144 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mar. 1 



mediately quote correctly my exact words, 

 which goes to show that I am not the only 

 one who can read a wrong meaning into 

 words; but you can go a step further than I, 

 making the direct quotation without seeing 

 your error, while 1 saw my error as soon as 

 I thought of making a direct quotation. 

 Well, we're none of us infallible. 



I think I was fully warranted in saying "I 

 believe he thought it might do so." On page 

 1126, Gleanings, 1905, the editor says, "The 

 question may naturally arise now, whether 

 or not this Alexander treatment would not 

 prove equally effective in the case of foul 

 brood. We do not know. Mr. Alexander is 

 somewhat doubtful," etc. If he was in any 

 doubt about it, then he thought it might do 

 so, even if there was only one chance in a 

 million. 



Very likely you will say, "But what about 

 that article on page 166, 1907, in which Mr. 

 Alexander says he never recommended any 

 cure fcr foul brood, and from which an ex- 

 tract is given?" 1 have no recollection of 

 reading that article or the extract from it un- 

 til now reading it in your article. When I 

 receive Gleanings, it is not ca efully read 

 and digested, but hastily crammed to tind 

 whether any thing in it may be commented 

 on in Straws, the cramming and the writing 

 to be done inside of 24 hours. Afterward 

 there may or may not be careful reading. 

 Evidently that article on page 166 never had 

 close attention until the reading of your arti- 

 cle, and so slid from the memory like grains 

 of sand from a surface of glass, while the ar- 

 ticle on page 1125 with its tootnote was dis- 

 tinctly present when I wrote, "I believe he 

 thought it might do so." I am sorry I didn't 

 know at the time all that Mr. Alexander had 

 written, but I didn't. 



As to the matter of the "experimental 

 stage," is the whole subject of European 

 foul brood beyond experiment? Is the Alex- 

 ander treatment universally accepted? If 

 Mr. Alexander were yet alive, are you sure 

 he would do no further experimenting in 

 this matter? 



In giving a resume of the Alexander treat- 

 ment, I made the very stupid blunder of put- 

 ting "laying" for "virgin," and 21 days for 

 20 days. I think that's all that's wrong in it. 

 I don't know that that one extra day does 

 any great harm; but the other error is ex- 

 ceedingly bad, and I am very, very sorry for 

 it. But in reply to your question, " Can any 

 thing be more falsely represented?" I reply, 

 "Yes; bad as it is, if I were to buckle right 

 down to it I think I could do even worse than 

 that." 



On your part, friend Pressler, there are 

 several counts in the indictment against you 

 that must stand unless you can refer to the 

 places where the things are to be found that 

 you quote against me. As two of them are 

 in quotation marks they are supposed to be 

 my exact language, and ought not to be hard 

 to find. If found, my apoli gy is ready. 



Don't you think we had both better re- 

 form? C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



THE ALEXANDER METHOD OF TREAT- 

 ING EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD. 



All Depends on Having the Colonies 

 Strong. 



BY IRVING GROWER. 



In common with many other bee-keepers 

 in central and eastern New York I have had 

 European or black foul brood in my apiary. 

 I have had the inspector of apiaries for our 

 district prescribe treatment which consisted 

 in shaking on foundation in clean hives, 

 mehing up the combs, and disinfecting ev- 

 ery thing thoroughly. This I did in 1902. 

 The season was poor, and the shaking was 

 more or less a failure, so that the trouble 

 showed up quite prominently again the fol- 

 lowing spring. I continued the shaking 

 process with varying results for several sea- 

 sons. One thing which the inspector im- 

 pressed on my mind was the imp trtance of 

 good Italian stock, and that I should keep all 

 colonies strong. At that time he made the 

 statement that some stiains of Italians seem 

 to be immune to the disease. I had been a 

 honey-producer fifteen years before I ever 

 saw the disease, and half or more of my col- 

 onies were Italians, the others being all 

 grades of hybrids. Each season I Italianized 

 more of the colonies. 



When the Alexander method of treatment 

 was published I pronounced it too good to 

 be true, but at the same time made prepara- 

 tions for trying it, and the following season 

 purchased a breeding queen from one of the 

 noted breeders. Mr. Alexander advised 

 making all the colonies strong, either by 

 giving brood from healthy colonies or by 

 some other plan. Now, any one who has 

 had any experience with disease will hesitate 

 before placing frames of brood from healthy 

 colonies in those that are diseased, so I de- 

 cided to strengthen these diseased colonies 

 by shaking young bees from five or six 

 frames into each hive which I intended to 

 treat. I then made these colonies queen- 

 less, and left them so 21 days. Being busy 

 with other work I did not make an examina- 

 tion until almost time to give the queens 

 that I had reared, and I found that the colo- 

 nies were not as strong as I thought they 

 were, so I shook in some more bees and in- 

 troduced the queens. When brood rearing 

 began to show in the hives the disease was 

 still there excerit in one or two cases, so of 

 course I voted the treatment a failure. 



It was by an accident that I found that, if 

 we wanted to be successful with the Alex- 

 ander treatment, we simply had to make the 

 colonies strong. The season following my 

 failure I prepared to shake all colonies that 

 showed the disease on to foundation when 

 the honey-flow was nearly at its best. When 

 the time arrived I found that I had eight col- 

 onies to treat; and as none of them were 

 strong I decided to select six of them and 

 shake the bees into two clean hives, as there 

 was quite a lot of good brood in the frames, 

 so that there would be enough young bees 



