ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



147 



With the laws you have in Illinois 

 today and the field of inspection, I feel 

 that the one great need you have is for 

 more education upon the part of the 

 bee -keeper to know the disease and to 

 co-operate with your Inspectors. 



I question if there is any necessity 

 for its remaining long. 



I do know, however, that, Chicago 

 being one of the great central parts 

 for unloading, it will be always a great 

 means of bringing honey from all 

 sources here to the city, and again as 

 a distributing point. 



Dealers might get goods from an in- 

 fected apiary and not know it, and sell 

 it and not know it. 



So it is risky to buy honey for feed- 

 ing purposes, to feed your bees, unless 

 you know where it comes from. 



I would like to have you ask ques- 

 tions on this subject and in that way 

 we can know what is especially wanted. 



Mr. Simmons — I understand one of 

 the prolific sources of foul brood in 

 this vicinity is from our dumps, where 

 honey cans and other rubbish is thrown 

 out in the dumps, and I understand 

 that bees many times get foul brood 

 in that way. 



I have nothing to do with foul brood 

 in either variety, but I unc'erstand that 

 bee-keepers think they get it in that 

 way, from old cans thrown out on the 

 dump. 



Mr. Haan — I would like to ask Mr. 

 France if there is any way of telling 

 in the combs whether there has been 

 any foul brood in them, after they 

 have been cleaned up by the bees. I 

 bought some bees some time ago and 

 supposed them to be free from foul 

 brood, and yet I noticed some combs 

 had every once in a while a few cells 

 that would look considerably whiter 

 than the others; mostly looked brown- 

 ish but some cells were dotted here and 

 there, and of course I wrote to the Bee 

 Journal in regard to them, wondering 

 if that particular comb contained foul 

 brood. 



They wrote me back and told me 

 they did not think I need fear trouble 

 from those combs. I let it go at that. 



The summer following (I bought 

 these bees in the fall) foul brood broke 

 out in three or four of those colonies 

 of bees that I bought. 



I would like to know if any of the 

 bee-keepers have ever noticed any dif- 

 ference in the combs. I supposed that 

 after the combs had been used for sev- 



eral times in brood rearing it would 

 not be noticed but I do believe the first 

 brood that is reared in them would 

 show on the combs. 



Mr. France — I wish we would put 

 that adjective before foul brood every 

 time, American or European. They 

 are as different as the difference be- 

 tween black and white. 



As for the combs showing — In a new 

 built comb, it would be easily recog- 

 nized. In American foul brood, it dries 

 down on the lower side wall of the cell, 

 midway from the bottom to the front 

 end of the cell, seldom on the bottom 

 of the cell; in time it dries down to be 

 as thin as the side walls of the cell 

 (a dark brownish thin skin like). The 

 scales will be easily seen. The same 

 would tie true if that comb were 20 

 years old; it would be there, and would 

 forever stay there so long as the comb 

 existed, and the bees will put honey 

 in that cell after it is dried down and 

 the honey will soften and become in- 

 oculated, and when that honey is fed 

 to other bees you will have a spread of 

 the disease. 



If upon the lower side wall of the 

 comb you see that dark brown matter 

 dried down, don't use it, whether you 

 know it to be Infected or not. 



One difference that many might 

 mistake: The American foul brood 

 dries down well towards the front end 

 of the cell on the lower side wall. 

 According to its stage of development 

 there will be either the shapeless mass 

 of dark brown matter, on the lower 

 side of the cell, often with a wrinkled 

 skin covering, as if a fine thread had 

 been inserted in the skin lengthwise 

 and drawn enough to form rib -like 

 streaks on either side. Later on it 

 becomes hardened, nearly black in 

 color. 



There is something that looks like it, 

 which you must not mistake. In case 

 the bees go into winter quarters w-ith 

 honey dew, there would be more or 

 less diarrhoea that would soil the 

 combs; they have a somewhat similar 

 appearance but are more or less sur- 

 face soiled, and will also be spotted or 

 have a streaked appearance by the 

 dark brown sticky excrements from 

 the adult bees. 



But invariably American foul brood 

 is found on the lower side wall of the 

 cell. The dead larval bee is of a light 

 color; it is termed ropy, so that, if you 

 insert a toothpick and slowly withdraw 



