THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



241 



onies in a few weeks. I could find 

 whole combs filled with doad brood — 

 only a few living- larvae in a comb. 

 Now it would be difHcult to find 5o 

 dead larvae in the worst infected comb. 

 One year ago I helped Mr. Heddon 

 find and kill 20 queens, there not being- 

 enough bees left in the 20 hives to make 

 one good colony. Mr. Heddon now has 

 a dozen strong colonies, part of them 

 with no trace of the disease, ^i."l none 

 of them with more than a tew v^ells of 

 diseased brood; and the strange part 

 of it is that he has done absolutely 

 nothifig in the way of treatment. I 

 would not like to say anything that 

 will make men careless or neglect- 

 ful, or to raise hopes that the disease 

 will pass away or "cure itself," as 

 this has not been the experience of the 

 New York folks, but it is undoubtedly 

 true that it loses its virulence in a 

 very much greater degree than is the 

 case with the American variety. 

 There have been cases in which it ap- 

 peared in a colony, and then disap- 

 peared, and never again appeared. 

 There are probably some peculiar cir- 

 cumstances in such cases, which would 

 solve the mj'stery if we only knew 

 them. The American foul brood never 

 cuts up such capers as this. Once it 

 is in a colony it is there to stay, unless 

 removed by the hemd of man. It may 

 lose its virulence to a slight degree. 

 Some men who have had a long experi- 

 ence with it think that it does, but it is 

 too slight, even if true, to have any 

 practical bearing-. The American foul 

 brood is like a bull dog — once it gets a 

 grip it never lets up. Tliere is one 

 reason for this difference: The scale 

 of the American \ariety, when it 

 dries down, sticks to the side of the 

 cell so closely that it is impossible for 

 the bees to remove it it almost becomes 

 a part of the f :ll-vvall. In the Euro- 

 ;!• in variety the scale can be easily re- 

 !;;i;ved — is so loose that it may even 

 ■Irop out in the handling- of the comb. 

 The bees C3r. very easily clean out the 



cells if they choose, something that 

 they cannot do with the American 

 variety. 



The bees seem to he able to resist 

 and, in a measure, overcome black 

 brood. Streng-th of colon3%-ind variety 

 of bees have a bearing. Italian bees 

 put up a much more successful fight 

 than do the blacks. One of the first 

 steps recommended by the New York 

 inspectors is the introduction of 

 Italian;. This, alone, will not eft'ect 

 a cure, but is a great help in that 

 directioi'. With the American foul 

 brood, viiriety of bees, or strensfth of 

 colony have not much bearing-. O.ice 

 the infection is in a cell, it i.*- theft, to 

 stay. Other cells become inf_jted, and 

 it stays there. I^'.f^ bees can't clean it 

 out, and the ti. ;in.ill3' comes when 

 there are fewi:-.;,! cells in which to 

 rear brood, and, even in clean cells 

 tin hrood is almost certain to become 

 inlecced from the food that is g-iven it. 

 Tli^^ colony i,*^ doomed. 



I i'.j I ^adily see how tuc Alexander 

 me^ icd Ol leaving- a colony queenless 

 untii ilie brood ha, hatched may prove 

 efl\-;'t.ial under certain conditions. 

 Here » a point that must not be over- 

 Icked: Mr. Alexan'"'"v's irame.^ ?rd 

 hives -ire small. In the spring- the 

 combs are practically free from •'Micy, 

 the old honey ivith its contagion 's go/,: 

 and Mr. Alexander pioceeds to feed. 

 With large hives and combs, in which 

 old stores, perhaps infecfed, are 

 ried over from season to season, tin' 

 results mig-ht be diiferen!'. 



Another po nt of d'ftercn-- c, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Phillips, is that black brood 

 is a spring d sease, ♦:h.;' is, it is more 

 virulent in the spring. It may dis- 

 appear from a colony in the fall, only 

 to appear again in the spring. If there 

 is any season of the year v\hen Ameri- 

 can foul brood is at its heiirht it ir in 

 the fall. 



American foul brood sprea'J across 

 the countr^ much inore slo.vly than 

 does the European variety. With the 



