144 Advanced Bcc Culture 



remember, however, that eternal vigilance is the price of success. One 

 drop of the infected honey secured b_\' a robber bee means disease once 

 more in the hive to which it is carried. It has been suggested that the 

 extracting, etc., be done down cellar. It is a cool place in which to 

 work, and the bees can the more easily be kept out. Others have 

 melted up the combs at night when no bees were flying. There is 

 really no necessity of destroying the combs and the honey they con- 

 tain. If a man can not or will not exercise sufficient care, it would 

 certainly be better to burn them; but if he has "gumption'' enough 

 to succeed as a bee-keeper he can save the combs from destruction. It 

 would be well, however, for all to bear in mind that one little "forget" 

 may compel a repetition of the whole business. 



Of late the bee-keepers in some parts of Colorado have been fol- 

 lowing a plan whereby a man may keep his apiary fairly free from 

 foul brood, even though located in a foul-broody district. It is well 

 known that shaking the bees of a foul-broody colon)' into a clean hive, 

 and allowing them to build a new set of combs, frees them from the 

 infection; well, these Western men, just at swarming-time, treat every 

 colony in the apiary in this manner — make a wholesale sweep of the 

 matter. As this is done at a season \\hen the hone3'-flow has com- 

 menced, and there will be no more robbing until the season is over, the 

 apiary remains free of the disease for that season. It is simplv forced 

 swarming on a wholesale scale. The old hives are given new loca- 

 tions, and perhaps the combs of two or more colonies are put together 

 upon one stand. Perhaps it ought to be mentioned that the combs are 

 not shaken entirely free of bees, some being left to care for the un- 

 sealed brood ; and caution is exercised that the work be not done too 

 early in the season when there would be danger of chilled brood or from 

 robbers. .A-t the end "f three weeks the brood has all hatched, when 

 the combs are shaken entirely free of bees, the latter, of course, going 

 back into the hives and building new combs, thus establishing colonies 

 that are free from the disease. The hone\- is then extracted from the 

 old combs, and the latter rendered into wax. It is asserted that the 

 wax \\\\\ ]ia\' for the labor, while the new combs are built at a profit. 

 T believe that this plan can be successfully followed in the East as in 

 the West ; although, of course, the Western harvest is much longer 

 than ours. 



Having given the treatments that are applicable for either Euro- 

 pean or .\merican foul brood, it will now be in order to give a treat- 

 ment that applies to European foul brood ( black brood ) only. This 

 has the advantage that neither brood nor combs need be destro}ed. 

 While the late E. W. Alexander was the first to bring it before the 

 public, Mr. S. D. House is one of the most successful users of the 



