742 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



On the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 6, these (i terrible 

 combs were placed into a hive and stood in the position of 

 a good colony, which was removed to a new stand ; the 

 queen having been found, was popped in under the chaff- 

 tray (which I use instead of a quilt) between the disease- 

 laden combs. The poor foragers, with heavy loads and 

 light hearts, began dropping in numbers upon the 

 alighting-board ; out the confidence with which they ran 

 in gave almost ludicrous contrast to the dismay with 

 which they instantly re-appeared. Circling in the air and 

 taking their bearings, they tried again and again to 

 discover what had happened, when in sheer rebellion they 

 refused to enter, and clustered at night thickly on the 

 outside of the hive, buzzing and fanning with a noise 

 audible at many yards distance. The following morning 

 saw no improvement, and at about 11 o'clock they went 

 off bodily and settled as a swarm in a cherry-tree, in the 

 very spot to which every natural swarm of mine has this 

 year betaken itself. Having hived them in a skep, I was 

 about to return them when they again took wing and gave 

 me a journey into a neighbor's garden. " Prudence is the 

 better part of valor," so a concession was made, and one 

 of their combs divested of bees and containing mostly 

 unsealed larvie was given to them at the front of the 

 hive. They were now returned and very many entered, 

 but a big lump remained clustering about the porch. I 

 reaily felt sympathy for the worried little insects, for as 

 a lady said jh a letter to me a few days since, " I love my 

 bees." A point was to be proved, however, and so 

 temporary discomfort could not be considered. 



Early next morning I began by pouring my medicated 

 syrup into their combs. This they re-arranged, and in 

 doing so started the cleansing process. Day by day, at 

 at an early hour to prevent robbing, I fed as described, 

 while the improvement became marked. Medicated syrup 

 which at first would be utterly refused unless poured into 

 the combs, will often, after a few days, be accepted freely 

 from a feeder in the usual way. But in treating all cases 

 such management must be adopted as will secure the 

 using of a liberal allowance of the remedial agent. 

 Noticing that the syrup was freely taken at the sixth 

 morning, I determined to pour into the combs no longer ; 

 but made an impromptu feeder, with which I should be 

 able to watch the movements of my small assistants. A 

 shallow tin box about 3 inches by 6 inches was supplied 

 with strips of very thin wood, which were stood on edge, 

 and spaced apart by little uprights which gave room 

 between for the bees to enter, after the fashion of a Gray's 

 feeder. This was placed behind the dummy ; the latter 

 being raised sufficiently to allow the workers to pass 

 beneath it. Into this box now the food was poured, the 

 bees continually carrying it into the combs. As the 

 weather was dry, the syrup was given thin, and the box 

 was never allowed to become empty. Eggs continued to 

 be laid rapidly, the colony became active and content, all 

 smell vanished, and to my joy the brood as reared in these 

 previously deplorable combs was almost perfectly healthy 

 from the first. Most, however, of the grubs on the lower 

 edge of the added comb took the disease, and passed 

 through the first well-known stages ; but they all disap- 

 peared, being undoubtedly carried out by the workers. 

 This circumstance supports most completely my theory 

 as to the means of infection, as given in my paper at the 

 Congress. Three or four sealed cells still remain, which 

 I know have the remains of dead grubs. When their 

 covers break, the bees will clean them out ; but with these 

 exceptions the hive is now (Aug. 23, 17 days after com- 

 mencing operations) as perfect in all respects as could 

 be desired ; while every dead grub, all coffee-colored 

 matter, and dried putrid scale, is completely removed. 



TREATJIEXT OF FOUL BROOD AT THE END OF SEASON. 



The plan of pouring phenolated syrup into the combs, 

 which I have found to succeed so magnificently during 

 spring and summer, presents some difficulties at "the close 

 of the season which it would be well, if possible, to over- 

 come. In the spring the bees are growing in activity, and 

 then my remedy enables them triumphantly to clean their 

 combs and put all quickly into proper form ; but my 

 experience, this autumn, shows that dispirited colonies 

 are content, as the period of rest approaches, to take 

 little trouble in cleaning combs which would not naturally 

 be required in the near future, for brood-rearing purposes; 



besides this, the pouring of syrup into the comb is 

 extremely likely to start robbing, and in addition must 

 have a chilling effect on the colony. 



