58 MEETING OF INSPECTORS OF APIARIES. 
which they are introduced. If this occurs in one-third of the cases 
or one-tenth, it will pay to requeen in every case, unless you have an 
especially valuable queen you want to save, in which case it may pay 
to experiment. For that reason I now practice requeening every 
colony treated for American foul brood. 
My experience with drugs has been unsatisfactory in every case. 
IT have tried carbolic, rosemary, Bingham’s sulphur plan (as outlined 
in Gleanings in Bee Culture, April 15, 1902), the formaldehyde spray 
plan (Gleanings in Bee Culture, December 1, 1903), and naphthol, but 
while all these drugs have the effect of checking the disease and pre- 
venting its spread over the combs as long as used, none of them cures 
it, regardless of the duration or persistence of its application. 
I have not tried the formalin-gas plan, nor do I intend to try it, or 
any other drug treatment, so long as the shaking treatment will cure. 
While destruction of frames and combs is expensive, it is to my mind 
cheaper in the end than experimenting with every new cure that is 
exploited in the bee journals. After trying these you are forced to 
resort to the shaking treatment to make the cure complete, so why 
not use it at first and save the trouble and expense? So long as honey 
contains spores, so long will drugs fail, because they can not reach 
and destroy the spores. Even if a temporary cure could be effected 
the disease would reappear when the bees began feeding the larva 
this germ-laden honey. Nothing short of removing all the combs 
will make the cure permanent. 
As an apiarist I have had experience in many infected apiaries, 
and in every yard where the disease has ever been, with one excep- 
tion, a few cases develop every season, and will continue to do so 
until these old combs are retired. If a whole apiary is to be 
treated, it pays to save the wax and honey, but I do not believe in 
bothering with them if only a few hives are to be treated; it does 
not pay to take the trouble. Of course progress is desirable, and I 
would not discourage anyone who wants to experiment with drug 
treatments, but I believe if any good is ever derived therefrom, it 
will come from the work of experiment stations or trained scientists, 
who have the means and time to devote to it and do not have to 
depend on apiculture for a living. 
American foul brood seems to act differently here than in most 
places. The question may arise, Is it American foul brood? It 
has the sunken, perforated cappings and the foul, glue-like odor, 
and it ropes from one-eighth to several inches. I have seen many 
cases where the brood chamber was badly affected with foul brood, 
but when a honey flow came, the queen moved up and not one cell 
of disease appeared. I have known these bees to cast strong swarms, 
which proved to be entirely healthy. 
Again, I have known American foul brood to disappear without 
