or four days after 

 the last of the old brood is hatched, or 27 

 days from the time you remove the old 

 queen. If you are very careful about this 

 matter of time between the last of the old 



brood hatching and the young queen com- 

 mencing to lay, you will find the bees will 

 clean out their breeding-combs for this young 

 queen, so that she will fill them with as fine 

 healthy brood as a hive ever contained. This 

 I have seen in several hundred hives, and 

 have never seen a cell of the disease in a 

 hive after being treated as above described. 



It is not necessary to remove any of the 

 combs or honey from the diseased colony; 

 neither is it necessary to disinfect any thing 

 about the hive. Simply remove the old 

 queen, and be sure the young queen does 

 not commence to lay until three or four 

 days after the old brood is all hatched. This 

 treatment with young Italian queens is a 

 perfect cure for black brood. 



In regard to those old queens that were 

 formerly in jour old hives, I think it best to 

 kill them when you first take them from 

 their colonies— not that the queen is respon- 

 sible for the disease, for I am sure she is 

 not; but a young Italian queen that has 

 been reared from a choice honey-gathering 

 strain is worth so much more to you that I 

 can not advise saving these old queens. 



I have experimented along this line con- 

 siderably, and found, after the colony has 

 been without a queen 27 days, as above di- 

 rected, it will usually be safe to give them 

 one of these old queens, and the cure will 

 be the same. Still, there have been excep- 

 tions, so I advise killing them at once. 



Now a few words about your breeding- 

 queen. Buy one of the very best you can 

 for this purpose; for upon her real merits 

 rests the true value of your apiary hereaft- 

 er. I would buy a three-comb nucleus with 

 this valuable queen, so as to run no risk in 

 introducing her to a full colony. 



Now, my friends, don't let another season 

 pass without cleaning your apiary of black 

 brood, and also at the same time requeen it 

 with young Italian queens so you will not 

 only harvest a fair crop of honey next sum- 

 mer, but will have an apiary that you will 

 be proud of and take pleasure in showing to 

 your friends. I know many of you have be- 

 come discouraged in trying to rid your apia- 

 ries of this fatal disease; but that does not 



