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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



cloth sieve, and make a mixture of 

 rye-flour and bone-flour, using three 

 parts of rye-flour and one of bone- 

 flour, adding enough of the syrup or 

 medicated honey to make a thicii 

 paste. Spread this paste over part of 

 one side of a disinfected comb, press- 

 ing it into the cells with a stiff brush 

 or a thin honey-knife, and hang this 

 in the hive next to the brood. Con- 

 tinue this treatment until a cure is 

 effected. Keep sweetened brine at all 

 times accessible to the bees, and 

 continue the use of the rye and bone 

 flour paste while the colonies are re- 

 cuperating. 



As a preventive apply the remedy 

 in the form of a spray over the tops of 

 the frames once every week until the 

 disease has disappeared from the 

 apiary. 



On June 20, the apiarist above re- 

 ferred to, reported as follows : 



" Number of colonies in the apiary 

 on June 1, 210. Number of colonies 

 apparently diseased, 25. Treatment 

 applied as directed to the whole 

 apiary. Number of colonies actually 

 diseased, 64. The disease present in 

 all stages of progress ; in some cases 

 just appearing, in some well devel- 

 oped ; in others the contents of the 

 hives were a black mass, the brood- 

 combs nearly rotten, not an egg to be 

 seen, and every cell of brood dead, 

 and the stench from the hives 

 nauseating. Have given the diseased 

 colonies three applications, the first 

 time extracting the honey. Effect of 

 treatment instantaneous even upon 

 apparently hopeless cases. Every 

 colony save 5 is entirely free from any 

 trace of disease, and these 5 are 

 responding to treatment rapidly. I 

 examined a colony to-day which two 

 weeks ago had combs of brood almost 

 rotten. No trace of the disease 

 remains. I had 4,000 frames of extra 

 comb. After hiving a few swarms, 

 on some of them I found the disease 

 present in every case. I then melted 

 every one of these extra combs into 

 wax, cleared and scalded and disin- 

 fected every hive, and hived the 

 swarms on frames filled with comb- 

 foundation. One of my neighbors, 

 having an apiary of 60 colonies, had 

 38 cases of foul-brood, and before I 

 was aware of it he had burned up a 

 number of them. The remainder we 

 treated as directed. His yard is now 

 entirely free from disease. The cost 

 of the remedy was just 10 cents. 

 This prescription, if thoroughly 

 applied according to your directions, 

 will speedily and affectually cure the 

 most hopeless and forlorn case of 

 foul-brood." 



It was afterwards found that the 

 melting of the combs and scalding 

 of the hives was not necessary. 



After requesting this same apiarist 

 to make some further tests, the nature 

 of which will appear from what fol- 

 lows, on August 1 he made the fol- 

 lowing report : 



" In 5 of my best colonies, which 

 had shown no symptoms of disease, I 

 placed frames of brood from diseased 

 colonies, treating them as I did the 

 diseased colonies, and all eyidences 

 of disease speedily disappeared. To 1 

 colony from which the bees had 



swarmed out, leaving less than half a 

 pint of bees between the black, rotten 

 combs and not an egg in the hive and 

 every cell of uncapped brood dead, 

 and not more than one bee hatching 

 to every square inch of brood, after 

 thoroughly applying the remedy 1 in- 

 troduced a queen just crawling from 

 the cell. To-day I take pleasure in 

 exhibiting this colony as one of the 

 finest I own, lacking only a sufficient 

 store of honey, and this without the 

 addition to the odorous hive and 

 rotten combs of a single bee, cell, or 

 brood, or anything whatever to assist 

 except the young queen. 



"I extracted the honey from dis- 

 eased colonies and treated the combs 

 of such with the remedy as directed, 

 and then exchanged hives and combs, 

 giving the infested hives and combs 

 to the healthy bees without cleansing 

 or disinfecting a hive, and the 

 diseased bees were given the hive and 

 combs lately occupied by the healthy 

 colonies. The contagion did not 

 spread, and after two or three appli- 

 cations of the remedy all traces of it 

 disappeared. I fed back the honey 

 extracted from the diseased colonies 

 for the bees to use in breeding, adding 

 '2.% ounces of the remedy to each 

 quart ; and I also fed the mixture of 

 bone-ash, rye-flour, and honey as a 

 substitute for pollen by pressing the 

 paste into the cells on one side of a 

 comb, and this I placed next to the 

 brood in each hive. I would not 

 advise any one to feed this bone-flour 

 and rye-flour paste unless they wish 

 to rear a great many bees. I also fed 

 the salt, alkali and acid mixture out- 

 side in the apiary, so that all the 

 colonies could help themselves. No ; 

 I do not fear that any of the mixture 

 will be stored for winter to get into 

 the surplus apartment, as the bees 

 seem determined to use all they can 

 get of it in brood-rearing. All my 

 hives are running over with bees 

 ready for the fall honey harvest. 



