24 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



do every batch of wax. I then divided 

 the various makes of foundation and 

 selected 20 of the best bee-yards in Wis- 

 consin, where no disease had ever been 

 known, had the same placed in 62 of 

 their best colonies, and in every case 

 no signs of disease have appeared. 

 Those same colonies continue to be the 

 best in the various apiaries. 



Symptoms of Foul Brood. 



1. The infected colony is not liable 

 to be as industrious. Hive entrance with 

 few guard bees to protect their home. 

 Sometimes fine dirt or little bits of old 

 comb and dead bees in and around the 

 hive-entrance, and often robber-bees 

 seeking entrance. 



2. Upon opening the hive, the brood 

 in the combs is irregular, badly scat- 

 tered, with many empty cells which 

 need inspection. 



3. The cappings over healthy brood 

 are oval, smooth and of a healthy color 

 peculiar to honey-bee brood, but if dis- 

 eased the cappings are sunken, a little 

 darker in color, and have ragged pin- 

 holes. The dead larval bee is of a 

 light color, and, as it is termed, ropy, 

 so that if a toothpick is inserted and 

 slowly withdrawn, this dead larva will 

 draw out much like spittle or glue. 



5. In this ropy stage there is more 

 or less odor peculiar to the disease ; it 

 smells something like an old, stale glue- 

 pot. A colony may be quite badly af- 

 fected and not emit much odor, only 

 upon opening of the hive or close ex- 

 amination of the brood. I have treated 

 a few cases where the foul brood odoi 

 was plainly noticed several rods from 

 the apiary. 



6. Dried Scales — If the disease has 

 reached the advanced stages, all the 

 above-described conditions will be easily 

 -een and the dried scales as well. This 

 foul matter is so tenacious that the bees 

 cannot remove it, so it dries down on 

 the lower side-wall of the cell, midway 

 from the bottom to front end of the cell, 

 seldom on the bottom of the cell. Ac- 

 cording to its stage of development there 

 will be either the shapeless mass of 

 dark-brown matter, on the lower side 

 of the cell, often with a wrinkled skin 

 covering as if a fine thread had been 

 inserted in the skin lengthwise and 

 drawn enough to form rib-like streaks 

 on either side. Later on it becomes 

 hardened, nearly black in color, and in 

 time dries down to be as thin as the 



side-walls of the cell. Often there will 

 be a small dried bunch at the front end 

 of the cell not larger than a part of 

 common pin-head. To see it plainly, 

 take the comb by the top-bar and hold 

 it so that a good light falls into the cell 

 at an angle of 75 degrees from the top 

 of the combj vvhile your sight falls upon 

 the cell at an angle of about 45 de- 

 grees. The scales, if present, will easily 

 be seen as above described. This stage 

 of disease in combs is easily seen and 

 is always a sure guide or proof of foul 

 brood. Such combs can never be used 

 safely by the bees and must be either 

 burned or carefully melted. Be sure not 

 to mistake such marked combs in the 

 spring for those soiled with bee-dysen- 

 tery. The latter have a somewhat simi- 

 lar appearance but are more or less sur- 

 face-soiled, and will also be spotted or 

 have streaked appearance by the dark- 

 brown sticky excrements from the adult 

 bees. 



Treatment. 



"A bee-keeper who does not discover 

 foul brood, before his nostrils remind 

 him that there is something wrong with 

 his bees, is not the proper person to 

 treat the case." Dr. Howard, in his 

 valuable book on foul brood, states, "I 

 regard the use of all drugs in the treat- 

 ment of foul brood as a useless waste 

 of time and material, wholly ineffectual, 

 inviting ruin and total loss of bees. Any 

 method which has not for its object the 

 entire removal of all infectious material 

 beyond the reach of both bees and brood 

 will prove detrimental and destructive, 

 and surely encourage the recurrence of 

 the disease." In Wisconsin I have tried 

 many methods of treatment, and cured 

 some cases with each method, but the 

 one that never fails, if carefully fol- 

 lowed, and that commends itself is the 

 McEvoy treatment. Canada's foul brood 

 inspector has cured foul brood by the 

 wholesale — thousands of cases. 



McEvoY Treatment. 



"In the honey season when the bees 

 are gathering honey freely, remove the 

 combs in the evening and shake the 

 bees into their own hives ; give them 

 frames with comb-foundation starters 

 and let them build comb for four days. 

 The bees will make the starters into" 

 comb during the four days and store the 

 diseased honey in them, which they took 

 with them from the old comb. Then in 



