December, 1910. 



American Hee Jonrnaij 



Editor, I like to see the pictures of 

 apiaries, with a short description of 

 them, ill the American Bee Journal, so 

 don't hesitate to print them. You will 

 find more of your readers pleased than 

 displeased with them. 



How Far Bees Flv, Again. 



I don't know how far bees will fly 

 for stores in other States, but in this 

 part of Texas they fly from choice 3>i 

 to 4 miles. These are proven facts, for 

 I have seen it proven a number of 

 times right here in this locality, in the 

 last 20 years. 



" Estimating " a Loc.vtion. 



A bee-keeper in this part of the State 

 wrote me some time ago to know how 

 many colonies of bees G40 acres of 

 irrigated alfalfa would support, backed 

 up by mesquite and plenty of catclaw. 

 That may sound like a simple and easy 

 question to answer to the average 

 novice, but I'll tell you it's not so easy, 

 after all. 



First, we would want to know how 

 much he called "plenty of mesquite 

 and catclaw ?" 



Second, we should want to know if 

 alfalfa yielded nectar in the location of 

 the proposed apiary? 



It is a fact that alfalfa does not yield 

 nectar plentifully in many parts of 

 Texas. I wonder if some of our Col- 

 orado or New Mexico bee-keepers 

 could not help out on this. 



Rescue, Tex. L. B. Smith. 



Prices of Texas Bulk-Comb Honey 



On page 3(Ji), Otto Sueltenfuss tries 

 to imply that the writer's article rela- 

 tive to the price of bulk-comb honey 

 is "a misstatement of facts." I regret 

 such statements about myself, as made 

 by him, much more than other mis- 

 statements (?) that I might have made 

 regarding the price of bulk-comb honey, 

 for which I have ample proof to show 

 that I was perfectly "fair and square" 

 when I explained and described, in my 

 October article, the various kinds of 

 packages and the dififerent prices re- 

 ceived for the honey. Had he investi- 

 gated he would have found the facts, as 

 I knew them, that much the largest 

 portion of the Texas bulk-comb honey 

 is sold by the bee-keepers at 10 to 11 

 cents for the large cans, and consider- 

 ably more for the smaller sizes. Just 

 because he and s-^me others sold at a 

 lower figure, does not set the price 

 obtained for most of the honey. 



Contributed Articles 



:s' 



American Foul Brood — Will 

 the Bees Clean It Out? 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



In Gleanings for October appeared 

 an article from an experienced apiarist, 

 Mr. Henry Stewart, in which the writer 

 asserts that the bees can and do clean 

 out the diseased and ropy matter from 

 the cells. He says : 



" The worst foul-broody combs that can be 

 found should be placed over a queen-ex- 

 cluder above a foul-broody colony of good 

 strength. If the results are watched, the 

 foul-broody matter will be found disappear- 

 ing, and patches of nicely polished cells 

 taking its place." 



Mr. Stewart's method for getting rid 

 of foul brood is therefore to give foul- 

 broody combs to colonies that are 

 strong in bees, or to add bees to the 

 foul-broody colonies to such an extent 

 that they may clean up the dead foul 

 brood. 



My object in writing is to warn bee- 

 keepers against such a procedure, if 

 they expect to succeed in getting rid 

 of foul brood. 



That the bees do get rid of some foul 

 brood by cleaning it out of the combs 

 is not to be doubted, but to expect it to 

 be entirely eradicated by this means is 

 a delusion, unless the disease which we 

 are fighting is not the true virulent, 

 ropy, viscous American foul brood. 



In order to determine the greater or 

 lesser possibility of a cleaning up by 

 the bees, I have spent a half day inves- 

 tigating the reports of authorities on 

 this subject. I am fully aware of the 

 importance of this question ; some 



years ago I gathered together the dif- 

 ferent pamphlets that were published 

 of late on the subject, and had them 

 bound in book form for ready refer- 

 ence. This book I consider one of the 

 most useful on my library shelves. 



Of the different publications, the 

 most important is that of the National 

 meeting of Inspectors of foul brood in 

 San Antonio, Tex., on Nov. 12, 1906. 

