THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



297 





E. T. ATWATER. 



r/RIEND HUTCHINSON, your edi- 

 ^ torial on page 240, "Black Brood 

 and Foul Brood," prompts mc to write 

 a few lines on the same subject. You 

 say, "Perhaps we may as well begin 

 to call the latter American foul brood, 

 and the former European foul brood, as 

 this seems to be the decision of the 

 majority of the inspectors." Please 

 don't be in a hurry about it. See 

 Dadant's exposition of the subject in 

 August 23rd, American Bee Journal. 

 From the points made by Mr. Dadant, 

 I for one will not drop my old belief 

 that the foul brood of Europe and 

 America are the same. You know that 

 Capt. Hetherington said "Black brood 

 is twenty times worse than foul 

 brood" While K. W. Alexander says 

 of foul brood "It is as much worse than 

 black brood as smallpox is worse than 

 measles, I don't care who says to the 

 contrary'." Now in regard to the 

 claims made by Samuel Simmins, I 

 have often thought that he could not 

 have the same disease under observa- 

 tion that is such a nuisance in this 

 country; but I have seen at least a lit- 

 tle evidence this summer that leads me 

 to think that there may be no differ- 

 ence, and that the Simmins-Alexander 

 method may perhaps under some con- 

 ditons, cure leal foul brood. 



With one exception, all of our yards 

 are free from foul brood, but in one 

 apiary it is a .somewhat persistent 

 factor. This summer, duringthe flow, 

 the diseased colonies were shaken onto 

 foundation, for the usual method of 

 cure. The removed brood, with a 

 small force of bees, was stacked up 

 three to five stories high, on a new 

 stand, all queenless. In about a 

 month I glanced into each "tower," 



when, to my surprise, I found, in the 

 lop story of each, not a cell of diseased 

 brood, but plenty of young, healthy 

 brood, as the bees had reared them- 

 selves a queen. 



Where the diseased brood had been, 

 I found, either holes in the comb, or 

 the comb torn down to the septum. I 

 at once called my assistant's attention 

 to these facts. We then lifted off the 

 top stories, but the diseased matter 

 had not been cleaned out of the cells in 

 the other stories. Perhaps, if the col- 

 onies had been very strong, they would 

 have cleaned out all combs alike. 



I shall certainly test the Simmins- 

 Alexander cure if the disease appears 

 next season, using a small brood-nest. 

 If this methoJ can be applied before 

 any of the dried-down scales are 

 covered with honey, there is perhaps a 

 possibility of a cure. I now ^«orf that 

 you are mistaken in saying that the 

 bees can "clean out the cells, if they 

 choose." "The bees can't clean it 

 out." You can see testimony to the 

 same eflfect in Gleanings, 1905. 



Are you correct in saying that both 

 black brood and foul brood can be 

 eliminated by shaking oft" the bees and 

 allowing them to build combs ? Has 

 there not been reputable testimony 

 showing that the methoii is not reliable 

 fur black-brood ? 



THE PKOJLCCTING ENDS OF HOFFMAN 

 FRAMES. 



Seems to me that you are giving the 

 Hoffmann frame "worse fits" than it 

 deserves. The standard thickness of 

 the projection of the top-bar on which 

 it hangs, is 5-16 inch; not '4 inch, and 

 that extra l-l(j inch, is a "whole lot" 

 in that place. Most of the unspaced, 



