480 THE BEB-kKBPBR'S GUIDE ; 



fortieth of an ounce to a pound of syrup — would be wise as a 

 prevention except that, as stated above, beta napthol is pref- 

 erable. But, like salicylic acid, these carbolic acid derivatives 

 are too uncertain. So many have failed to cure with these 

 remedies. 



So longf as we have a safe, sure remedy which works in 

 the hands of all, we can illy afford to risk our success with 

 remedies that so generally fail. 



Mr. D. A. Jones, and scores of others, are successful with 

 what is termed the starvation method : The bees are drummed 

 into an empty hive, placed in a cellar, and given no food 

 for three or four days, till they have digested all honey in their 

 stomachs. They are then given foundation and food, and the 

 combs melted for wax, the honey scalded, and the hives 

 scalded thoroughly before being again used. It would seem 

 that the spores are in the honey — we know surely that they 

 are in the chyle, though Schoufeld finds that they are not in 

 the blood of the bee — and by taking that, the contagion is 

 administered to the young bees. The honey may be purified 

 from these noxious germs by subjecting it to the boiling tem- 

 perature, which is generally, if not always, fatal to the spores 

 of fungoid life. The microbe is killed surely by a tempera- 

 ture even less than the usual boiling, 212 degrees F. The 

 spores, however, are only killed by prolonged boiling. So we 

 better add water to the honey and then boil for an hour to 

 make it safe, after which the honey may be safely fed. Some 

 of wide experience say that it is safe to use the hives, even 

 though they have not been boiled. Mr. McEvoy, of Ontario, 

 after his very extensive experience, urges this. The combs 

 are melted for wax. The disease is probably spread by robber- 

 bees visiting affected hives, and carrying with them in the 

 honey the fatal germs. Mr. Doolittle, after some experience, 

 agrees with the lamented Quinby, that it is not necessary to 

 cause the bees to fast as described by Mr. Jones. They can at 

 once be hived safely on foundation. In this case, all honey is 

 used up before any brood is present to be fed. To secure this, 

 ttiey are after four days changed again on to new foundation. 

 We must in all this be most careful not to scatter honey, or to 

 permit a single robber-bee to get at it. Great care, and the 



