FOUL BROOD IN BEES. 9 



nies will be cnred, without, disturbing the bees too much, or driving 

 them out of their hives by the use of obnoxious chemicals, nor will 

 the bee-keeper be compelled to resort to burning his bees, hives, 

 wtix, honey and implemeuts, and thus incur a double losti. But the 

 capability of reproduction is so enormous w.ith this contagion, that 

 its existence is made impossible only, if the process of disinfection 

 is gone through with every six days until cured (ihree days would 

 be preferable), to effect which it will require from three to hix 

 weeks, according to the stage of the dise-ise and size of colony. 



That bee-keeper who has neither ihe time nor the ambiiion to 

 spend money and work to persistently observe the method deline- 

 ated in this pamphlet, will certainly make a failure of his weak 

 attempts at curing his diseased stocks, and he must not blame Ihe 

 method, but himself. It is his fault, if his a[)iary and the sur- 

 rounding objects have the odor of decaying anini<i.ls. , He will ever 

 after be unfit no engage in bee-keeping, for the contagion will ad- 

 here to his h('use, yard, clothes and implements, and no re-scocking 

 will be of any use, but will prove to be an additional loss to the oue 

 already sustained, caused by a kck of persistency to attain a cer- 

 tain object. And any bee-keeper who would sell, out of an aSected 

 apiary, bees, queens and honey, should be regarded as a criminal, 

 amenable to the law as such, for he endangers the health iind prop^- 

 erty of his fellow-man. The pretext of ignorance should not 

 excuse any one, as it does not elsewhere. 



INDICATIONS OF FOUL BBOOD. 



. Before foul brood makes its actual appearance, certain signs fore- 

 stall the disease, which, though a sign of sozne other irregularities 

 in a colony, will admonish the bee-keeper to be cautious. First — 

 The colony is not as industrious as others of the same size and 

 stamp. Second — On examination, the brood will be found not to 

 be compact but scattered, empty cells here and there, where sealed 

 brood should be. If the bee-keeper interferes now by feeding med- 

 icated honey, the composition of which 1 will describe in subse- 

 quent pages, he will prevent an outbreak of the disease. If not, 

 he will notice, on examining the colony after a few days again, 

 third — Some cells with small holes in the sealing, which will also 

 present a sunken appearance. Opening the cells a brown, ropy, 

 bad- smelling mass will be seen, which, if not removed, dries and 

 adheres to the base of cell so tenaciously that the bees are unable 

 to remove it in any other way than by gnawing the cell-walls down 



3 



