eepeps' |\e\^ie(jo. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tlqe Interests of Hoqey Producers. 



$L00 A YEAR. 



¥. z. HOTCHINSON, Editor and ProDiletor. 



VOL, IX, 



FLINT, MICHIGAN, JUNE 10. 1896. 



NO. 6. 



A\^ork at IVTicliigaTi's 



Experimental 



-A.piarv. 



B. li. TAYIiOB, APIARIST. 

 DEALING WITH FOUL BROOD. 



TT is coming to 

 1 be more and 

 more important 

 apparently that a 

 thorough knowl- 

 edge of the dis- 

 ease called foul 

 brood and of the 

 steps necessary 

 to exterminate it 

 should be dissem- 

 inated among 

 those who keep 

 bees, for it seems to have a foothold in 

 many wildly separated portions of the state, 

 and it must always be terri'^ly destructive 

 when it is not dealt with intelligently ; so a 

 record of my experience with it during 

 the past year will have its value. 



For the purpose of study and experimen- 

 tation I have aimed, latterly, to keep a col- 

 ony or two having the disease, but last sum- 

 mer the disease broke out afresh, making 

 the number of diseased colonies uncomfort- 

 ably large : there being now eleven colonies 

 which underwent treatment, not to speak of 

 others that first or last were united with 



one or another of these. The cause of this 

 marked reappearance, as I think, was owing 

 to the fact that on account of the dearth of 

 nectar during June and July, the bees en- 

 croached on their old* st stores, even to their 

 almost entire consumption, more or less of 

 which had been in their hives for years and 

 contained, in a quiescent state, the germs 

 of the disease. 



These colonie? were treated according to 

 the plan described in my report of two years 

 ago, by driving or shaking the bees into a 

 clean hive furnished with foundation. The 

 majority of the colouits were so treated at 

 the beginning of honey gathering from fall 

 flowers, the rest two to three weeks later, 

 when the honey flow was nearly over. The 

 decided advantage of treating diseased 

 colonies when there is a considerable 

 flow of nectar was clearly seen by an in- 

 spection of these two lots of bees after the 

 treatment. Of the first lot every colony 

 went to work at once contentedly, and with 

 a will, and at the close of the season were 

 fair colonies with natural stores for winter. 

 Of those treated later, all were discontented, 

 and all, or nearly all, attempted to swarm 

 out, some of them frequently. The con- 

 sequence was that all were weak even after 

 some had been united. 



The reason tiiat, all were not treated at the 

 earlier date was that it was deemed desira- 

 ble to save some of the brood taken from 

 the first lot by giving it to others, to be 

 cared for, till it should hatch. The event 

 showed that it would have been more profit* 



