Fold Brood — Remedies. 311 



REMEDIES. 



If we can find a substance that will prove fatal to the fungi 

 and yet not injure the bees, the problem is solved. Our Ger- 

 man scientists — those masters in scientific research and discov- 

 ery, have found this valuable fungicide in salicylic acid, an 

 extract from the same willows that give us pollen and nectar. 

 This cheap white powder is easily soluble in alcohol, and, when 

 mixed" with borax, in water. 



Mr. Hilbert, one of the most thoughtful of German bee- 

 keepers, was the first to afiect a radical cure of foul brood in 

 his apiary by the use of this substance. He dissolved fifty 

 grains of the acid in five hundred grains of pure spirits. One 

 drop of this in a grain of distilled water is the mixture he ap- 

 plied. Mr. C. F. Muth, from whom the above facts as* to 

 Herr Hilbert are gathered, suggests a variation in the mix- 

 ture. 



Mr. Muth suggests an improvement, which takes advantage 

 of the fact that the acid, which alone is very insoluble in 

 water, is, when mixed with borax, soluble. His recipe is as 

 follows : Eight grains of salicylic acid, eight grains of soda- 

 borax, and one ounce of water. This remedy is applied as 

 follows : First, uncap all the brood, then throw the fluid over 

 the comb in a fine spray. This will not injure the bees, but 

 will prove fatal to the fungi. Mr. Muth found on trial that 

 though this method would cure, the labor and danger of 

 spreading the disease in the operation was so great that actual 

 cremation of all afifected stocks was often to be preferred. An 

 improvement which is just as successful and without the ob- 

 jections, is suggested by Mr. Muth as follows : Drum the bees 

 all out into a clean hive, filled with foundation, shut them in 

 this hive and feed them honey or syrup, after adding to each 

 quart one ounce of the above compound, except that sixteen 

 ounces each of the salicylic acid and soda-borax are used, thus 

 making the solution of double the strength. The honey should 

 be extracted and boiled, the old combs melted into wax, and 

 the hive scalded or burned. Great caution should be exercised 

 that none of the honey be eaten by bees till it has been 

 scalded. 



Mr. D. A. Jones is successful with what he terms the star- 

 vation method : The bees are removed to an empty hive, and 

 given no food for three or four days, till they have digested 



