poui. -BROOD. 483 



"All the difference from the McEvoy treatment that I prac- 

 tice, I dig a pit on the level ground near the diseased apiary, 

 and after getting a fire in the pit, such diseased combs, frames, 

 etc., as are to be burned are burned in this pit in the evening 

 and then the fresh earth from the pit returned to cover all from 



sight I also cage the queens while the bees are on the 



strips of foundation." — (N. E. Prance, in Bulletin No. 2, 

 Wisconsin Bee-Keeping.) 



The above method is called the starvation method. That 

 is to say, the bees are transferred and forced to build comb 

 until they have used up all of the honey they had in the 

 diseased hive. A similar method was recommended by Schi- 

 r-ach, the same man who discovered that a queen can be 

 raised from a worker egg (109, footnote). 



This method is based on the theory that the honey is the 

 main transmitter of the disease. This is in contradiction 

 with Cheshire's statement, that he found no spores in honey, 

 but practice has sufficiently proved that Cheshire's conclu- 

 sions were erroneous. Although the spores of the bacillus 

 may not be very numerous in the honey, they are there in 

 the very best position to spread the disease, since out of the 

 honey and pollen is made the food which goes to the larva 

 and it is the larva which suffers from the disease, in most 

 cases. However, according to the bacteriologists who have 

 made a study of the matter, the bacillus may also be found 

 in the organs of the bees and of the queen, and some even 

 assert that bees and queens (787) have been killed by the 

 disease. McBvoy asserts that it is not necessary to disin- 

 fect the hives that have contained the diseased colonies. In 

 this he is sustained by many others, but in very virulent 

 cases we believe it is advisable to do it. Although the Ber- 

 trand-(Jowan method has been used successfully we believe 

 [hat the destruction of the combs of the diseased colonies 

 will prove most effective. Such combs as contain brood 

 should be burnt up, but those tliat contain no brood may as 

 well be made into wax (858-862). Care should be taken 



