April, '22] FRACKER: AMERICAN FOUL BROOD , 141 



1921 inspection, showing that the others spread disease during treatment, 

 or stored infected material where the bees had access to it. Among 

 the beekeepers who destroyed the infected colonies, only one-fourth 

 still had disease in their yards this year. 



Over large areas the difference in result is great. In only one county 

 could we say that the beekeepers have failed in their attempt to control 

 foulbrood. That is a county which insists on treating infected colonies, 

 and judging from the records the beemen of that coimty will still be 

 "shaking bees" long after their neighbors have forgotten such disagreeable 

 topics as bee diseases. In the other three counties named the number 

 of infected colonies has been reduced to 3% of the total number examined 

 and beginning in 1921 all infected colonies and material have been de- 

 stroyed by inspectors as fast as discovered. 



How IS Disease held over? 



In examining the records of apiaries which retain infection in spite 

 of treatment, one is struck by the average size of the yard. Of all those 

 beekeepers who failed to eliminate infection in three seasons, only two 

 own less than ten colonies of bees and most of the yards are from thirty 

 to one hundred in size. 



This points the way to a solution of the problem. In large yards 

 the honey house is full of infection; floor, tables, tools and extractor 

 are daubed with diseased honey; many unsuspected extracting combs 

 contain foulbrood bacilli; and after the bees are shaken, infected materi- 

 al is stored for a day or two before destruction. During the past 

 season bees have been found gaining access to infected honey in sup- 

 posedly bee-tight honey houses through the stove-pipe in one case, the 

 keyhole in another, and through a crack in the cement floor in a third. 

 It is still more common to discover a missing windowpane, a crack 

 in the siding or a door often left open. Once the bees get in they have 

 no trouble leaving, either through bee escapes at the windows or through 

 the door as the owner goes back and forth. 



The storage of infected material in the honeyhouse for even a few 

 days is one of the largest factors in maintaining disease in the yard. 

 Judging from experience in Wisconsin, it is a much more common source 

 of danger than carelessness in handling the diseased colony itself, and 

 in the serious nature of the results ranks with the failure to isolate 

 infected supercomb. 



The largest yards of all have more trouble with extracting combs 

 than from any other source. Two beekeepers, one with 250 colonies, 

 the other at one time owning over 700, have recently suffered serious 



