EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS 123 



exists almost as widely. I therefore venture, in view of the great import- 

 ance of the matter and at the risk of some repetition, to append a de- 

 scription of 



THE CHARACTERISTICS OP FOUL BROOD. 



EXACTLY HOW TO DETECT IT; AND ALSO EXACTLY HOW TO GET RID OF 



THE DISEASE. 



Where foul brood exists, or where its existence is suspected, it is of 

 prime importance that one have the ability to distinguish it with cer- 

 tainty from every other disease or injury. Some degree of practical ex- 

 perience of the disease will alone make one an adept in discovering and 

 identifying it, yet its peculiarities are so pronounced that no one having 

 good eyes and nose and giving attention need be in any doubt in regard to 

 its presence. 



The one crucial test is the color and consistency of the dead larvae, 

 affected with the disease, before it dries up. At this stage the matter of 

 the dead larvae is always viscid or ropy like mucus. There is no foul 

 brood without this characteristic, and I may safely say that with this 

 characteristic there is always foul brood. This last statement, however, 

 requires explanation. In my experience of ten years with the disease I 

 conclude that in a few years it spends its force and loses its vitality in a 

 given locality, while it continues to retain in the matter of the larvji? in 

 a considerable degree the viscid character. In such case there is likely 

 to be found but few affected larvae in any colony, and with a little ex- 

 I»erience and care the two conditions are readily distinguished, and in 

 this way: In the weakened stage the dead matter is slightly less viscid, 

 but a better test is that it is paler in color. The dead matter of the larvae 

 affected with this disease in its vigor is of the color of coffee when i)re- 

 pared for drinking by the addition of a moderate amount of milk. In the 

 weakened stage of the diseased the color is perceptibly lighter. To de- 

 termine the consistency of the dead matter of larvae, insert a sliver or a 

 straw into it and then withdraw it. If the matter pulls out in a string, 

 adhering to the sliver, and is of the coffee color described, it may be 

 set down that foul brood is certainly present ; but if it does not show this 

 decided ropiness, it is just as certain that there is no foul brood in that 

 cell. 



I just said there is no foul brood without ropiness, but this must not 

 be taken too literally. That was said with reference to the stage during 

 which the matter remains soft. After a few weeks the matter of each 

 dead larva dries down and lies spread on the lower side — not the bottom 

 — of the cell, a brownish black scale of the thickness of a man's thumb 

 nail. This peculiarity is of great use in making a diagnosis of the disease 

 at some seasons of the year, as in the fall or in the spring, in the combs 

 of a colony wiiich has perished during the winter, as colonies affected 

 with foul brood are very liable to do. Soon after the breeding season is 

 over these scales are about the only evidence of the disease that remains 

 in a strong colony, as the cappings of the diseased cells are apt to be 

 cleared away, buit in a weak colony the discolored defective cappings 



