THE DISEASES OF BEES. 79 



There can be no doubt that an intelligent and experienced 

 person can combat the disease successfully 



If we have to do with a very bad case, it will be best 

 to suffocate the bees with sulphur, and melt the combs down 

 for beeswax, and thoroughly disinfect the hit^e and frames by 

 steeping them in boiling water for some time, and afterwards 

 thoroughly painting them over with a strong solution of 

 carboUc acid ; it is needless to say that the hive should after- 

 wards be exposed to the air and not used again until the smell 

 of the carbolic acid has, to a great extent, passed off. Shoiild the 

 amateur try to cure a stock badly affected with foul brood, he 

 is almost sure to meet with failure ; and, moreover, while he is 

 tinkering with this hive, he will get all the others in his apiary 

 affected ; for the sake of his neighbours, too, he should destroy 

 such a stock ; and if the hive be made of straw instead of wood, 

 it must be burnt, as it would be impossible to effectually dis- 

 infect it. The combs, when melted down for beeswax, are 

 subjected to so high a temperature that the spores of foul brood 

 are killed, therefore the infection is not carried in the wax. If, 

 before the combs are melted down, the honey is extracted from 

 them, it must be boiled for some minutes, to kill the spores of 

 the disease, before the bees are fed with it again. The ex- 

 tractor will need to be thoroughly cleansed all over, and scalded 

 before it is used again. In dealing with foul brood, the utmost 

 care must be taken to thoroughly disinfect everything which 

 is used in connection with the diseased stock, and the hands 

 must also be disinfected after a manipulation ; otherwise we 

 shall convey the infection to other hives, the disease being 

 generated by the most minute spores, only discernible by the 

 aid of a high-power microscope. 



Salicylic Acid. 



This remedy was discovered some years ago, and is still used 

 with good results. It is used in two ways — namely, to spray 

 the combs with, and to mix with the food. The solution for 

 spraying the combs is made as follows : — 8 grains of salicylic 

 acid, 8 grains of soda-borax, and 1 oz. of water (it is necessary 

 to add the soda-borax, as salicylic acid, by itself, is practically 

 insoluble in water) : all the honey in the hive must be uncapped, 

 and the solution projected on to the combs in a fine spray from 

 a spray diffuser (fig. 41). 



