370 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June 15 



In this report, foul brood, both American 

 and Euroi>ean, is fully discussed and difTer- 

 entiated. The American type is found to 

 exist in 1(5 counties in Indiana, and the 

 European type, formerly known as black 

 brood, in IS counties. A map is j^iven show- 

 ing the distribution of the diseases. The 

 McEvoy method of curing is advised for 

 both diseases, and in addition the inspector 

 recommends disinfecting the hives. Cau- 

 tion is given against trying to winter dis- 

 eased colonies or allowing such colonies to 

 exist in a weakened condition in such a way 

 that they may be easily robbed out by oth- 

 er colonies in the spring, and the disease 

 thus spread. A discussion is also given of 

 pickled brood, starved and chilled brood, 

 dysentery, etc. Remedies for moths and 

 other enemies of bees are suggested. 



This report shows that Mr. DeMuth made 

 518 visits to 480 apiaries located in 22 coun- 

 ties. In all a total of 6086 colonies were in- 

 spected, of which 1481 were found to be dis- 

 eased, either with American or European 

 foul brood. Of the entire number it was 

 necessary to burn only 5S colonies. Only 

 828 colonies out of the 6086 were kept in box 

 hives. These, of course, could not possibly 

 be treated. On this account it is unlawful 

 to permit bees to remain in box hives in 

 apiaries where disease is known to exist. 



What has been found in Indiana will 

 doubtless be found in Ohio. The State- 

 wide law for the Buckeye State was enacted 

 none too soon. 



THE NAMES EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD AND 

 AMERICAN rOUI. BROOD. 



We frequently receive letters from our 

 subscribers here and in F.urope who claim 

 that the names " European " foul brood and 

 "American" fouj brood should have been 

 reversed, claiming that American foul 

 brood is the prevalent disease in Europe, 

 and that European foul brood is more wide- 

 spread in America than in Europe. Some 

 of our European friends claim that Europe- 

 an foul brood is not even present in Europe, 

 while others claim that it was recently intro- 

 duced, and graciously give American bee- 

 keepers credit for sending it over. In view 

 of these complaints it may be well to reit- 

 erate the reasons why the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology gave these names to the two dis- 

 eases of the brood. It is evident that in 

 some quarters the facts are not understood. 



In the first place, the names were not 

 given to imply the geographical distribu- 

 tion of the two diseases. In the preface to 

 Dr. White's bulletin, Technical Series No. 

 18, Dr. Phillips says: 



Both diseases are found In Europe as well as In 

 America, so that the names Indicate nothing con- 

 cerning the geographical distribution of the mal- 

 adies. 



It is obvious that a reversal of the names 

 would not help matters any in this regard. 

 Doubtless American foul brood is the preva- 

 lent disease on both continents. 



The names were chosen so that the words 

 "foul brood "would be included in both 



names. This was done primarily so that 

 there would be no confusion in tlie laws in 

 force ])roviding for ai)iary insi)CCtion in the 

 diiferent States. Furthermore, the name 

 "foul brood" had become associated with 

 Bacillus alvci through the work of Cheshire 

 and Cheyne. so that it was fitting that the 

 words be retained in the name of the dis- 

 ease in which Cheyne, doubtless, obtained 

 his material for study, I^]uropean foul brood. 

 In this country, " foul brood " meant Amer- 

 ican foul brood, and the best and most log- 

 ical way out of the didiculty was to call 

 them l)oth "foul brood " with adjectives to 

 distinguish them. 



The qualifying terms were chosen chiefly 

 to get some easily remembered names. Eu- 

 ropean foul brood had evidently been stud- 

 ied by a European, Dr. Watson Cheyne, 

 who described Bacillns afvei. American 

 foul brood had been studied by an Ameri- 

 can, Dr. (J. F. White, who for the first time 

 called attention to the fact that another 

 bacterium is present in this disease, and 

 who has since established the fact that Ba- 

 cillus larv(c is the cause of the disease. 



The claim that European foul brood is 

 not i>resent in Europe, or even that it is a re- 

 cent introduction, can not be admitted from 

 the evidence at hand. All of the recent 

 workers on the diseases of the brood as 

 found in Europe report symptoms and re- 

 sults of bacteriological examinations which 

 show that European foul brood is not only 

 present but is well established, as shown by 

 the frequency of such samples. It is true 

 that many European bee-books do not rec- 

 ognize two diseases, and describe what we 

 call "American foul brood," ascribing it to 

 BaciUuti alvei; but this indicates merely 

 that the authors have copied the old beliefs 

 concerning foul brood and have not taken 

 into account the recent work here and 

 abroad. Writers who have been writing of 

 foul brood as being produced by Bacillus 

 alvri may have some hesitancy about ad- 

 mitting that their ])ast statements have 

 been incorrect, especially if they have not 

 had practical personal experience with "P^u- 

 ropean foul brood." It must be remember- 

 ed that some of the best European bee-keej)- 

 ers have l«mg recognized two brood diseases. 

 Among these may be mentioned Dzierzon, 

 whose place in the front rank of bee-keepers 

 will not be tpiestioned, and whose observa- 

 tions are recognized everywhere as excel- 

 lent. 



Another point which should be mention- 

 ed is that it is unimportant whether or not 

 our terms European foul brood and Ameri- 

 can foul brood are Iranslalefl into other lan- 

 guages and used by foreign bee-keepers. 

 Many terms used in bee-keeping by Ameri- 

 can bee-keepers are not literal translations 

 of the equivalent (ierman terms, for exam- 

 ple. It is im]>ortant, however, that the 

 terms be defined clearly, so that foreign 

 bee-keepers reading our articles on disease 

 will know exactly what is meant. The two 

 diseases are so defined, and there should be 

 no confusion on that score. 



