26 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



February 



3rd. A normal queen which produces 

 strong, healthy population. 



The results of poor ventilation of the 

 hives are known: in winter a wet 

 colony, moldy combs which are unable 

 to produce formic acid, scarcity of air, 

 increased wants for food, setting on 

 brood in unreasonable season, scarcity 

 of water, dysentery, chilled brood, foul 

 brood. In summer, overheating, dull- 

 ness, poor quality and scarcity of food, 

 dying of the brood and again foul 

 brood. 



Experience teaches us that foul 

 brood is easily produced in those colo- 

 nies, where there is poor ventilation. 

 Honey is the only food for bees, sugar 

 containing hardly any albumen will 

 not have the desired effect. Whoever 

 had the opportunity to see how bees 

 prefer honey when sugar is set next to 

 it; whoever has not observed, that in 

 spring the swarms fed in winter with 

 honey are in advance of those raised 

 on sugar, will have to learn from physi- 

 ology, that the development of all 

 animals and formation of nitrogenous 

 organic substances depends on the al- 

 bumen in the food; hence the energetic 

 active spirit of the bees depends on 

 their food. This shows, that the bees 

 need honey and pollen in order to be 

 able to take up the fight against foul 

 brood. What has a colony of bees 

 got to nourish its brood in spring, witu 

 a solution of sugar which contains 

 scarcely any albumen? Nothing, not 

 even what they need to keep up the 

 energetic spirit to throw out the dead 

 larvae and nymphs. How valuable the 

 albumen is in the food, we can readily 

 observe in the wild animals. Without 

 albumen where would their energetic 

 spirit be? A foul brood colony never 

 shows life. Pollen is the food for bees, 

 which contains the most albumen. 

 What pollen amounts to we can learn 

 from the Heide bee-keepers. Mr. 

 Lehrzen, of Lueneburg, writes: The 

 bee-keepers claim that if the bees are 

 left in one place for three years, they 

 will all be infected with foul brood, 

 caused as the bee-keepers claim, by 

 the lack of pollen until late in tne sea- 

 son. This also shows, that the origin- 

 ator of foul brood must be widely dif- 

 fused, for if foul lirood appears in con- 

 sequence of missing pollen, the foul 

 brood bacteria must be very plen- 

 tiful. When pollen is missing the 

 bees will keep themselves for some- 



time as the honey contains about from 

 1 to 3 per cent, of albumen. The most 

 of this in digested form called peptone, 

 which does not melt on cooking. The 

 presence of peptone in honey I have 

 found on analysis. Out of the salivary 

 glands, the peptone is more or less 

 transformed into a sugar solution, but 

 in quantities too small. Often the 

 queen is at fault, that the colony be- 

 comes sick, if she produces more or 

 less degenerated bees. Degeneration 

 shows itself on the creatures by organ- 

 ic defects, insufficient development, 

 small resistability against contagious 

 diseases, short life, especially by lazi- 

 ness and lack of energy. The degen- 

 eration is a consequence of abnormal 

 conditions, especially copulation of 

 near relation. Look for good ventila- 

 tion, good food for fresh blood and for 

 queens not related to your stock. 



Other precautions for the prevention 

 of the malady, which, however, are of 

 secondary importance, must be taken 

 into consideration. Under all circum- 

 stances keep away contagious combs 

 and honey as much as possible. When 

 buying honey for feeding, we should 

 be very careful to place no foul brood 

 combs into healthy colonies; watch the 

 brood cells at all times, in order to de- 

 tect the presence of the disease in the 

 beginning. Disinfect all used hives, 

 which come from other apiaries, fumi-- 

 gate them with formaline. All bacillus 

 and spores are positively killed by the 

 formaldehyde fumes under the follow- 

 ing conditions: They must be so ex- 

 posed that the fumes can come in con- 

 tact with them, they may only be cov- 

 ered with thin materials, for instance, 

 paper, one cubimeter of air must at 

 least contain eight grains of formalde- 

 hyde, the air of the respective depart- 

 ment must be very moist and warm 

 and the fumigation must be continued 

 for at least seven hours. 



Formaldehyde is highly recommeded, 

 because it leaves no odor or residue in 

 the hives or combs. For fumigation, 

 pastilles in a retorte may be used, the 

 fumes out of the retorte to be led into 

 the hive, into which a vessel with boil- ' 

 ing water had been previously placed. 

 After ten hours all foul brood, bacillus 

 and spores will be dead. Or, the lamp, 

 which I described about a year ago, 

 may be used. 



A 40 per cent solution of formalde- 

 hyde is called formaline. One pastille 



