ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



25 



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 an- 

 gle . of 75 degrees from the top 

 of the comb, while your sight 

 falls upon the cell at an an- 

 gle of about 45 degrees. 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 sim- 

 ilar appearance but are more or less 

 surface 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 

 treatment 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 detri- 

 mental and destructive, and surely en- 

 courage the recurrence of the disease." 

 In Wisconsin I have tried many meth- 

 ods of treatment, and cured some cases 

 with each method, but the one that 

 never fails, if carefully followed, and 

 that commends itself is the McEvoy 

 treatment. Canada's foul brood in- 

 spector 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 the evening of 

 the fourth day take out the new combs 

 and give them comb-foundation (full 

 sheets) to work out, and then the cure 

 will be complete. By this method of 

 treatment all the diseased honey is 

 removed from the bees before the full 

 sheets of foundation are worked out. 

 All the old foul-brood combs must be 

 burned or carefully made into wax, 

 after they are removed from the hives, 

 and all the new combs made out of the 

 starters during the four days must be 

 burned or made into wax, on account 

 of the diseased honey that would be 

 stored in them. All the curing or 

 treating of diseased colonies should 

 be done in the evening, so as not to 

 have any robbing done, or cause any 

 of the bees from the diseased colonies 

 to mix and go with the bees of healthy 

 colonies. By doing all the work in the 

 evening it gives the bees a chance to 

 settle down nicely before morning, and 

 then there is no confusion or trouble. 

 This same method of curing colonies 

 of foul brood can be carried on at 

 any time from May to October, when 

 the bees are not getting any honey, by 

 feeding plenty of sugar syrup in the 

 evenings to take the place of the 

 honey-flow. It will start the bees rob- 

 bing and spread the disease to work 

 with foul brood colonies in warm days 

 when the bees are not gathering honey, 

 and for that reason all work must be 

 done in the evenings when no bees 

 are flying. 



"When the diseased colonies are 

 weak in bees, put the bees, two, three, 

 or four colonies together, so as to get 

 a good -sized colony to start the cure 

 with as it does not pay to spend time 

 fussing with little, weak colonies. 

 When the bees are not gathering hon- 

 ey any apiary can be cured of foul 

 brood by removing the diseased combs 

 in the evening and giving the bees 

 frames with comb -foundation starters 

 on. Then also in the evening feed 

 the bees plenty of sugar syrup and 



