20 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
of honey, but no brood either in the shape of 
eggs, grubs, or sealed bees to be found, except 
here and there a cell was covered, but found 
to contain a dead and dried up bee. 
This hive is Queenless, and probably the 
young Queen hatched after the last swarm 
left, was lost on her marriage trip, and the 
bees had no eggs or young larva? from which 
to raise another. To set this colony right a 
new Queen should be introduced* or else the 
bees should be united with another stock 
which has a Queen, and is thriving. In the 
latter case the honey can be taken at once, but 
if a new Queen is given the combs must not 
be disturbed. 
In the second hive examined, the bees had 
dwindled considerably, a few only appeared to 
be working half-heartedly, while many were 
seen idling about the mouth of the hive, or 
constantly fanning at the entrance with their 
heads towards the hive. An unwholesome 
sickly odour was noticed immediately the hive 
was tilted, but the combs were fairly covered 
with bees which did not appear so lively as 
usual. The piece of comb cut from the heart of 
the stock emitted a peculiar and most offensive 
smell. Many of the caps of the sealed brood 
cells were noticed to be sunk down, and pre- 
sented a flat or even hollow instead of a 
convex surface. Some of these sunk cap- 
pings had small holes in them, and when a 
few of them were opened out they were found 
about full of a brown sticky stuff like dirty 
glue, which adhered to the pointed stick, and 
drew out in threads, and gave out the peculiar 
stench already noticed. If it were not for this 
not hing wrong with the bees could be observed 
except their want of life and activity. 
This was a case of the disease known as 
foul brood, which is unusually contagious 
among bees, and soon spreads among other 
hives, and often deals sad havoc and 
even total destruction to the whole apiary. 
The cause of this disease has lately been traced 
to a minute germ which attacks both the 
Queen and the bees, but apparently does 
them no harm, but it also attacks the young 
brood and they die in the cell at any time 
from the egg to the bee nearly ready to hatch. 
The germs feed on the dead substance, leaving 
only the putrid viscid mass behind, which is 
so foul and offensive that the bees refuse to 
remove it, as they do nearly all other decayed 
matter, and the hive not only becomes almost 
unbearable to the bees, but none or very little 
brood is hatched, the stock diminishes by the 
old bees dying, and unless the remainder 
desert with the Queen, they may be found 
eventually reduced to a quarter of a pint of 
x In»tructions for giving a new Queen to a stock will be 
given in our next number. 
bees and a diseased Queen. The beekeeper 
having made the unpleasant discovery that he 
has foul brood among his stocks, naturally 
asks, What is best to be done ? The fact that 
his bees are in boxes and not in frame-hives 
limits the means he can adopt for effecting a 
cure to one very simple process, namely, driving 
his bees and Queen into a clean hive, and let 
them build new comb and begin again. It 
will be better to feed the bees freely with 
white sugar syrup into which is put a 
little “phenol” (or pure white carbolic acid 
crystal,) say about ten grains to each pint of 
syrup. The bees will take this unless there is 
a free flow of honey, but if they do not, it will 
be well to thin the medicated syrup with a 
little water, invert the hive and pour a little 
over the comb and bees every five days or so 
till young bees make their appearance, after 
which in all probability no foul brood will 
again appear. A further examination of the 
new comb in five or six weeks after the hive 
was changed will be desirable to make sure it 
is cured. 
The old box, and all its contents, can now 
be burned ; but if proper precautions be taken 
that no bees can get at the honey and combs, 
the honey in the comb can be cut clean away 
from the diseased brood, and if there is no 
objection to a rather sickening job, the foul 
broody comb can be plunged into a pot of 
boiling water and boiled until all the wax 
separates and floats on the top, when all may 
be left to cool, the wax taken off, and the 
water thrown on a manure heap. The honey 
should be drained or strained from the comb 
and placed in a bottle or small tin billy, which 
is put in water in a larger vessel. The water 
is brought to a boil for ten minutes and the 
honey skimmed and put away for winter 
feeding. 
(To be continued.) 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
(To the Editors of the Australian Beekeepers' 
Journal.) 
GENTLEMEN, — The appearance of your journal 
should be hailed with satisfaction by every 
beekeeper in Victoria. It is creditable alike 
to the editorial and publishing department, 
and I hope it will have a long and useful 
career. The beekeeping industry has beeD 
sadly neglected hitherto in this grand country 
of ours, and I trust the Australian Beekeepers' 
Journal may be the means of arousing an 
interest in an industry that is not only very 
interesting as a study, but may be made 
interesting in a pecuniary way by the use of 
proper appliances. As my time is somewhat 
limited, I will not be able to say much about 
matters apiarian in this district this month, 