" As requested, I placed frames of 

 sealed honey from diseased colonies 

 in healthy colonies, and the disease 

 was not communicated ; but the 

 frames from which the honey had been 

 extracted, such as contained pollen, 

 uniformly carried with them the con- 

 tagion, unless the combs were first 

 thoroughly sprayed with the antidote, 

 and colonies gathering no pollen, or 

 but little pollen, recovered much 

 sooner than those gathering pollen in 

 considerable quantities— that is to 

 say, the more pollen, the more treat- 

 ment required. 



" In reply to your question asking 

 by what means and in what manner 

 the disease was communicated to my 

 apiary, I answer : I at first thought 

 that it had originated spontaneously, 

 but later and more careful inquiry 

 leads me to believe that I introduced 

 it into my apiary through my own 

 carelessness. But I and my neighbor 

 (to whom reference was made in a 

 former report) spent a day in some 

 apiaries some distance from home in 

 which the disease was raging. It 

 would seem true tliat we brought the 

 contagion home in our clothing. 

 Other apiarists in our county who 

 kept away from the contagion had no 



trouble. As to the progress of the 

 disease in individual colonies, I would 

 say that three or four weeks from the 

 time the first cells of diseased brood 

 are noticeable is sufficient to complete 

 the ruin beyond redemption. I am 

 surprised to hear that in some local- 

 ities a colony may be affected for 

 three or four months before ruin is 

 complete. I have succeeded in rear- 

 ing some queens from one of these 

 diseased colonies, treated with the 

 remedy without removing the comb- 

 frames, and I will give them every 

 possible chance to reproduce and 

 propagate the disease. I have no 

 fears of a return of the disease where 

 the treatment has been thorough." 



2. Number of colonies in the apiary, 

 14. Every colony nearly ruined by 

 the disease in most malignant form. 

 This apiary is located on the same 

 ground where 145 colonies perished 

 last year from the same cause. The 

 whole yard had been swept clean, 

 everything had been burned up, and 

 entirely new stock procured. Twelve 

 colonies in this apiary were treated 

 by copious and thorough applications 

 of the remedy, simply by setting the 

 frames apart in the hives so that the 

 spray could be directed over both 

 sides. The frames containing brood 

 were not removed from the hive, 

 neither was the honey extracted. 

 The treatment was applied every three 

 or four days, and in three weeks the 

 colonies were free from all appearance 

 of disease. The other two colonies 

 were treated with what is known as 

 " the coffee cure," finely ground 

 coffee being used as an antiseptic. 

 The coffee failed to furnish any relief. 

 Being dusted over and into the cells, 

 it killed the little remaining unsealed 

 brood. The salt, alkali, and acid 

 remedy being applied, these 2 colonies 

 also rallied, and "everything is all 

 right now," was the last report. 



3. Number of colonies, 100. Num- 

 ber apparently diseased, 48. A num- 

 ber of colonies had already been 

 burned when the disease was reported. 

 The remedy was thoroughly applied 

 as directed, and in fifteen days the 

 contagion had disappeared. 



All the evidence so far obtained 

 seems to prove that pollen is the 

 medium through which the contagion 

 is commonly introduced into the hive, 

 and by which it is communicated to 

 both bees and brood. 



The bacteria, " the disease germs," 

 having been lately deposited on the 

 pollen (from what source is not 

 positively known, but probably from 

 the decomposing bodies of other 

 insects) before the organisms are 

 washed from the blossoms by the heat 

 of the Sun, as they lie exposed to his 

 rays without any element essential to 

 their culture and growth, are carried 

 and stored with the pollen iu the cell, 

 or pass into the digestive system along 

 with the live pollen taken by the bees 

 for their own nourishment. By this 

 means these agents of destruction are 

 introduced into the organism of the 

 bees, and through the same medium 

 are they introduced into the cells of 

 the uncapped larvje. The bacteria, 

 having found a lodgment in the 

 organism of the bee, may or rriUy not 



