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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



of the various kinds of dead brood 

 above referred to, and tlie various 

 causes of its appearance. I also do 

 not wisli to interfere with any other 

 person's system of curing foul brood, 

 but simply to give mv own (which 

 has proven successful with myself 

 and scores of others), in the hope that 

 those who have tried various remedies 

 unsuccessfully, may be encouraged to 

 try once more, and with no further 

 expense and with but little trouble, 

 rid their apiaries of this foul disease. 



I do not believe, with some, that 

 there is only one method of cure (and 

 that their own). I know, by experi- 

 ence, that it can be cured in various 

 ways, and I intend to continue my ex- 

 periments, with the aim of still 

 further simplifying, if possible, the 

 method of cure. 



Some imagine that foul brool may 

 be discovered by the foul smell arising 

 from the diseased colonies. This is 

 true as far as it goes ; but if one waits 

 until then, there is a probability that 

 very many if not all the colonies in 

 his apiary have become diseased. Be- 

 fore such a condition had resulted, 

 the disease would have been running 

 for a long time in some one or two 

 colonies, from which, especially in 

 the spring or fall when robbing is 

 carried on more or le.ss, the surround- 

 ing colonies would surely be contami- 

 nated, and become themselves centres 

 of infection. A single drop tif honey 

 taken from a diseased colony, if fed 

 to the larvse of a healthy colony, is 

 sufficient to start the work, which, if 

 unarrested, is inevitable destruction. 



When the disease becomes very bad, 

 much of the brood dies before it is 

 capped over, and never is capped 

 after it once dies. I have frequently 

 seen colonies which had become so 

 diseased that a very large portion of 

 the brood had died just before it was 

 capped, and some of the larvse before 

 it had its full growth. 



In examining the larvae just before 

 and after it dies, I find that a dark 

 spot first appears about its centre, 

 and increases in size very rapidly. 

 Shortly after its appearance, short, 

 threadlike veins extend from this 

 centre towards both extremities of the 

 larvse, and appear to plant two new 

 spots, from which more veins soon 

 radiate. The veins and spots then 

 gradually enlarge until the entire 

 larvse is uniformly affected. The skin 

 of the larvae also commences to 

 wrinkle and shrivel up on the top- 

 side, the larvie flattens down and 

 gradually recedes to the back of the 

 cells, and finally becomes the brown, 

 putrid mass which so clearly distin- 

 guishes foul brood from all the above- 

 mentioned maladies. 



This brown, ropy matter has a 

 sticky and tenacious, almost elastic, 

 consistency, and if a pin-head be in- 

 serted in it and drawn slowly out, it 

 will stretch like India rubber and jerk 

 back into the cell again. The bees 

 make efforts to remove it, but, after a 

 few trials, give it up in disgust, and 

 phiiosophically endure what even they 

 find too incorrigibly obdurate to cure. 

 Allowed to remain, this viscid sub- 

 stance, in time, dries up at the bot- 



tom of the cell and would not be no- 

 ticed except by close observation. 



Diseased larvte, which is capped 

 over, is indicated by a sinking of its 

 capping compared with the fuller ap- 

 pearance on the capping of healthy 

 larvae. A small puncture is also made 

 by the bees in the capping, varying 

 in size from that of a pin-point to a 

 pin-head. This seems to satisfy them 

 that there is nothing to expect, and 

 the cell is left to itself. If the apiar- 

 ist opens such cells carefully, and 

 finds the contents as above described, 

 he may be sure that his bees have 

 foul brood ; but if the larvse retains 

 its shape and size, and the skins seem 

 perfect, even though somewhat 

 shrivelled, that is not foul brood. 

 These punctures are sometimes made 

 in merely dead-brood capping, their 

 non-emergence at the proper time 

 being noticed, doubtless, by the bees 

 and thus investigated. Wherever 

 foul brood exists in a colony during 

 the breeding season, the brown, ropy 

 matter in the cells may be found. 



I could describe several methods of 

 cure, but the following, I think, will 

 be ample, and as it is very simple and 

 easily performed, it comes within the 

 reach of everybody : If the bees 

 have any brood, 1 do not destroy 

 that ; but I remove the queen and all 

 the bees that can be spared from the 

 hive, leaving only a sufficient number 

 to take care of the brood while it is 

 hatching. I endeavor to have them 

 all tilled with honey before removing. 

