FOUL BROOD. 4J 



are sunken, dark in colour, and some are perforated, the 

 holes being irregular and ragged at the edges. If one of 

 the diseased cells is uncapped, instead of a pearly white grub, 

 a mass of putrid dark-coloured matter is seen, which, when 

 pulled out with a pin, comes away in strings something like 

 partly cooled glue. A foul-broody stock dwindles away, 

 partly by reason of the brood not hatching out, and partly 

 because so many of the cells are filled with the decaying 

 matter that the queen has not room in which to deposit 

 eggs, and her health suffers in consequence. If by any 

 chance a diseased stock swarms, the maturing queens gene- 

 rally die in their cells, and the stock is left queenless. As it 

 becomes weaker in bees it is attacked by robbers, and in this 

 way the infection is carried from hive to hive until the whole 

 neighTaourhood has it. The only remedy for the disease 

 which has been used with anything like success is Calvert's 

 Carbolic Crystals, No. i, B. P., which is used as follows : — 

 The contents of an ounce bottle are melted by placing it in 

 hot water, when it is poured into a quart of cold water in a 

 bottle, which is shaken occasionally until the crystals are 

 completely dissolved. Some thin syrup (3 lbs. of sugar to- 

 a quart of boiling water) is prepared and given to the bees 

 by filling a large tumbler, covering it with a piece of slate, 

 and rapidly inverting it, in which position it is left standing 

 near the hives, but not so near as to induce robbing. When 

 the bees have been taking the syrup for a day or two a tea- 

 spoonful of the solution of carbolic crystals is added, and the 

 dose is increased gradually until the bees show signs of re- 

 fusing it, when it must be slightly recced. If the foul 

 brood is of the mild type this treatment, which is only 

 practicable in spring or autumn, when honey is scarce, will 

 soon bring the brood into a healthy condition. Spare 

 combs should be sprayed with the solution and kept in a 

 closed hive. Hives in which diseased stocks have been kept 

 should have Calvert's No. 4 Carbolic appUed with a brush to 

 every part of the interior, after which a few frames of comb- 

 are put in and the quilt is placed over all. Feeders and 

 other small articles must be sprayed or washed with the 

 solution, and quilts should be sprayed and afterwards ironed 

 with a very hot iron, to destroy the germs of the disease. 



