236 THE APIARF. 



hive that has contained a foul-breeding colony should be 

 exposed to the sun and air for two years before being 

 re-stocked. In my own case, this was simply impossible, 

 and I therefore adopted the practice of another German 

 writer on the subject, viz., to scrape out the hive very 

 carefully, wash it all over with a saturated solution of 

 chloride of lime, keeping it closely shut up for twenty- 

 four hours, and then, after thoroughly washing it with 

 dean water, exposing it to the sun and air until the 

 smell of the disinfectant had passed off. This method 

 has the advantage of enabling one to use a wooden hive 

 again after a lapse of a couple of days, and is, I believe, 

 thoroughly effectual. ' ' 



Mr. Woodbury then captured the queen, secured her 

 in a "cage," and placed her in a clean empty hive ; all 

 her bees were brushed from their combs into it as rapidly 

 as possible, in order to prevent their carrying much of 

 the infected honey with them, whilst the combs themselves 

 were set draining out of the bees' reach, and consigned 

 as quickly as possible to the melting pot. After the 

 lapse of three or four days, the queen (still imprisoned) 

 and bees were again transferred to another clean hive, 

 furnished with a few pure combs, and in this they werfe 

 suffered to remain, their queen being released in a day 

 or two, as soon as they appeared contentedly settled. 

 Mr. Woodbury gives another important hint that opera^ 

 tions of this kind with tainted combs should be performed^ 

 out of reach of robber-bees from adjacent hives^ lest they 



