258 
THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
to sun and air for two seasons, and stock them thereafter 
without experiencing a return of the malady. 
“On the whole, the disease has now lost its terrors for 
me. Though my bees may re-introduce it from neighbor, 
ing Apiaries or other foreign sources, I no longer appre¬ 
hend that it will suddenly break out in a number of my 
colonics, or spread rapidly in any of my Apiaries, because 
I shall hereafter avoid feeding foreign or imported honey, 
even if, in an unfavorable year, it should become neces¬ 
sary to reduce the number of my stocks to one-half or 
one-fourth of the usual complement. 
“But when the malady makes its appearance in only 
two or three of the colonies, and is discovered early 
(which may readily be done in hives having movable- 
combs), it can be arrested and cured without damage 
or diminution of profit. To prevent the disease from 
spreading in a colony , there is no more reliable and effi¬ 
cient process than to stop the production op bbood, 
for where no brood exists, none can perish and putrefy. 
The disease is thus deprived both of its aliment and its 
subjects. The healthy brood will mature and emerge in 
due time, and the putrid matter remaining in a few cells 
will dry up and be removed by the workers. All this 
will certainly result from a well-timed removal of the 
queen from such colonies. If such removal becomes 
necessary in the Spring or early part of Summer, a super¬ 
numerary queen is thereby obtained, by means of which 
an artificial colony may be started, which will certainly 
be healthy if the bees and brood used, be taken from 
healthy colonies Should the removal be made in the 
latter part of Summer, the useless production of brood 
will at once be stopped, and an unnecessary consumption 
of honey prevented. Thus, in either case, we are gainers 
by the iperati in. If we have a larger number of colonies 