 I was present and heard the statements 

 made by Dr. G. F. White, bacteriologist, 

 which proved conclusively to my own 

 satisfaction that Cheshire had two dif- 

 ferent diseases in his hands, unknown 

 to him, when he made his studies and 

 tests, afterwards published in his book, 

 " Bees and Bee-Keeping." It is possi- 

 ble that such is now the case with Mr. 

 Stewart. 



Here are the opinions of the experts 

 as gathered from the different works 

 concerning the removal of the decayed 

 matter by the bees in the case of Ameri- 

 can foul brood, or concerning its viru- 

 lence : 



Dr. E. F. Phillips— "The adult bees 

 of a diseased colony are usually rather 

 inactive and do little towards cleaning 

 out infected material." Farther on — 

 "Seemingly the ropiness makes it im- 

 possible for the bees to remove the in- 

 fected material, and when the decayed 

 mass dries down, it forms a scale 

 which adheres so tightly to the lower 

 sides of the cell that it can not be re- 

 moved without tearing the wax walls." 



Dr. G. F. White — " It is not uncom- 

 mon in examining the brood to find 

 only a portion of a larva in a cell, the 

 bees having removed part of it." 



N. E. France — (Eighth Annual Re- 



port of Inspector of Apiaries in Wis" 

 consin) — "I have carefully tested the 

 remedy of treating the infected combs 

 for future use with formaldehyde gas 

 to destroy the germs of disease, and 

 thus save the combs for future use. A 

 large and perfectly air-tight box was 

 made, some GO or more brood-combs 

 were placed in the box far enough apart 

 to admit of free action of the gas to 

 each comb. The combs after treatment 

 were tested. The open cells in the 

 brood-combs that contained only the 

 dry scales of disease were cleaned out 

 by the bees and healthy brood appeared. 

 But wherever the comb contained 

 honey or pollen in the same infected 

 cell, or where the cell was capped over, 

 as all brood is before ready to hatch, 

 in all such cases the gases failed to de- 

 stroy the life in the germs of the dis- 

 ease. Such combs, after given to the 

 bees, were again badly infected." 



Wm. McEvoy (the most successful 

 inspector of foul brood, whose treat- 

 ment is accepted everywhere as posi- 

 tive) — " All the old foul-brood combs 

 must be burned or melted into wax." 

 He evidently does not believe that giv- 

 ing these combs to strong colonies 

 would cleanse them. 



M. M. Baldridge (one of the oldest 

 bee-keepers, whose articles may be 

 found in the first years of the American 

 Bee Journal, and who was already a 

 practical man half a century ago) — 

 "The contents of the diseased colony 

 may be disposed of by burning the 

 same ; such combs as contain honey 

 and are free of diseased brood may be 

 extracted and saved for table use, and 

 the empty combs melted into wax. 

 Those that contain brood may as well 

 be burned up at once." 



Schirach (in 1771, already knew of 

 foul brood, and was the first to give the 

 positive cure) — "Remove all combs of 

 diseased colonies and keep the bees 

 fasting for two days." 



Delia Rocca (living in the Island of 

 Syra. in the Mediterranean Sea, in 1780, 

 was acquainted with foul brood, which 

 he described positively and accurately 

 in his " Traite sur less abeilles," pub- 

 lished in 1790; Vol. Ill, page 262-3)— 

 " In the beginning, not having perceived 

 that this disease was contagious, we 

 had the imprudence of filling 1 the old 

 hives from which the bees had died 

 with new swarms; these all caught the 

 disease and perished." Farther he says: 

 "We tried to remove the infected 

 combs and f hue into the diseased colo- 

 nies some t'resli sivarms to help the 

 others, but this method failed — the old 

 and the new died together." 



F. R. Cheshire — "Should any attempt 

 be made at removing a dead larva 

 which has assumed the coffee-colored 

 stage, the remains, tenaciously adher- 

 ing to the cell-wall, will stretch out irito 

 long and thin strings, somewhat like 

 half-dried glue." 



J. J. McKenzie, B. A. (bacteriologist 

 of the Province of Ontario) — " The hive 

 and frames in which a foul-broody col- 

 ony has lived must be sterilized." 



Chas. Stewart (inspector in New York 

 State) — "The shaking method has 

 never failed us if done in a thorough 

 manner. Colonies that are found to 

 be diseased late in the season may be 

 cured by taking away all their combs 

 after brood-rearing has ceased, and 



