76 



keeping the cloth eatuKited with formalin solution on the floor- 

 board, and re-saturating it weekly. If the bees require food at 

 any time after commencing this treatment, give medicated 

 summer syrup (178), prepared by dusting 30 grains of paraform 

 powder over one quart of syrup, and then thoroughly mixing. 

 The bees will not take medicated syrup unless they require 

 food, 80 it may be safely left on the frames. During the whole 

 process the bees should be kept very warm, and if the hive is in 

 bad condition, dirty, or not weatherproof, they should be trans- 

 ferred to a clean hive twenty-two days after the first dis- 

 infection, or as soon afterwards as possible. If the hive stands 

 in a damp or very sheltered situation, it is advisable to move it, 

 if possible, gradually to a drier and more exposed site (182). 

 The frames withdrawn on the twenty-second day after dis- 

 infection should be burnt with ths combs they contain, or 

 the comb only may be thus treated, and the frames may be 

 disinfected as below described. If the beekeeper objects to pro- 

 cure a suitable fumigator, or if a spare body-box cannot be pro- 

 vided, that part of the treatment above described which does 

 not relate to fumigating, should be carried out; but as the 

 hive will not have been thoroughly disinfected by this proce- 

 dure, the bees should be transferred to a clean hive after 

 twenty-one days have elapsed from the commencement of the 

 treatment, only those frames which were behind the excluder 

 dummy being transferred to the new hive. If the old hive and 

 hive parts are not worth keeping, they should be burnt ; in any 

 case the quilts should be burnt. If the hive and hive fittings 

 are worth preserving, they should all be disinfected as soon as 

 the bees have been transferred into a new hive, whether the 

 hive has been fumigated with formalin or not. This disinfec- 

 tion of the hive and hive fittings should be done by singeing 

 all unpainted woodwork with a painter's blow lamp ; or, if this 

 is not practicable, all the unpainted portions of the hive and fit- 

 tings should be thoroughly saturated with petroleum oil and 

 then set on fire, taking care to turn each part so that every 

 portion will be thoroughly scorched. All wax should be thor- 

 oughly removed from the grooves in the frames before scorch- 

 ing them. When the wood has been sufficiently scorched, 

 the flames may be put out with a damp cloth, and the 

 painted parts should afterwards receive two coats of lead paint. 

 The object in view in prescribing the methods of treatment 

 above recommended for " very mild " and " mild " attacks of 

 foul brood, is to save the brood, while thoroughly disinfecting 

 the hive and its contents. 



If more than half the brood appears to be diseased , and the stock 

 is weak, it would be best to smother the 



171. Bad Attacks, bees with sulphur and then to burn the 

 combs, bees, and quilts, and to thoroughly 



scorch, disinfect and paint the hive and such of the fittings as 



are worth keeping, burning any which are not worth keeping. 



If a smoker is available, a good method of smothering the bees 



