360 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



hive to frames only 7 inches deep in 

 the clear. I did this in 187(i, and liave 

 used such hives more or less ever 

 since. 



On some accounts ' I prefer such 

 hives to tlie 8-frame Langstroth, and 

 yet I think it will pay me to use " re- 

 versible frames." So you see even 

 the small hive, small enough so that 

 ordinary queens could keep them 

 " full of brood," did not stop me from 

 thinking about reversible frames ; 

 nor am I yet convinced that such 

 frames are riot exactly what they have 

 been " cracked up to be." 



St. Charles, 111. 



For the Amerlcaa Bue JoaroaL 



Treatment of Foul Brood. 



A. ■W. OSBUKN. 



After reading the able article by 

 Dr. A. B. Mason, on page 231, I will 

 relate a portion of my experience with 

 " that dread disease " while in Cali- 

 fornia, where it prevails to a mucli 

 larger extent than in any country I 

 was ever in. I agree with the Doctor 

 that too little attention is paid to a 

 subject whicti is of such great impor- 

 tance to every person who keeps bees, 

 whether he has one colony or one 

 thousand. 



In treating a case of foul brood, of 

 late years, I have tried but the one 

 method — the starvation plan ; and I 

 have yet to see the case I could not 

 cure by my method of operation. 



When I discover I liave a case, the 

 Same evening when it is too late for 

 the bees to fly, I smoke the colony 

 thoroughly and close the entrance for 

 a few moments, so when I raise the 

 cover no bees will rise and fly. I 

 should have said, before opening the 

 hive, I set it on a sheet in a clear, 

 open space, so that when the cover is 

 removed what bees rush to the top for 

 fresh air, will not crawl off on the 

 ground, and thus escape the fast to 

 which I propose to subject them. 



I have prepared an old hive with 4 

 or 5 old frames. I then proceed to 

 shake and brush every bee into the 

 box, invert the hive that formerly 

 held the bees, on the sheet, and thump 

 all out and unite them with those in 

 the old hive ; and placing on the old 

 hive a tight fitting cover in which are 

 four m inch holes, with wire cloth 

 nailed on the under side. I nail this 

 cover down that by no accident it 

 may come off. I then put them in a 

 cool place. In two of the holes in the 

 cover I place sponges wet with a 

 solution of salicylic acid, borax and 

 salt. I make the solution as follows : 

 Take a clear pint bottle, put in two 

 Reaping teaspoonfuls of salicylic acid, 

 two of powdered borax, and two of 

 the best salt you can get. Shake them 

 well and let it stand till the acid is 

 dissolved. With this solution saturate 

 the sponges for the bees to drink 

 from while they are confined; for 

 bees, when shut up, will perish for 

 the want of water much sooner than 

 they will for the want of food. I keep 

 them shut up just 48 hours ; then 

 give them a clean hive, a comb of 

 honey, and a sheet of eggs and larvie, 



and they are fairly started to house- 

 keeping again, cleansed, purified, and 

 in every way all right ; at least such 

 has been niy experience in all cases 

 similarly treated, and those are not a 

 few I assure you. 



Now, as I "said before, there never 

 has been an exception to this ; every 

 colony treated as above directed have 

 come out cured. I have tried all the 

 other plans mentioned by the Doctor, 

 but I never had the success with them 

 that I have had with the Simon-pure 

 starvation plan. 



Now let us return to the liive and 

 combs that have the disease. The 

 combs and frames I burn, and while 

 they are burning, I place the hive in- 

 verted upon the fire, which in a 

 moment liecomes a burning mass 

 with the rest. I let it remain until it 

 is well charred on the inside, and 

 then boil it in ashes and water. I put 

 it over tlie fire to melt the wax out of 

 the cracks, that the water may have a 

 fair chance to penetrate every crevice. 

 I then consider it free from all traces 

 of the disease ; at least I have never 

 had any bad results come from a hive 

 treated in that way. 



I wish to say to all those who have 

 had no experience with foul brood, 

 that if they find they have a case, 

 not to get excited, but go about it as 

 you would any other job which you 

 are determined to do and to succeed 

 in. Do not think because one colony 

 has it that all you have in your apiary 

 must and will have it. lExperience 

 has proven to me that such is not the 

 case ; for I have had as healthy colo- 

 nies standing within 2 feet of "as dis- 

 eased a one as ever gathered a pound 

 of honey. 



