BEE MANUAL. 265 
having been effected by it have from time to time reached the 
bee journals. Mr. A. E. Bonney, who has been very successful 
in eradicating the disease from his apiary by Muth’s method, 
described the plan in a very able paper read by him before the 
South Australian Bee Keepers’ Association, on January 5th, 
1885, in the following words :— 
“Remove from its stand the hive containing the diseased colony, 
and put in its place a clean hive with starters of foundation in all the 
frames. Brush the bees into the clean hive, and feed them with honey 
or sugar syrup, adding to every quart of food an ounce of the following 
mixture, namely, sixteen grains salicylic acid, sixteen grains soda 
borax, one ounce water. This feeding should be kept up for about ten 
days. The diseased combs should be cut from the frames and burned 
up, and the hive and frames scraped and well scrubbed with carbolic 
soap and water. Calvert’s medical soap, containing 20 per cent. of 
acid, is most effective for this purpose. That is the whole opera- 
tion; but when there are more hives than one, certain precautions 
must be taken, or else the bee-keeper will discover that in curing this 
one he has spread the disease into others. The best time for this work 
is the early morning, and everything should be prepared the previous 
evening. The entrances to all adjacent hives should be closed with 
perforated zinc, which must not be removed until after the operation 
is completed. Before removing the zinc, the alighting-boards and 
fronts of the hives should be washed over with a solution of 1 of phenol 
in 200 of water. While the disease exists in the apiary the apiarist 
should make a practice of always washing his hands, smoker, etc., with 
the above solution before going from one hive to another. A small 
piece of sponge is convenient for this purpose. After treating a bad 
case Ihave my clothes washed before wearing them again amongst 
healthy hives. Carbolic acid No. 5, well mixed with water, in the pro- 
portion of one ounce of acid to two quarts of water, should be sprinkled 
on the ground where the diseased hive stood. This will destroy the 
germs in any foul broody matter which may have been carried out of 
the hive. All honey extracted from diseased combs should be tho- 
roughly boiled with one-fourth of its quantity of water before being fed 
back to the bees. . . . . Thirteen of my hives have been cured by 
Mr. Muth’s method, and it is to me a source of much pleasure to go 
from hive to hive and see large sheets of healthy brood in all stages, 
knowing that not long ago some of these colonies were dying out in 
rottenness..... Mr. Stevens, of Goodwood, by the persistent use of 
this cure got rid of foul brood last year, and has not since been 
troubled with it.” 
Writing in June, 1885, he says : 
“‘It is quite possible that in many places in Australia, where the 
honey supply is intermittent, or in the more rigorous climate of New 
Zealand, the Cheshire cure may be the best to adopt, but it certainly 
is not in this locality (Adelaide).” 
