No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. &)1 



my remarks to more theoretical matters, but because I fear that 

 most apiarists rather undervalue the so-called theoretical work 

 concerning - the bee. I hold that one depends on the other, and 

 neither one alone will ever be a full success. This is my justifica- 

 tion in giving expression to the views and facts here spoken. 



FOUL BROOD AND OTHER DISEASES OF BEES. 



By Hon. N. E. Fkaxck, Wisconsin State Inspector of Apiaries, Platteville, Wis. 



Foul Brood — Bacillus alvei,is a fatal and contagious disease among 

 bees, dreaded most of all by beekeepers. The germs of disease are 

 either given to the young larval bee in its food when it hatches from 

 tbe egg of the queen bee, or it may be by contagion from a diseased 

 colony, or if the queen deposits eggs, or the worker bees store 

 honey or pollen in such combs. If in any one of the above cases, the 

 disease will soon appear, and as the germs increase with great 

 rapidity, going from one little cell to another, colony to colony of 

 bees, and then to all the neighboring apiaries, thus soon leaving 

 whole apiaries with only diseased combs to inoculate others. The 

 island of Syria in three years lost all of its great apiaries from 

 Foul Brood. Dzierzon in 1868 lost his entire apiary of 500 colonies. 

 Cowan, the editor of the British Bee Journal, recently wrote: "The 

 only visible hindrance to the rapid expansion of the bee industry is 

 the prevalence of Foul Brood, which is so rapidly spreading over 

 the country as to make beekeeping a hazardous occupation." Can- 

 ada's Foul Brood inspector, in 1890 to 1892, reported 2,395 cases, 

 and in a later report for 1893 to 1898, that 40 per cent, of the 

 colonies inspected were diseased. 



In Wisconsin I know of several quite large piles of empty hives, 

 where all the bees have died from Foul Brood; also many other 

 apiaries where said disease had gotten strong foothold. By the 

 kindness of the Wisconsin bee-keepers, in most cases, I have, during 

 the last eight years, gotten several counties free from disease, and 

 at the present writing, May 27, 1905, have the disease under 

 control. Foul Brood is often imported into Wisconsin, so we must 

 expect new cases until all States have such lavs as will prevent it. 

 Arizona, Now York, California, Nebraska. Kansas, Colorado, Utah. 

 Ohio and Texas have County Inspectors. Wisconsin. Illinois and 

 Michigan have State Inspectors. Copy of Wisconsin laws are now 

 pending in legislatures of Pennsylvania. New Jersey, Maine, Minne- 

 sota, South Dakota, Idaho and Washington. 



CAUSES OF FOUL BROOD. 



Causes of Foul Brood. — 1. Not from chilled, pickled, starved, or 

 any form of dead brood. But such conditions are most favorable 

 for growth of disease. Foul Brood germs do not float in the air. 

 If they did, why would not every brood cell in an infected hive be- 

 come diseased? 



