320 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



at least fifteen feet. In the diagram, infect- 

 ed colonies are marked ? , and their position 

 after swarming is marked ? ^ . In this man- 

 ner the disease is constantly removed from 

 the midst of the apiary, and, if desired, the 

 ? i hives may be so placed tha* two can 

 be readily united when rehived on the 21st 

 day. The ground in front of all treated col- 

 onies should be sprinkled thickly with salt. 

 otherwise the infection may be carried right 

 back into the hive on the feet of the bees 

 during wet weather, from dead brood, which 

 is sometimes carried out by the bees in an 

 effort to clean up. 



Should the disease develop late in the sea- 

 son—too late to build up before winter — 

 either of two plans can be safely used. If 

 possible, and you know that the combs are 

 free from infection (a rather difficult ques- 

 tion to answer in an infected apiary), rehive 

 the infected colony; after brood-rearing has 



method. In one other case, quite bad at the 

 time of swarming, the old colony cleaned up 

 the combs thoroughly before the old brood 

 all hatched, and it is now without a sign of 

 disease, and has been hatching clean brood 

 since July 1. There has been practically 

 enough buckwheat honey for breeding pur- 

 poses coming in during that time. 



There being foul brood in all directions at 

 the present time, I feel it hardly worth while 

 to try for its total eradication; yet I allow it in 

 no way to interfere with the production of a 

 honey crop; and to-day a foul-brood inspec- 

 tor would have to have shai'p eyes indeed to 

 find a trace of it in my apiary; and to-day, 

 after fighting the disease for more than a 

 dozen years, and seeing it sweep thousands 

 of colonies out of existence, in many cases 

 entire apiaries, I at last feel master of the sit- 

 uation. 



This method is. clean, does away with the 





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The ? represents infected colonies before treatment; 

 swarmed, leaving the main lot free of the disease. 



ceased for the season, on a sufficient number 

 of well-filled combs to insure safe wintering, 

 extract the other combs and render the wax; 

 otherwise, carefully mark every hive show- 

 ing infection, and the following spring pro- 

 ceed as above by the swarming route if the 

 disease reappears. . 



In all cases of treatment where the colonies 

 are hived on full sheets of foundation it must 

 be understood that they be let absolutely 

 alone for at least five days — better one full 

 „eek— as the comb-builders take all the hon- 

 ey when the others go to the field; and, if 

 not disturbed so as to break the wax curtain, 

 will consume it all in the production of comb 

 before young brood can hatch. If disturbed 

 beiore that time so as to cause them to fill up 

 or exchange honey, on again going to the 

 field they will deposit their honey in the first 

 empty cell they can find, and are thus almost 

 sure to retain infection and make the treat- 

 ment of no effect. Should it become abso- 

 lutely necessary to disturb a colony up to the 

 fourth day, remove all comb built up to that 

 time, a la McEvoy, otherwise rehiving.is not 

 necessary. 



With the exception of the natural swarms, 

 of course all work should be done late in the 

 day after the bees are done flying, and the 

 usual precautions used against robbing. 



If possible, all treatment should take place 

 during a flow of honey. In some instances 

 during flows of certain honeys the disease will 

 voluntarily disappear of itself and stay cured; 

 but in all such cases those colonies will bear 

 close watching the next season. 



I have had to treat but one colony during 

 the present summer to the extent of remov- 

 ing the combs, and that by the natural-swarm 



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? ? 



" ? represents colonies removed from ? after having 



unhatched-brood nuisance, which is usually 

 buried or burned — an operation always at- 

 tended by more or less danger of spreading 

 the infection — does not waste the life of a 

 single bee or larva, and deprives the use of 

 a queen for only some three days or less 

 while the treated colony is building comb, 

 and does not interfere with the securing of 

 a season's normal honey crop. It also allows 

 a fully normal increase; tends to keep combs 

 new, while the wax rendered will fully pay 

 for the foundation used, and makes the api- 

 arist master of the situation, reduces the ter- 

 ror of the mere mention of foul brood to a 

 minimum, and certainly is a strong contrast 

 to when I consigned fourteen colonies — bees, 

 hives, and combs complete — to a huge brush- 

 heap and cremated the whole rotten mess in 

 a single night. 



Of course, this treatment is intended for 

 use before the colonies have dwindled to 

 nothing, and is intended to prevent the 

 scourge from getting control of and ruining 

 the apiary. Taken in time the disease is eas- 

 ily handled; neglected, and the result is ut- 

 ter ruin to both bees and owner. 



Note.— Aug. 1, 11:30 a.m.— A close inspec- 

 tion this morning shows my apiary at date 

 without a single cell of bad brood, and yet 

 it may break out again. 



[The treatment here given is much like 

 some others that have been recommended, 

 and they all have the merit that every bit of 

 the good brood is saved. In some respects 

 this one is simpler, in that it dispenses with 

 bee-escapes and perforated zinc; but in 

 another way the sick colony moved to anoth- 

 er stand might be so depopulated as to put 



