a6 



THE BEE-KEEPERS 



brood were not to be found in the honey. 

 This conclusion was not accepted in this 

 country because it was found that practi- 

 cally at least it was not trae. I doubt if 

 Cowan himself would deny that the germs 

 could be mi gled with honey by the hand of 

 man and if they could then they also could, 

 in the ways I have herein before indicated, 

 by the bees. With these exceptions was not 

 Cowan correct. ? 



This is a matter of considerable impor- 

 tance, because a true answer to the question 

 would give us a pretty clear insight into 

 the methods by wliich the disease in question 

 may be disseminated. If Cowan is correct, 

 with the limitations suggested, then the dis- 

 ease cannot be conveyed by germs floating 

 in the air or carried about on the bodies of 

 the bees, otherwise they must certainly be 

 carried to the honey in open cells through- 

 out the hive. 



With these thoughts in mind I made an 

 experiment with honey taken from one of 

 the colonies operated on. The colony was 

 quite badly affected, there being in the 

 space occupied by the queen from one- 

 fourth to one-third of the cells that con- 

 tained dead brood. The honey was contained 

 in the two outside combs of the upper 

 section of the Heddon hive. The combs 

 contained five or six pounds of honey and 

 had apparently never contained any brood. 

 The honey was fed to a colony of moderate 

 strength and very short of stores but act- 

 ively engaged in the rearing of brood, by 

 placing the combs in a story above the hon- 

 ey board through which the bees came and 

 and carried the honey below until it was all 

 gone and evidently all or nearly all used 

 in nourishing the growing larvae. 



In this experiment the thought was th^it if 

 the honey contained the germs that fact 

 would certainly be revealed by the appear- 

 ance of the disease among the brood below 

 and that the continued absence of the di-e;ise 

 would be pretty satisfactory evidence ihat 

 fhat honey contained no germs, and, conse 

 quently, in so far as one experiment goes, ll. at 

 they are not carried about by the action of 

 the air nor upon the bodies of the bees. 

 Several examinations were made of the col- 

 ony during the latter part of summer and 

 early fall to discover the existence of foul 

 brood if such were the fact, but no trace of 

 disease was found. 



If enough further experiments give the 

 same results a decided relief will often be 



experienced in dealing with the disease as 

 where there are considerable amounts of 

 surplus honey above the honey boards. 



Continued observations have been made 

 in the cases of two experiments which have 

 been heretofore reported: one of these was 

 the immediate introduction to a healthy 

 colony of a queen taken from a colony so 

 badly affected with foul brood as to be about 

 worthless. Examinations the last season 

 show that the colony to which the queen 

 was introduced remained healthy as had 

 been anticipated from the fact that it had 

 revealed no signs of disease the previous 

 season. This seems to show pretty conclu- 

 sively that a queen is not necessarily dis- 

 eased herself though she has been for a long 

 time in a badly diseased colony. The other 

 one was the case of a colony of which men- 

 tion has been made several times heretofore, 

 in which what to all appearance was foul 

 brood showed itself without making appar- 

 ent progress, disappearing altogether at 

 times and reappearing again to the extent 

 of 8 few cells only. During the last season 

 it did not show itself in the colony at all. 

 It would be of interest to know certainly 

 whether this was a case of true foul brood, 

 and if it reappears an effort will be made 

 to have the point determi ed by a compe- 

 tent microscopist. 



Lapeek, Mich. Feb. KJ, 1897. 



Getting Drawn Comb at the Side of the Brood 

 Nest. 



E. A. DAGGITT. 



yRIENDH.— I 



i} expected to 

 have two or three 

 articles written 

 ■for the Review 

 this winter, but 

 sickness has pre- 

 vented it. I was 

 taken with ner- 

 vous prostration 

 from working too 

 hard, and before 

 I had recovered 

 from it I was attacked with the "grip cold" 

 epidemic. This latter effects my head and 

 eyes very much. I am recovering now, and 

 hope before long to finish an article on 

 sections and other matters which I have 

 had partly written for some time. 



