232 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



eased eomlition lias been a small 

 putrid larva hi the liottoai of one or 

 more cells among bealtliy larvse. As 

 the disease advances, larger larvaj be- 

 come putrid and settle in the lower 

 back corner of the cell, and still larger 

 larviE extend farther upon tlie bot- 

 tom of the cells, nearly, or ciuitc cov- 

 ering the bottom, and' extending out 

 on the lower side of the cells. VVben 

 it first becomes putrid, the larva is of 

 a grayish color, and becomes darker 

 with age. 



My sense of smell has not been 

 acute enough to detect any odor when 

 it first becomes putrid; but it soon 

 .gives quite a strong odor not unlike 

 bad glue, and when the colony is 

 badly diseased, the same odor may be 

 readily noticed when standing near 

 the closed hive. If an attempt is 

 made to remove the putrid mass, es- 

 pecially the larger ones, it will adhere 

 to the implement and to the bottom of 

 the cell, and admit of being strung 

 out an inch or more, and will then let 

 go the implement and return to the 

 cell. When the cell containing the 

 foul mass is sealed over, the capping 

 will often, but not always, have a 

 sunken appearance, and may. or may 

 not have a small hole in it. Some- 

 times the capping will be somewhat 

 convex, like the capping of a drone 

 cell, and still others cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from healthy cells. 



There are different ways of tieating 

 the disease. I have tried onl\ three 

 of them.and have been successfid with 

 each. The first I tried was Mr. 

 Muth's method, with salicylic acid. 1 

 took disinfected hives and put in 

 frames filled with foundation, and set 

 the hive near where the diseased col- 

 ony stood. I then shook and brushed 

 all the bees into, or in front of the 

 new hive, (none of the bees should be 

 allowed to enter any other colony). 1 

 then removed the infected hive and 

 combs to a place where no bees could 

 find them, till I had time to extract 

 the foul honey, melt the combs, and 

 boil the hive." I then fed the colony 

 about a pint of boiled honey each day 

 for a week. To this honey I added 

 salicylic acid as directed by Mr. Muth. 

 His directions are 10 grains of salicylic 

 acid, 16 grains of borax, and an ounce 

 of water, and put this amount in each 

 quart of honey. I boil all infected 

 honey before using it to feed bees. 

 Some have reported that this method 

 has proved a failure .with them, but 

 with myself and others in this locality, 

 it has been a perfect success. It will 

 more than pay any one having foul 

 brood, to send 10 cents for Mr. C. F. 

 Muth's " Hints to Bee-Keepers.'" 



Another method of curing the dis- 

 ease, is the starvation plan, and I was 

 as successful with this as with the 

 acid plan. I shook the bees into a 

 clean hive and confined them until 

 they had consumed the honey taken 

 in tlieir honey-sacs, which was shown 

 by their beginning to fall from the 

 cluster. A more convenient way 

 would have been to put wire cloth on 

 the top of a hive, or box, and place it 

 on its side, so as to be able to see 

 when the bees fall from the cluster. 

 I then gave them clean hives with 

 foundation. I had 2 colonies that 



seemed bound not to starve. One 

 held out for nine days, and the otlier 

 for ten days, before sliowing any signs 

 of giving "up the struggle. 



Tlie other method I call the Cali- 

 fornia-plan ; and it proved to be so 

 much more troublesome, that I tried 

 but few colonies by it. In tlie even- 

 ing, cage the queen; the next even- 

 ing tie the queen cage to an empty 

 frame ; place it in a clean hive and 

 shake all the bees into the same hive ; 

 leaviii" them so that they can fly for 

 three days, and then shake them into 

 a clean hive, and release the queen. 

 I prefer Mr. Muth's plan with salicylic 

 acid : because the bees can be at work, 

 drawing out foundation and gather- 

 ing honey, and the queen may deposit 

 eggs. 



All infected honey should be boiled 

 before feeding to the bees ; all combs 

 melted ; and all hives boiled before 

 being used again. Washing with the 

 acid solution, I believe, will answer 

 the same purpose as boiling, but is 

 more trouble for me. I have kept a 

 bottle of the solution on hand with 

 which to disinfect my hands, smoker, 

 knife, etc., before going to any other 

 colony or work, after handling "a foul- 

 broody one. 



