138 A Modern Bee-Farm 
48 hours. And, again, what becomes of the great enemy? 
for without giving any medicated food, in years gone by, 
I have often cured in this way. There can be only one 
reply to the query; the act of cure is the same in both 
cases. 
I come now to the apparently more intricate cases as 
presented in problem 4, where the disease was not only 
once, but repeatedly disposed of without destroying the 
combs, without medication, and with no manipulation of 
the diseased cells whatever. 
Interval without Laying Queen. 
There was in each case granted an interval of two to 
three weeks without a laying queen, during which space 
of time the population being numerous, and honey coming 
in, all the diseased matter was disposed of. Even then we 
have been taught to believe the bees could not dispose of 
every cause of infection. But what are the facts? The 
bees having thoroughly cleared out every particle of the 
soil suitable for the germs to thrive in—and this they will 
not so readily do all the time they have a laying queen—any 
spores left in the hive were bound to germinate where 
there was no soil to support them, therefore their existence 
terminated.* 
Consequently we now see that the spores which might 
remain indefinitely without germinating in a comb removed 
from the genial temperature of the hive, are as it were, 
under a forcing process while remaining there during the 
active period of summer. Moreover, where a suitable 
remedy such as Izal is used to combat the disease, it 
* It has been demonstrated by careful experiments that while no 
extent of cold will kill the spores, that repeated boiling may with 
difficulty do so—when diluted in water at about 60° they perish 
in less than six months; while germs, when so diluted, will be 
destroyed by placing them in the sun for a few days. 
