ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



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show a scattering, here and there an 

 occasional cell of disease; and later on, 

 perhaps, get rid of it; others never got 

 rid of it; still other queens, they would 

 clean out and remain so, and, so strong 

 was the resisting power, her daugh- 

 ters failed to show the disease. 



I call to mind in one county, I re- 

 ferred to a while ago, where, on my 

 way to Minneapolis, I was, for three 

 days, in that county visiting several 

 yards and failed to find a yard but 

 what European foul brood was there. 

 That was the county where they did 

 not believe in outside blood. 



In one of those yards of 200 colonies, 

 several queens were introduced from 

 different localities, and, it was found 

 in one shipment, not a queen there in- 

 troduced but what they were through 

 with European foul brood. 



A few miles (about four miles from 

 there) to another yard of eighty colo- 

 nies, all but one infected with Euro- 

 pean foul brood. He had purchased 

 queens from some of these same queen 

 breeders; he found this one peculiar 

 individual strain was disease resist- 

 ant; he said, "I would not take $25.00 

 for that queen today." 



I question if the whole cure of Eu- 

 ropean foul brood is by requeening, 

 because we have the experience of 

 Doctor Miller in our neighborhood, who 

 takes a queen and cages her for a time 

 and lets her go back again in her 

 same hive; the. idea is, if a strong col- 

 on3% we must induce them to clean out, 

 and they will do that better in a 

 queenless condition. 



Mr. Stewart — When you introduced 

 those queens, how long did you let her 

 lose, after the first queen was taken 

 out? 



President France — How long were 

 they queenless? Ten or twelve days. 



On that point of how long to be 

 queenless: Take Mr. Alexander with 

 600 colonies; foul brood struck him; 

 he decided he wanted three weeks, 

 queenless, but experience since then 

 has taught us a shorter time seems to 

 accomplish the same object. 



There are other conditions which we 

 don't know of. I own I don't know how 

 European foul brood spreads. I am 

 like Doctor Miller, I don't know; I 

 wish I knew of some one who did posir 

 tively know how European foul brood 

 spreads, but we don't know. 



In many instances, the requeening 

 has been our great salvation. Until we 



can develop something further, let us 

 hold to that which we have already 

 learned. 



Mr. Miller — Inasmuch as I have had 

 considerable experience with European 

 foul brood and have succeeded in get- 

 ting rid of it entirely (about 400 colo- 

 nies, altogether), it may be of interest 

 for me to tell how I did it. 



One of the principal factors in the 

 success was requeening with strong 

 Italian stock. 



About seven years ago it first struck 

 my yard. First, the first yard; then 

 the second, then the third. I cleaned 

 out two of those yards almost entirely. 

 I cleaned them up and I fought it for 

 a number of years. 



At that time my mode was the shak- 

 ing method, but not very successful. 

 It would not. stay cured. 



I kept to work. At that time I de- 

 stroyed combs. Since then I have 

 found out that is not necessary — to 

 burn up hives and bees is foolishness. 

 I have thought the way the disease is 

 transmitted is by the feeding of the 

 dead larvae to the live larvae by the 

 bees. 



If we can make a break in that 

 brood rearing for a sufficient length 

 of time, until that larvae can be 

 cleaned up or become so old it will not 

 be fed to the young bees, then it will 

 not be readily transmitted. 



One factor to suggest is this: The 

 fact that I was very careful in exam- 

 ining every hive when I had foul brood 

 once in two weeks or more often. 



The last method I used (I have tried 

 every known plan suggested on the 

 subject) but the last method used was 

 simply this: 



I find that hive that has a number 

 of cells of European foul brood — I kill 

 the queen. Later on I destroy all cells 

 started. Two weeks, put the queen ex- 

 cluder on every other hive and set it 

 on top; that is very simple and easy 

 and it has been successful. 



In two yards, I have not had any Eu- 

 ropean foul brood for three years — 

 and this present year I didn't have a 

 single case in any of the five yards, 

 and if I should run across a hive or 

 two next year, it will not worry me. 



In one or two operations it is done, 

 and nothing more to look after. 



President France — You note one 

 thing with Mr. Miller: He is watch- 

 ing, and when he has only a few cells, 

 while the colony is still strong, he 



