15 



Treatment of " Foul Brood." 



The drug treatment for the cure of "foul hrood " so strongly 

 recommended by Cheshire and others, who claimed to have been 

 successful, has, after about a quarter of a century's trial under all 

 conditions, been almost universally condemned. I have !io reason to 

 doubt that in the hands of scientific men like the late Mr. Cheshire 

 cures can be effected by drugs. What we have to consider, how- 

 ever, is not what the scientific man can accomplish by any particular 

 method, so much as what effective treatment is there that will come 

 within the accomplishment of the average beekeeper? What is 

 known as the " starvation " plan, brought so prominently forward of 

 late years by Mr. McEvoy, answers to this, and it has been found to 

 be the most successful generally of any treatment yet tried. Mr. 

 McEvoy, in fact, claims to have cui'ed thousands of diseased colonies 

 by the starvation method, and it is now almost the only one adopted. 



It is by no means new, for in 1885 Mr. D. A. Jones, of Canada, 

 who was at that time one of the most extensive beekeepers in the 

 world, advocated the plan in a little work he published on " Foul 

 Brood : its Management and Cure," and it was afterwards known as 

 " Jones's starvation plan." Mr. Cowan, editor and proprietor of the 

 British Bee Journal, in reviewing tbe work in December of the same 

 year, pointed out that "as far back as 1767 one J. G. Seydel, and 

 in 1775 J. C. Voight, recommended similar treatment." Bonner 

 in 1789, and Della-Roux in 1790, were both practising it, while 

 Quinby in 1865, in his book, gives it as " the only effectual cure." 



The Jones Method. 

 The treatment given in his work was to shake the bees from 

 the infected combs into an empty box, and to close the top and 

 entrance with wire cloth ; then to place the box of bees in some 

 dark place (a cellar if possible), turning the box on its side so as 

 the wire cloth is at the side to allow air to pass through. Dark- 

 ness and a cool temperature are important, as also that all the 

 bees should be equally filled with honey. They are to remain where 

 deposited until they show signs of hunger. This they will do in 

 from four to six days, and they must be carefully watched after 

 the third day, as they are liable to die very quickly. When suffi- 

 ciently starved, which is known by some of the bees dropping down 

 and crawling about in a slow, quiet manner, they are shaken in 

 front of a hive prepared with some combs, and are allowed to run 

 in just the same as a swarm. If there is no food in the combs 

 the bees should be fed. The combs from infected hives should be 

 melted into wax and the frames boiled for some minutes. 



