THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



29 



it. Probably, more reliable, practical and 

 valuable information upon the subject can- 

 not be secured. 



I have had a somewhat intimate experi- 

 ence with the disease for the last three and a 

 half j'ears, among my own bees, and have 

 had it there for at least a year longer. When 

 first noticed, I think about five or six colo- 

 nies were affected. I say "noticed," for 

 though I saw its effects, I did not recognize 

 it as foul brood. Not until I had managed 

 my apiary during a honey-flow, in a manner 

 l)est calculated to disseminate the disease, 

 by extracting, changing combs and feeding 

 back, did I awake to the fact that the plague 

 was not only present, but had a thorough 

 foothold. 



Almost from the start, I determined, at 

 the risk of loss, as well of time and labor as 

 of bees, to learn what I could of its work- 

 ings : so, while I tried to eradicate it, I made 

 that purpose so far subject to the other, that 

 I did not act precipitately, but tried differ- 

 ent plans of cure, watching symptoms and 

 the results. 



I was always careful in respect to combs 

 and honey affected, and, in other respects, 

 used the care that the average person might 

 be expected to exercise when impressed with 

 its importance, without observing the extra- 

 ordinary precautions in every particular, 

 which are usually insisted upon. 



The first colony that attracted my atten- 

 tion — which was in June, 188(5 — had here and 

 there dead brood in the imago stage, l>ut lit- 

 tle, if any, that answered to the usual de- 

 scriptions of tlie disease. As the dead brood 

 was in the heart of the brood nest, and could 

 not have been the result of chilling. I was 

 somewhat alarmed : \mt, after watching it 

 awhile, the colony cast a swarm, and having 

 noticed no radical change, and, as the brood 

 of the swarm was entirely healthy, in the 

 rush of the season I dismissed my fears for 

 the time. 



Upon examination, in August, of colonies 

 to which honey had l)een fed back in order 

 to complete a lot of partly finished sections, 

 I awoke to the true state of affairs. Now, 

 there was no mistaking the character of the 

 malady. The viscid nature of the dead mat- 

 ter, the sunken, perforated cappings, the in- 

 crease of the disease, and, in colonies where 

 it had made considerable progress, a faint 

 odor like that of a poor quality of warm 

 glue, were all there. If half that had been 

 told of its malignanty were true, there was 

 reason enough for alarm : and most of the 

 colonies should have been affected, as the 

 conditions for dissemination could scarcely 

 have lieen more favorable. 



From a he.ivy yield of basswood, the brood 

 chambers had become over-loaded with hon- 

 ey, and two or three combs from nearly 

 every colony had been extracted, and the 

 freshly extracted combs carried along and 

 exchanged for the ones removed. Moreover, 

 rol)bers were plentiful, and the young man 

 who did most of this work was persistent in 

 facing, but not very skillful in circumvent- 

 ing them. 



How to meet and overcome the great 

 plague, was now the great question. About 

 that time there had been considerable dis- 



cussion of the malady, and of different 

 methods of cure, including the contributions 

 of Messrs. Jones, Muth and Cheshire, of 

 which I had the advantage. The "starva- 

 tion cure," as being the most convenient, 

 was first tried largely, and, as the season 

 was such that feeding became necessary, 

 Muth's "salicylic acid formula" was used in 

 medicating the honey fed. 



About forty colonies were oi)erated on 

 that season, the bees being confined accord- 

 ing to Jones' directions, with every precau- 

 tion, till signs of starvation ensued, when 

 they were put into clean hives — part on 

 foundation and jnirt on clean, empty combs. 

 All the contaminated hives, combs and hon- 

 ey were boiled, and the honey, after medi- 

 cation, was fed to the bees under treatment, 

 the hives marked and results carefully noted. 

 In a considerable percentage of the cases, 

 the disease soon reappeared, and, after a 

 time, in others. 



Thus, the first campaign closed with mea- 

 ger results, so far as making practical head- 

 way against the enemy was concerned. In 

 casting about for a new plan of procedure, I 

 remembered that the swarm from a diseased 

 colony became freed of the disease, by sim- 

 ply being left to itself after hiving on foun- 

 dation : and while I did not propose to, and 

 did not, give up experiments with other 

 methods, I kept my eye on this, as possibly 

 the "pole star" that might guide to an easy 

 escape. 



The next season, in addition to the meth- 

 ods before used, spraying, both with salicyl- 

 ic acid and with a phenol preparation, was 

 tried ; Ijut I was not long in deciding that it 

 was entirely impractical for Americans, who 

 must have expeditious and simple methods, 

 attended with quick and certain results. 



As soon as the proper season arrived, I 

 tried the new method of simply putting the 

 bees into a clean hive furnished with foun- 

 dation, and anxiously watched the issue. It 

 was successful. ( )f the numerous colonies 

 so treated, whether the swarms were natural 

 or made by division, I do not remember of 

 one that retained the disease. Here, then, 

 was a method than whiSh none could be 

 simpler or more effectual. 



To fix upon a systematic plan for the 

 practice of this method, one best adapted to 

 serve the interests of the apiarist in the mat- 

 ter of making the most of the bees in secur- 

 ing the honey crop, was the next step. Re- 

 garding the time for the operation, it must 

 be during a honey-flow, not necessarily 

 great, but of sutficient reliability to insure 

 against any necessity of feeding. 



I found, in my experiments, that by feeding 

 a few pounds of honey medicated with sali- 

 cylic acid in the spring— the food being 

 placed in an upper story, in a capacious 

 feeder— the disease, though ne-ver cured, was 

 completely checked, and the usefulness of 

 the colony for the production of honey pre- 

 served. One colony so fed, yielded, not- 

 withstanding the foul brood, twice the aver- 

 age of the apiary. 



Another benefit of this feeding is, that it 

 practically prevents, I thiuk, the dissemina- 

 tion of disease from each colony. Taking ad- 

 vantage of this discovery, after much delib- 