My supreme desire is not to be able to cure colonies 

 myself merely, but to enable all to do likewise ; and so I 

 have continued to experiment, and in the result have 

 conquered the difficulty referred to. Cake, consisting of 

 sugar and pea-flour, given at the close of the season, is 

 an unfailing stimulant. This I have made in the usual 

 way, but after removal from the fire during the stirring 

 and cooling process, I have painstakingly mixed with it 

 1-5 of an ounce of absolute phenol to each 7 pounds of 

 sugar ; i. e., >4 of the bottle of remedy. This cake, placed 

 flat-side downwards over the frames, is rapidly taken, and 

 with the very best results. Unfortunately, most hives — I 

 had almost said almost all — have, to my mind, two verv 

 radical defects: 1. Their top edges are so narrow th it 

 any displacement of the covering causes a most disastrous 

 leak of the vital heat of the colony, which, under all 

 circumstances (except in the height of summer), should 

 be heedfully guarded. In diseased and weakened condi- 

 tions, if this heat be allowed to escape, the case is 

 hopeless. 2. They are covered by stubborn, ill-fitting, 

 often most untidy bits of carpet. Hives so formed and 

 furnished do not admit of cake-feeding without exposing 

 the poor bees to the highest discomfort. The plan I 

 advocated ten years since, will, I hope, become the plan 

 of the future. Instead of carpet, place calico over the 

 frames, and upon this stand a chaff-box, a simple ring of 

 wood 3 inches deep, and resting on the hive edges. Upon 

 the under edge of this ring of wood tack loosely — loosely, 

 I repeat— sacking of some such substance, and fill the 

 whole with chaff or cork-dust. This placed over the 

 calico covering, the cake will fall into form, and keep all 

 in the most comfortable condition possible, and give the 

 bees a chance. This cover, too, is always most conven- 

 ient, especially if one feeds behind the dummy. Any 

 bee-keeper once trying these chaff-boxes would feel but 

 little content with "any of the more usual covers. New 

 cakes would, of course, be supplied at intervals, as 

 regulated. As a help also, spraying every three or four 

 days, the combs awaiting introducion, with 1 per cent, 

 phenol solution might be adopted. 



I have been keeping the disease going, in order to 

 simplify as much as possible the mode of treatment, and, 

 as a result, have felt the need of giving additional hints. 



DISEASED SPERMATHECA. 



Almost all know that the spermatheca is filled by active, 

 thread-like bodies called spermatozoa, and which are 

 formed within the body of the drone and transferred by 

 him to the queen at her flight. These spermatozoa singly 

 pass into all eggs which afterwards become either workers 

 or queens (drone-eggs they do not touch), the egg having 

 in it a minute hole called the micropyle to give the 

 spermatozoon entrance. 



I wish to call attention to the queen sent by Mr. R. 

 Andrews, a gentleman whom I have not the pleasure of 

 knowing. She was in appearance perfectly healthy, but 

 was accompanied by a letter stating that she swarmed 

 out June 20, laid iii about 6 square inches of comb, and 

 then, although she had everything in her favor, never laid 

 again. I found in her ovariesand juices nothing abnormal. 

 Her spermatheca was round, full, and of usual size. 

 Under the microscope I removed its skin containing the 

 tracheae (air-tubes), some spermatozoa were left out on a 

 glass slip and examined, when, to my great surprise, I 

 found numbers of bacilli. Some were then dried and 

 stained, when thousands of bacilli, now deep blue, re- 

 vealed themselves. The inflamed condition of the 

 mucous gland and valves was clear, and the reason that 

 ovipositing had been arrested was evident. This queen 

 was a young one ; possibly the old colony had lost its 

 queen, or had swarmed unobserved. She had flown, met 

 a diseased drone, and had contracted the condition which 

 the microscope revealed. Mr. Andrews, unaided by any 

 hint of mine, in his second letter, says this, " Do you 

 think that the diseased spermatheca arises in any way 

 from foul brood V If so, my friend's bees, from which 

 the queen was taken, have never been infected with the 

 disease ; but the disease did exist (up to a few days ago) 

 within a distance of 400 yards of his apiary." Here it is. 

 I have found many drones with spermatozoa badly 

 touched by alvei, and such a one has done the mischief. 