Failure has been reported from all 

 these methods : but I believe some- 

 thing has been omitted, or something 

 over-done where such failure has oc- 

 curred, and here is such a case : A 

 parly trying the California method 

 reported it a failure, but they did not 

 follow the instructions. Instead of 

 putting the bees in an empty hive, he 

 put in ''some drone combs for the 

 bees to cluster on." and the bees put 

 the honey taken with them, in the 

 empty cells, and so had a good start 

 for foul brood. 



•I have a few combs free from honey 

 and pollen, taken from infected colo- 

 nies last season, saved to experiment 

 with. I shall thoroughly saturate 

 them with the salicylic acid solution, 

 and then use them,"iu colonies free 

 from the disease, to ascertain if such 

 combs cannot be saved. 



Some parties in this county claim to 

 have a process (a secret with them) 

 for curing the disease and saving 

 some of the infected combs. I have 

 been told that they fumigated with 

 salicylic acid, but as the disease does 

 not seem to have left them as yet, the 

 efficacy of the process, whatever it 

 may be, is yet to be demonstrated. 



Wagon Works, O. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How My Bees are Doing. 



p. F. TWITCHELL. 



Saturday, March 22, was a warm 

 spring day : perhaps the first really 

 toe day since October, although we 

 had some very comfortable days in the 

 early part of December. As I had 

 not "disturbed my bees since I packed 

 them in October, I then gave them a 

 tliorough examination. 



I found some things that surprised 

 me ; for instance, the first hive that I 

 opened contained quite a strong col- 

 ony, which had apparently starved to 



death, with at least S pounds of honey 

 in the hive ; there were two others in 

 the yard, with not a cell of honey to 

 be seen, and the bees apparently 

 healthy. I found an equal quantity 

 of bees in like condition, excepting 

 ill two points ; they had from S to 12 

 pounds of honey, and quite a patch of 

 sealed brood on two Irames. I might 

 say here, that I found brood, eggs, or 

 both, ill all but two hives, excepting 

 the two without honey, where there 

 was neitlier. A 3-fratne colony had 

 nearly as many bees as in October, 

 and plenty of honey, but no eggs or 

 brood. 



In preparing the hives for winter. 

 I aim to give full colonies not less 

 than 2-5 pounds of honey, and smaller 

 ones in proportion, or a little more. I 

 pay no attention to pollen. The honey 

 was all gathered early, as I had no 

 other. The bees did hot make a liv- 

 ing after basswood bloom. 



I use the •' Simplicity " hive, with 3 

 to 9 frames left in the "hive according 

 to the strength ; but generally the 

 bees were on from 6 to 7 frames, with 

 division-boards at the sides, packed 

 ill shells, with 3-iiich space all around; 

 and the bottom packed firmly with 

 clover chaff, and some in cushions on 

 top, except 8 that I did not have shells 

 for. These I set on a platform : made 

 a bill around them, packed heavily 

 with dry forest leaves, and covered 

 with a shingle roof. These I found 

 in the worst condition : 1 dead, 1 very 

 sick, and 3 light. I prefer to have 

 them set well up from the ground. 



ily bees are a mixture of Italian 

 and German ; and are very good 

 honey-gatherers. I packed 33 colo- 

 nies "in the fall. On March 22, I 

 found 1 was dead. 1 very sick, 6 light, 

 •J fair, and 20 in fine condition. I am 

 well satisfied. The bees were bring- 

 ing in pollen then. 



Andover, O., March 24, 188i. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Preparing Bees for Wiater. 



EOliEUT CORBETT. 



Tlie first thing I did was to ex- 

 amine the colonies. I found them 

 minus young brood, which I have un- 

 derstood to be detrimental to success- 

 ful wintering. Besides this, there 

 was more than two-thirds of the honey 

 uncapped, which is another detriment, 

 according to bee-ology. In the face 

 of all this, I proceeded to weigh them; 

 33 colonies averaged 33 9-10 pounds ; 

 not appearing to be much lighter in 

 the spring. 



]SIy packing process is simply this : 

 Lay scantling on blocks about 6 inches 

 high, and long enough to hold 12 colo- 

 nies, with 4 inches space between 

 them. Also, another row setting 

 back to back with this row ; packing 

 well between both, also beneath. 

 Then take three boards 4 or 5 inches 

 wide, running between the hives, m 

 three places, extending 6 inches ; on 

 each side of the hives, place a board 

 6 inches wide ; at the outer edge of 

 these, drive stakes, and on the inside 

 set up boards wide enough to reach to 

 the top of the hive: tacking these to 