While I would caution self-posses- 

 sion and determination in such cases, 

 I would also advise that no time be 

 lost before doctoring the sick colony ; 

 for how fast it will spread, depends 

 upon a multitude of circumstances 

 which would take up too much time 

 to explain here ; suffice it for all prac- 

 tical purposes that if as soon as a 

 colony is found to be affected, it be 

 resolutely dealt with, there is no 

 danger but that you can keep the 

 upper hand of it. 



One year ago I was in the " hot 

 bed "of foul brood (California) ; and 

 with an apiary of 270 colonies I did 

 not have over two cases, on an aver- 

 age, a year. But in that locality, 

 where it was so common, I used a 

 preventative. I prepared the drink- 

 ing water for the bees as regularly as 

 the morning came. To each quart of 

 water I put two table spoonfuls of the 

 solution used for wetting the sponges 

 for diseased colonies when shut up ; 

 and any one who has never tried wa- 

 tering their bees, would be surprised 

 to see how willingly they accept any 

 act of kindness in that direction. 



I take this ground for believing that 

 the solution given to them in their 

 drinking water, and the food prepared 

 by the bees for the larvae, is composed 

 of water, honey and pollen ; and if 

 the water is impregnated with sali- 

 cylic acid.and comes in contact with a 

 spoor of foul brood that it will kill it. 

 I can only assert this, but one thing I 

 know ; i. e., I have had healthy and 



strong bees in the midst of this 

 scourge, while others have gone by 

 the hundred colonies where they were 

 not troubled by foul brood. 



I am not one who believes that foul 

 brood comes from any local cause, 

 such as chilled brood, poor queen, or 

 any thing of the sort. Where it has 

 its origin, I do not know; but I am 

 more fully prepared to accept Prof. 

 Cook's solution of the problem than 

 any other I have seen. 



I would say to Dr. Mason and all 

 other '■ old veterans," that I have not 

 written this, thinking that they will 

 learn anything new from it. "It is 

 simply my way of treating the disease 

 in later years ; and in which I have 

 been very successful. If the novice 

 can reach success tlirough the same 

 channel, I will be more than paid for 

 my trouble. 



San ^Miguel, Cuba, W. I. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Right and "Wrong Names. 



JOHN PHIN. 



Does Mr. Maltby really mean to tell 

 us that an insect can be " perfect " in 

 two States V Perhaps he does not 

 mean the moth-larvse, but the Editor 

 of the Bee Jouhnal and Rev. Wm. 

 F. Clarke. If so, allow me to con- 

 gratulate them both ; Init, perhaps, I 

 am again wrong. lie may mean two 

 States of the Union (printers some- 

 times makes mistakes and use lower 

 case for capitals). I know that the 

 moth is perfect in New Jersey. How 

 is it in Illinois 'i 



Again, are there really "drone" 

 ants as Mr. Maltby asserts ? If so, it 

 is news to me. I have heard of male 

 ants, but never of " drone " ants. 



Is Mr. Maltby "s vocabulary so lim- 

 ited that " drone eggs " and " worker 

 eggs "are "the only ways in which 

 the two sexes in the egg can be ex- 

 pressed " by him V How would "male 

 eggs" and "female eggs" answer? 

 or any other of half a dozen good 

 ways that might be suggested i* How 

 would he understand " queen eggs ?" 

 Would this mean eggs laid in queen- 

 cells or eggs laid by a queen V Did 

 he ever hear of a white blackbird 'i 

 Are all blackbirds necessarily black 'i 

 Are all black birds blackbirds ? 



It is unfortunately true that a great 

 many expressions " do not convey an 

 idea of anything" to some minds. 

 The ideas that we derive from words 

 often depend as much upon our own 

 previous knowledge, as upon the act- 

 ual arrangement " of the syllables, 

 words and sentences. 



Thus Mr." Maltby sees in the expres- 

 sion "ivory worker," only a person 

 who works in ivory. A dairyman 

 might see in it a worker made of 

 ivory (and used for working butter). 

 Another man of still broader views 

 might see other meanings in the same 

 sentence, and would, by the aid of the 

 context, pick out the tine one. 



A former critic of the expression 

 " egg workers," showed his ignorance 

 of the elasticity of our language, by 

 asserting that an " egg- worker " was 

 a worker made of eggs, just as a tin 



