908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



terrific in its destructive power that no colo- 

 ny affected hangs on to a long lease of life 

 as is the case with younger germs, they be- 

 ing less destructive. 



The proper way to treat foul brood for its 

 sure and speedy cure is to begin as follows: 



First, see that the brood is evenly divided 

 in all colonies that are to be treated, and 

 also the strength of the colonies evened up 

 at the start. 



Next, see to it that all have ten or fifteen 

 pounds of honey to the hive; if not, feed up 

 to that amount, as feed is an essential part 

 of the treatment. 



Now catch and kill every queen on the 

 ranch (or take them away to other ranches, 

 but it generally pays to kill them). 



Get your wax-cooking tank ready. I use 

 a molasses-cooking outfit that takes a hun- 

 dred gallons at a' clip. Now you are ready 

 for the slow process of pulling the combs 

 out, which must be done every day— enough 

 to give the bees all the feed that they can 

 handle. The combs, when taken out at the 

 rate of one a day to the hive, ai'e set beside 

 the hive for the bees to take the honey back 

 for feed — feed from start to finish being an 

 important part of the process. 



Now, on the fifth, sixth, or seventh day 

 the cells should be grafted. I find that three 

 cells to the hive are necessary, as not all of 

 them hatch. My plan is to select from each 

 hive one comb that has three or four fine 

 cells started on them. Take out the old lar- 

 Vfe and introduce a fine-stock "fattened lar- 

 va " into each cell, and push in a wire nail 

 for a mark for each of the fine cells, while 

 the comb containing the fine cells is placed, 

 number two or three from the side of the 

 hive, all taking tlie same place. Now the 

 pulling-comb process goes on daily to keep 

 up with the brood that is getting less and 

 less every day, so by the fifteenth day you 

 are feeding in empty frames beside the two 

 or three combs tha"t remain for the final 

 shaking; and as the bees begin cleaning up 

 as soon as their wax-pockets are full, the 

 final combs to come out ai-e cleaned up, and 

 two or three new combs to the hive are 

 ■ started with bees just booming comb-build- 

 ing at the time of the final hatching of the 

 queens (the final shaking day). By going 

 over each hive carefully, enough pulled 

 queens can be found to replace a feW that 

 are sure to fail to hatch on account of foul 

 brood. 



Bees shaken with wax-pockets full of ivax, 

 and with queens just hatched, will not swarm 

 out— not over three per cent, if that many— 

 and with stimulative feeding kept up for 

 three weeks your apiary is in better condi- 

 tion than you ever before had one in your 

 life; in fact, you yourself will be astonished 

 at the way they do business, and all will 

 have pretty clear and clean brood. 



The above remedy is no theoretical illu- 

 sion, but an actual fact — sure cure for foul 

 brood, as well as a costless remedy. 



1 say " fattened larva," as I know it is im- 

 possible to get first-class queens from larvie 

 that have been fed the common worker-bee 



pap. I use the "fattened larvse " to trans- 

 fer for fine queens, and fatten them by giv- ' 

 ing a few eggs, and eggs only, to strong 

 colonies that are broodless and queenless, so 

 that the eggs from the very start will have 

 only the royal-felly food; and, there being only 

 a few eggs given to the hive to feed prepar- 

 atory to transferring, I get a floating larva 

 that is not stuck to the bottom of the cell, 

 and is not injured in the transfer ; and 

 queens — well, they are as good as Henry Al- 

 ley's best, and who can raise better than 

 from the egg— the only way? Your old hive 

 is as good as any, as hives do not carry dis- 

 ease. 



Caimito, Cuba, Feb. 20, 1907. 



[Our correspondent does not say that he 

 melts up the combs as fast as the bees re- 

 move the honey from theiji, but he leads us 

 to infer that. 



He states that the combs are taken out one 

 by one, one from each colony, and set down 

 beside the hive. Assuming that there is dis- 

 ease in some of the combs so removed, and 

 no disease, we will say, in a half or two- 

 thirds of the colonies, would not such an in- 

 discriminate setting-out of the combs be the 

 means of spreading foul brood from infected 

 combs to healthy colonies through the agency 

 of robbing? Perhaps our correspondent would 

 answer by saying that, in the end, he would 

 clean up all vestiges of disease, even if it 

 were so communicated. 



Let us assume a case. Here is a colony 

 that is known to be diseased. A comb from 

 such colony is removed and set beside the 

 hive. Robiie^s from healthy colonies carry 

 a good quantity of the honey to their own 

 homes. Let us assume, again, that some of 

 it will be stored in new empty frames, and 

 covered over with good honey. Buried up 

 where it would be a source of reinfection 

 it will sooner or later recommunicate the 

 disease. Perhaps we do not fully catch 

 hold of the method of treatment; but as our 

 correspondent is very enthusiastic about the 

 method we are glad to place it before our 

 readers. 



We will say this much, however, that the 

 only way to eradicate foul brood completely 

 from an apiary after it has once gotten a se- 

 rious hold is'to recomb every colony, melt- 

 ing up all the old ones, and putting in their 

 place clean combs containing foundation, 

 preferably full sheets. 



Years ago, when we had foul brood all 

 through our apiary, we had a continual fight 

 with it for three or four years. It was only 

 when we began the recombing process that 

 we could feel we had a clean bill of health. 

 If the combs are melted up as fast as they 

 are emptied, and the work is done during 

 odd hours when nothing else can be done in 

 the yard, the cost will not be very great. 

 The wax saved will just about pay for the 

 foundation, and so the only cost will be the 

 labor of recombing 



But if the old combs are crooked and oth- 

 erwise undesirable, the labor will be covered 

 by the better quality of the new combs, to 



