122 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



thev could tlion tliov also could, in tlie wavs I Lave hereinbefore indicated, 

 by the bees. With these exceptions, was not Cheshire correct? 



This is a matter of Considerable importance, because a true answer to 

 the question would give us a pretty clear insight into the methods by 

 which the disease in question may be disseminated. If Cheshire is cor- 

 rect, with the limitations suggested, then the disease cannot be conveyed 

 by germs lloating in the air or carried about on the bodies of the bees, 

 otherwise they must certainly be carried to the honey in open cells 

 throughout the hive. 



AVith these thoughts in mind I made an experiment with honey taken 

 from one of the colonies operated on. The colony was quite badly affected, 

 there being in the space occupied by the queen from one-fourth to one- 

 third of the cells that contained dead brood. The honey was contained in 

 the two outside combs of the upper section of the Heddon hive. The 

 combs contained five or six pounds of honey and had apparently nes'er 

 contained any brood. The honey was fed to a colony of moderate strength 

 and very short of stores but actively engaged in the rearing of brood, by 

 placing the combs in a stor}^ above the honey board, through which the 

 bees came and carried the honey below until it was all gone, and evidently 

 all or nearly all used in nourishing the growing larvae. 



In this experiment the thought was that if the honey contained the 

 germs, that fact would certainly be revealed by the appearance of the 

 disease among the brood below", and that the continued absence of the 

 disease would be pretty satisfactory evidence that that honey contained 

 no germs, and, consequently, in so far as one experiment goes, that they 

 are not carried about by the action of the air nor upon the bodies of the 

 bees. Several examinations were made of the colony during the latter 

 part of the summer and early fall to discover the existence of foul brood 

 if such were the fact, but no trace of disease was found. 



If enough further experiments give the same results, a decided relief 

 will often be experienced in dealing with the disease as where there are 

 considerable amounts of surplus honey above the honey boards. 



Continued observations have been made in the cases of two experiments 

 which have been heretofore reported; one of these was the immediate 

 introduction to a healthy colony of a queen taken from a colony so badly 

 alfected with foul brood as to be about worthless. Examinations the 

 last season show that the colony to which the queen was introduced re- 

 mained healthy, as had been anticipated from the fact that it had re- 

 vealed no signs of disease the previous season. This seems to show pretty 

 conclusively that a queen is not necessarily diseased herself though she 

 has been for a long time in a badly diseased colony. The other one was 

 the case of a colony of which mention has been made several times here- 

 tofore, in w'hich what to all appearance was foul brood showed itself 

 without making ai)parent progress, disappearing altogether at times 

 and reappearing again to the extent of a few cells only. During the last 

 season it did not show itself in the colony at all. It would be of interest 

 to know certainly whether this was a case of true foul brood, and if it 

 reappears an effort will be made to have the point determined by a com- 

 petent microscopist. 



From reports that reach me, I judge that the disease to which bees are 

 subject referred to in the foregoing is pretty widely disseminated through 

 the State, and that ignorance of the methods of its detection and cure 



