Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1883-11-29
Experience With Foul Brood.

tead. Conn, gives his experience with
foul brood. in the American Bee Jour
nal, as follows
In July, 1882, the flow Of honey be-
mo GOOD. | noticed that the bees of
one of nv colonies were idle and list
Il less while the other colonies were at
work. | had only to take off the cap
Of the hive, and lift out a frame, to
find both by the odor and appearance
a case of foul brood. The concave
n brood caps, with perforations, the
dead brood, dark-colored and ropy,
v and bad smell, all being present. l
had read so much about it, that my
heart grew sick within me, and / felt
Il as once did. after working half an
hour in endeavoring to land two
u pound trout, and finding that it was
only sucker.
| put the frame back and left the
4 bees until near dusk. | then set box
beside the hive, and after smoking the
bees pretty thoroughly, brushed them
off the frames into the box, putting
on a cover Gn which was hole about
6 inches square, covered win WIRE
cloth, and fastened it on. l then set
the box away IN a dark stall III my
barn, and let 1t stand from 50 TO ~
hours. then took clean hive, put
II it on the same stand, put in it frames
of foundation, and emptied the bees
out of the box into it. | put on
feeder containing some graduated
\ sugar syrup with a little salicylic acid
mixed with it. The colony drew out
the foundation, stored nearly enough
honey to take them through the win
ter and / had no more foul brood
there.
| then proceeded to examine my
other colonies, of which l had 20 in
all. l found other colonies, infected
with the disease. only slightly, and ?
seriously. ! determined to try some
experiments, and having read your
valuable Journal for year or two,
and kept the numbers on file, also
owning A. |. Roots Bee Keeping,
Cooks Manual, King Quinby and
Langstroth books, | had quite a libra
nv to draw from. | took the worst
case left, and placed a clean hive on
the stand, in which were new frames
with foundation, and brushed the bees
lIllHiNAlAdlGlN lAOtAl lilC lilAN0AtA NOliApS
on to the foundation, and put on a
feeder with syrup and salicyclic acid
as before The colony also built out
the foundation, stored enough honey
for winter, and has showed no signs
of the disease since.
The other 5 colonies not being as
seriously affected. | determined to try
and save the combs if could IprO-
cured a solution of salicylic acid, ac
i cording to the recipe given, | think by
4 c. +. Muth, also by A. l. Root, and a
sprayer, and sprayed the combs and
bees thoroughly every week, and some
times oftener, until thought the dis
ease eradicated. 1t certainly decreased,
and seemed to disappear. On looking
over my bees in October, [ found that
it was not eradicated, and in one hive
it was quite bad
| brimstoned the bees in that hive,
and buried the combs, as | also did
those of the first two colonies men
toned. The other four colonies were
in brick hives, with cement lining
inside, and | determined to try and
save them | sent to l.. G. Root *
Bro. for some empty combs. having
none myself, and transferred the
combs to some new frames, took the
bees out of each hive, washed out the
hives, every crevice and corner with
salicyhc acid, filled the combs as well
as / could with syrup and brushed
the bees on to them. | have never
seen any foul brood" since
AS it is now a year since | saw the
last of it, | feel that | eradicated the
disease from my apiary with the loss
of only one colony. | did not burn or
destroy a hive. | washed them out
thoroughly with the acid, let them dry
III the sun, and have since used some
of them The query with me was,
where did the disease come from, as it
is said only to proceed from some
other diseased colony.
| kept very quiet about it, only my
wife and Oldest son knowing Of the
trouble. | have several neighbors who
keep bees, one only few rods
distant, who has a colony in a cub
board, or large box in the attic of his
shop. About the first of May last, /
asked him kow his bees were doing
He replied that they died out in the
winter. | asked him if he had remov
ed the combs, and he replied that he
had not | suggested to him that he
had better do so soon, or he moths
would destroy it all
A week or two later | asked him
again if he had removed the comb, to
which he replied that he had, that
few of the outside combs were nice,
and had nice honey in them, but that
the inside ones were all rotten, and
stunk so that it most made him sick
taking them out. | then guessed l
knew where my foul BROOD" came
from
The yield of white clover and bass
wood honey here, this year, was bet
ter than for the three previous years,
but of fall honey not enough to safely
winter on, and | have been feeding
several colOuieS