133 EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



We have bee-keepers in this State and in all the adjoining states 

 that have been going ahead, as you know, year after year, with Euro- 

 pean foul brood all around them and they never see a sign of it, or 

 there may come conditions where the bees get a little bit run down and 

 then a little of it will appear. Then they will become frightened, they 

 thought they were safe, and they may do a lot of heedless and reckless 

 and foolish things in eradication, whereas the trouble has been that 

 they did not continue to do what they had been doing — use preventive 

 measures. But in the remedical measures the only thing we do in 

 European foul brood is to tide the colony over until operative methods 

 can be begun. 



Now, the two points that are necessary are, first of all, resistant 

 stock; and second, strength of colony. And those are the points that 

 I want to mention. It is not necessary for me to dwell at any lenght 

 at all on the use of resistant stock. That point has been so thoroughly 

 covered in our bee literature that all bee-keepers understand that 

 pretty well. 



There is a good deal of difference in the different strains of Italian 

 bees in regard to their resistance. We find in going over the country 

 that one particular strain of Italian bees is universally condemned for 

 lack of resistance by bee-keepers who have tried it in European foul 

 brood control, but that happens to be a strain which has not been sold 

 very lately, so you don't need to worry about it, but please don't ask 

 me whose it is. On the other hand, almost all of the strains of Italian 

 bees now sold in the United States commonly are resistant. We can 

 with a good deal of assurance recommend those breeders of Italian bees 

 who are now advertising prominently in our bee-keeping literature, 

 and we can buy their bees with the assurance that if the other provi- 

 sions are made the disease will rarelv gain a foothold. 



Now, we have had this question asked us hundreds of times a 

 year: "Whose stock shall I get for the resistance of European foul 

 brood, and what is the best thing for me to do*!"' Well, that probably 

 will be asked this afternoon, so I might as well answer it now. I am 

 going, in all truthfulness and to the best of my ability, to recommend 

 what I would do if I had European foul brood in my yard, and that is, 

 to buy untested Italian queens from several reputable breeders who 

 have been in the business for some little time. 



Now that does not sound just right for the fellow who is just 

 beginning. There are queen breeders who start out every year in 

 this country, having advertised their stock in the bee journals, and 

 probably a good many of them are selling good stock, but they haven't 

 proven their case yet, and the thing for us to do if we are fighting the 

 European foul brood is to buy from those men who have been in the 

 business long enough to show that their stock is really good, and I 

 think that that is all the criterion that we need to use; men that are 

 established in business. 



Now then, buy several untested queens from several breeders, 

 because you might happen to find a fellow whose stock is not so good. 

 And perhaps I had better explain about that untested queen part of it. 

 I have shipped a great many queens, but nothing like as many as the 

 queen breeders, of course, and I have always found what I know that 