 They are then shaken into a box hav- 

 ing a wire screen lid, and placed in a 

 dark and cool cellar. The box should 

 be turned down on its side, when the 

 bees will cluster on the other side, 

 which will then be upper-most, and 

 the wire screen forming a side, for 

 the time being, will allow of free 

 ventilation. 



They should be left thus from 3 to 

 6 days, according to the temperature 

 and condition of the bees, which may 

 be determined by watching, and when 

 a few bees fall down and begin to 

 crawl in a weak, stupid manner, and 

 those still clustering appear to have 

 shrunken, they may then be removed 

 and placed in a hive supplied with 

 empty comb or comb foundation. A 

 little honey or syrup should be given 

 them, when they will soon be out 

 foraging again for themselves. I have 

 not been able to see any difference 

 between colonies so fasted, until the 

 foul honey which they contain has 

 been consumed, and an ordinary col- 

 ony of similar size. Both seem to go 

 to work with the determination which 

 characterizes their race. 



Some still say that this fasting-plan 

 is a failure ; but where that has been 

 said, it cannot have been properly 

 tried. As soon as the brood, which 

 was left in the foul-broody hive with 

 some bees, as directed, is hatched out, 

 they should be treated like the others, 

 the combs rendered into wax, and the 

 hive and frames boiled in water for a 

 few minutes. 



The wax in the form of comb foun- 

 dation may be inserted in the same 

 and be ready in the purified hive to 

 receive, with perfect safety, the 

 ' former inmates as soon as their puri- 



fication is complete. The honey in the 

 foul-broody combs, if extracted and 

 boiled for ten minutes, can be fed to 

 bees without any fear of injurious re- 

 sults. Boiling will kill only the germs 

 of the disease. 



I have subjected foul-broody combs 

 to a temperature of .35^ below zero, 

 and allowed them to freeze all winter, 

 then placed one of them in a healthy 

 nucleus, and as soon as it was filled 

 with brood and commenced to hatch, 

 I have found, at the first examina- 

 tion, a very large number of larvie 

 affected with foul brood. Frost will, 

 therefore, not kill the disease. 



Every case of foul brood which I 

 have found in this part of Canada, I 

 have never failed to cure at the first 

 attempt. In fact, there are a great 

 many bee-keepers in Canada, now, 

 who no longer dread foul brood in 

 their apiaries, as they used to, know- 

 ing that they can cure any colony in 

 one or two hours. 



We have had stime valuable hints 

 on foul brood, in (he bee-papers, and 

 also some sheer nonsense. Finespun, 

 scientific theories are sometimes good, 

 but solid facts from extensive practi- 

 cal experience is what suits me the 

 best. 



As soon as I shall be able to find the 

 time, it is my intention to write up 

 more fully, a complete and exhaustive 

 article, treating on this disease, its 

 origin, and its cure, and by illustra- 

 tions I hope to make it perfectly plain 

 and clear, so that the disease may not 

 be looked upon, as at present, by 

 many, as an incurable one. 



D. A. Jones. 



Mr. Hall said that in 1875 he lost his 

 whole apiary by foul brood. From 

 his experience he believed it better to 

 make a bonfire of hives, comb, and 

 bees, than to attempt cleaning them. 



Mr. Betsinger regretted that the 

 time was too short for discussion. 

 He knew the cause of foul brood, and 

 a simple remedy for it, which he 

 would state at the winter meeting of 

 the Northeastern Bee- Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation. 



President Root said that he should 

 he inclined to leave the bee-business 

 altogether, if he thought such another 

 scourge of foul brood would ever be 

 experienced as that which visited 

 this country some years ago. It came 

 mysteriously and mysteriously de- 

 pairted. 



No reference was made to Mr. 

 Cheshire's remedy, phenol, recently 

 published so fully in the Ajiekican 

 Bee Journal. 



The report of the committee on 

 revision of the Constitution of the 

 Society, which was not disposed of 

 last evening, came up in the order of 

 business, and was adopted, Messrs. 

 W. F. Clarke and U. E. Dodge, with 

 the permission of the Convention, 

 withdrawing their amendment. 



The programme committee reported 

 a number of questions, which there 

 was no time to discuss, and to most 

 of which the committee had attached 

 brief replies. They were as follows : 



Question. Shall' we use in the sur- 

 plus department, sections of empty 

 comb, when, from any cause, honey 

 has been removed from the same i* 



