Foul Brood.

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2111, 18 June 1898, Page 2

Foul Brood.

We received the following letter from Mr Jjoftn Evans some weeks ago; but from one cause 'and another its publication has been delayed i— -

Sib,—lt must be evident to all readers of the Journal that foul brood is anything but uncommon in New Zealand, and I know from numerous private letters that this dread disease is causing trouble in almost all parts of Australia. It is therefore no wonder that Mr Cheshire’® paper on this subject met with, the approval of colonial beekeepers, and his method of cure was in many instances at once adopted, Several letters have been published stating that the phenol cure has been a complete success, whilstothers report absolute failures. More over, some of those who have been successful with this method say that where a cure ,tias not resulted it was through want of correctly carrying out Mr Cheshire’s directions. In a foot-note to Mr Harding’s letter. on page 135 of your Journal, you say, * These, ’ i- e., failures, • we attribute to the want of. judgment in administering ..the medicine or the use of impure drug.' - Now is it not probably that these contradictory reports may be explained by the different circumstance® under which the experiments were made ? For instance, a person attempting to cure foul brood with phenolated syrup, when honey was scarce would have a far better chance of success than another making the attempt in the height of the honey season. In this letter I pro- ; pose-to show why th® Cheshire’s cure can be of little use to me, and why I prater Mr Math’s plan but before ideing so I Wish to record my high appreciation Of Mr 1 Cheshire’s investigations, and to day that I never read anything relating to bee culture With so much interest as I did his papers on foul brood. In the first place you must understand that I work my hives for comb honey, and therefore do apt. re-.: quire to use comb foundation in the brood f rames. Also that there is a steady flow of honey almost throughout the year, and the climate is so favourable that brood-rearing is carried on continuously. . The result is that'the destruction of a sst of brood combs is a matter of small consequence, for the boas can quickly repair the damage. Taking all this into consideration, do you think it would be worth while to attempt the euro of foul brood by pouring phenolated syrup into the combs daily for four week* 4 Even if at the end of that timaall appear*, ance of the disease had vanish®, I should; diot feel safe untilthe hive and‘|rames had bsen thoroughly disinfected so ao fco destroy any germs ef disease that may have escaped tho actiau of .the phenol in the food. It is just possible that in many places in Australia, whore 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. I have devoted much thought to this subject, and have assisted many friends in eradicating foul brood from their hive®. Moreover, I hove seen several instances where badly infected combs have been cured by feeding phenol, but. mark; in all such cases tho hives contained little honey and none was beingstorod. A method of cure, the success of which depends upon whether honoy is earning in or not, does not appear to be the most desirable. If Mnth’s directions are followed, a cure is certain every time, provided there is noth* ing wrong with the queen. It is marvellous what a small quantity of medicated syrup will suffice to cure a diseased colony if the bees are placed ’in am empty hive. On one occasion I noticedjthe unmiatakeable odour of foul brood when removing sections from a hive containing a powerful colony of Italians. An examination proved it to bo a bad case, the majority of the brood cells being diseased. Tho bees were brushed a clean empty hive with half-inch wax strips fixed in the frames, and a Van Densen tin feeder, holding about two pounds of medicated sugar syrup, was given to them. In one day the tin was emptied, but no more food was given By the eighth day the bees filled the frames with combs, aud a ease of sections was put on. During th® season 2001bo of comb honey was removed from this hive, and no trace of foul brood has since appeared. In thii instance salicylic acid was used, but I.have had just as good results with absolute phenol when admina istered after Muth's plan. A .solution of phenol will bo found much more pleasant to use for washing the hands, etc., after operating on a diseased hive than the caii» cylio acid solution, because the latter causes tho skin to become rough and sore. When feeding phenolated syrup it is a good plan to begin with IT®? 5 *,000, and during the first few days gradually exercise the strength up to lin 500. In this way there may be no occasion to pour the syrup into the combs, for if honey is not coming in too fast the bees will take the syrup out of a common feeder. A piece of empty comb laid on the tops of the frames is the best feeder that I know of for this work. May I suggest to correspondents of th# Journal the advisaKiity of stating the conditions of their honey resources when forwarding reports respecting experiments with foul breed.—A. C. Bonnet. Adelaide, 13th Juno, 1885,