ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



163 



weakness, these specific diseases, they 

 are as different as our human diseases 

 that are produced by bacteria; at the 

 same time I think for European foul 

 brood, a weak colony may be overcome 

 more readily than a strong one, but not 

 for American. 



Mr. Williams — I have had rather an 

 extensive knd expensive experience 

 with American foul brood, although I 

 have never been bothered with Euro- 

 pean. I have this to say: I have the 

 first colony to see yet that 'would rid 

 themselves of the disease; if the dis- 

 ease had once entered the hive, that 

 liive is a dead one if left to its own 

 resources; I never saw one recover. 



Mr. Kildow — I will tell you of a little 

 experience: A neighbor of mine: He 

 is a crank. He had American foul 

 brood; he wanted to test it to see how 

 it would spread; he took a tooth pick 

 and stirred up the honey; one of these 

 dead larvae fed to a healthy colony, 

 and watched the development after 

 feeding it to the bees. 



It was only a short period before that 

 colony showed it. 



He is a crank. He does not take any 

 guess work. 



That shows how quickly it will de- 

 velop; just feeding those two or three 

 bees from a tooth pick. 



Only a matter of tvro or three days: 

 It showed the sunkenness. 



A member — I have had a similar ex- 

 perience as Mr. Kildow explains there. 

 An Inspector came into my yard when 

 I was having some trouble, and I didn't 

 know what it was; at that time I was 

 corresponding with Doctor Phillips, and 

 trying to get the Department of Wash- 

 ington to tell me what this trouble was 

 I had. 



This Inspector came along and said 

 it was European foul brood. 



I never had anything to do with the 

 other. I was somewhat worried when 

 I first discovered what the trouble was. 

 But I thought — as long as I have got it 

 — the bees might as well all have it. 

 So that colony went from bad to 

 worse, and I took it away finally and 

 the honey from it, and fed that honey 

 to every colony in my yard — 36 at that 

 time. I destroyed that one colony — 

 and I didn't see anything more .of 

 European foul brood; I fed all the 

 honey from that colony to every colony 

 in my yard; was practically rotten 



with foul brood; but I didn't develop 

 any more cases from feeding diseased 

 honey. 



Doctor Phillips — What time of the 

 year was it? 



A member — July. 



Doctor Phillips — European foul brood 

 is an early spring disease. 



Mr. Bruner — ^There are two questions 

 I want to bring out. When we should 

 begin to look for European foul brood 

 — and how long should we keep up the 

 inspection? 



President France — I should say: Be- 

 gin- about the time the first brood is 

 hatched. The statement I made, that 

 I believe European foul brood is to 

 many of us a blessing: Is that we 

 will know hereafter what is the con- 

 dition in the brood chamber. 



Repeatedly I have had the bee-keeper 

 say: "My bees are all right; they are 

 working fine." Does he know they are 

 all right? Has he been down in the 

 brood chamber? I find sometimes 

 when I open the hives and examination 

 tells me they have not been there for 

 more than a year, I begin to question. 



One point, as to endurance or vitality 

 in resisting germs in American foul 

 brood: 



A little north of here I stopped at 

 a farm house for dinner. "Yes, we are 

 bee-keepers. While you are here you 

 might as well pay for your dinner by 

 inspecting my bees. We know they ' 

 are all right; they are working fine. A 

 swarm of bees came here and my wife 

 hived them in a cracker box while I 

 was up in the field; and then I put 

 them in a new hive; I turned the box 

 wrong side up; took the privilege of 

 cutting out two of the best combs of 

 brood; he said, "if that is all right, the 

 others cannot help but be." 



I said to him — "Where did you get 

 this hive; this is not a new hive?" 



The moment I raised that lid — I said 

 to him — "You raise that and take a 

 smell. I know what is in those 

 combs;" it was there in abundance — 

 American foul brood. 



"Where did you get this hive? And 

 these combs have not been built by this 

 new colony." , 



He said: "I brought it down from 

 the granary; we have a whole lot of 

 them." 



I said to him : "You have been in 

 business before?" 



