TUJL BEL-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



289 



A," which compares with wlmt I have used 

 heretofore. I make this explauatiou be- 

 cause, what I recommeuded would ccrtain- 

 Ij'Ibe misleading uuless pure cane sugar 

 was used. I have fed a few colonies with 

 the so-called beet sugar which will enable 

 me to determine whether it is injurious or 

 otherwise to the bees. 



The Autumn has been remarkably pleas- 

 ant and warm. Sweet clover continuing 

 in bloom until the present, and bees car- 

 rying an occassional load of pollen. What 

 is still more remarkable, breeding has been 

 continued later than usual, extending well 

 into October. I have some late queens still 

 laying, having an area of brood about six 

 inches in diameter on two combs. I am no 

 weather prophet, but have noticed that early 

 springs are generally anticipated by the bees 

 in advanced brood rearing; and possibly 

 the late breeding indicates warm weather 

 extending late into the Autumn, followed 

 by a cold winter. 



The excessive yield of honey in -June and 

 and .Tuly tended to clog the brood nest of 

 most colonies. As a result they will go in- 

 to winter quarters less populous than usual. 

 As a consequence I look for heavy losses 

 among the colonies of amateur bee-keepers 

 should the winter prove severe. The care- 

 ful and vigilant expert, however, will arrange 

 things necessary to meet all emergences. 



Jackson, Mich. Nov. 4, 1S97. 



Does Dead Brood aid lu the Developement 

 of Foul Brood? 



T. O. BBICKELL. 



BEAR Sir — As you ask that those who do 

 not agree with yon, should be as free in 

 writing and saying so, as are those who do 

 agree; I write to take exception to your 

 note on page IK', where you say that to be- 

 lieve foul brood can be caused by dead 

 brood is folly. You are (juite wrong: I have 

 proved over and over again V)y careful ex- 

 periment that foul brood can be so caused. 

 The cases you (juote in your own experi- 

 ence where chilled brood did not result in 

 foul brood prove nothing. It seems to me 

 analagous to the case of a man who, having 

 typhoid fever in his house, on conplaining 

 to his friend that it was the result of defec- 

 tive drainage was met with the assertion 

 that that coald not be, becaase he had bad 



drains and had had them for years and yet 

 had never had typhoid fever. 



I do not mean that foul brood will devel- 

 ope in the dead brood, and I question if 

 Mr. McEvoy means that, the bacillus of 

 foul brood requires and must have living 

 tissue on which to develope, but the dead, 

 dying and chilled brood sets up just the 

 necessary unsanitary condition in which 

 the germs of foul brood run riot. It does 

 not necessarily follow that the germ is 

 spontaneously generated. Is it not possible 

 that a microbe perfectly harmlesr, yea, 

 even necessary in the economy of the hive, 

 should, under favorable conditions and 

 suitable environment, be transformed and 

 develop into a microbe deadly in character? 

 Have we not continously under our eyes the 

 marvellous change that takes place in con- 

 sequence of an alteration in condition and 

 environment in the development of a queen 

 from a worker egg, a change so marvellous 

 that no part of their structural auatomy is 

 similar, neither have they a similar habit or 

 instinct. With this example before us, bee- 

 keepers should not place implicit confidence 

 in the dogmatic assertion of scientists, 

 assertions which we find are being contin- 

 ually modified as knowledge increases. 



The chilled brood I have in my mind and 

 which I produced for my experiments was 

 not like that quoted by you which was 

 frozen and starved, but that which is pro- 

 duced by improper and over - prolonged 

 manipAation at unsuitable times in which 

 some of the larv;v are killed, some die after- 

 wards in their cells, and others hatch out but 

 are sick babies and die in their infancy. 

 .Just the condition of things produced by 

 hundreds of bee-keepers who own but a 

 few colonies, are away at work all day and 

 have a look at their bees in the evening 

 just to see how the queen is getting on, and 

 are from 10 to 30 minutes finding her and 

 who, after a year or two. discover that bees 

 do not do well with them. 

 DuNEDiN, New Zealand. Sept. 22. 1897. 



|I wish to thank my far-away-correspon- 

 dent most heartily for writing when he does 

 not agree with uie. I wish more would do 

 that way; not only with the Review, but the 

 other journals. If this practice were more 

 general we would the sooner get at the 

 truth of things. 



In regard to the drain illustration. If the 

 germs of any contagions disease come up 



