November, 1915. 



385 



American Hee Journal 



VIEW OF MT. CHEAM AND FRASER RIVER. FROM THE APIARY OF SAM SMITH. DEWDNEY. B. C. 

 This is a typical specimen of British Columbia. We have thousands more just as good.— (Photographed by F. Dundas Todd..) 



cause disease by entering colonies that 

 were healthy before. The transfer of 

 combs from diseased to healthy hives 

 is often a fruitful source or cause of 

 the spread of this disease. It is quite 

 rare to tind a farmer beekeeper, or one 

 who does not make a special business 

 of it, who will recognize disease of any 

 kind among his bees. 



The rearing of queens in diseased 

 colonies is doubtless another cause of 

 the spread of this disease. A friend of 

 mine who has had a large experience 

 with European foulbrood, says it is im- 

 possible to rear healthy or disease- 

 resisting queens in such colonies, as 

 they will ijroduce only queens whose 

 progeny cannot resist this disease. 



But how does this disease spread 

 from yard to yard ? Surely not by 

 drifting, you say. But are we sure? I 

 certainly am not. Why should not a 

 young nursing bee with its stomach 

 full of pollen, water, and honey, with 

 many bacteria, as it takes its first flight, 

 lose its way and wander as it hears the 

 hum of many bees, to some yard where 

 disease was before unknown, and enter 

 a hive and be well received for the load 

 it brings of food now digested and 

 ready to feed the hungry larvx ? " Ira- 

 possible !" you say, "they always know 

 their way back. Their instinct or sense 

 of direction teaches them that." Alas! 

 their instincts are sometimes at fault. 

 Instinct teaches the larvie as they reach 

 maturity to enter the pupa state with 

 their heads to the mouth of the cells, 

 yet I have found them with their heads 

 towards the base of the cell, and unable 

 to get out without assistance. 



Again, we have found bees trying to 



rear two larvae in one cell and queens 

 from drone-larvs. No, surely, their 

 instincts are not perfect, and I can 

 conceive of a bee wandering far from 

 its home to some strange hive. Pre- 

 sumably, however, this disease is more 

 commonly carried from yard to yard 

 by robber bees than otherwise, whether 

 in the honey or on their bodies, who 

 can tell ? I have sometimes thought it 

 was neither, but by nurse bees that fol- 

 lowed the robbers to their home and 

 cast in their lot with them. Of one 

 thing, however, I feel very sure, and 

 that is if you have European foulbrood 

 in your yard and wish to keep it from 

 spreading you must get rid of what you 

 have at the earliest moment, either by 

 caging or removing the queen from 

 such hives, or moving them at least 4 

 or 5 miles from home until cured or by 

 destroying them with their combs and 

 honey. The last is a very sure remedy. 



Perhaps I should mention another 

 method of the distribution of European 

 foulbrood, although it may combine all 

 that have been mentioned. I believe, 

 more often than we think, this disease 

 is spread through or by the agency of 

 wild bees. 



A few weeks ago I was called to ex- 

 amine a yard some .50 miles from home. 

 I found it nearly gone with this dis- 

 ease, and the moths taking possession. 

 Not one good colony remained. I went 

 to all the yards in the vicinity expect- 

 ing to find other cases, but not one did 

 I find. In talking with the owner I 

 found that he was an old bee hunter, 

 finding and cutting trees long distances 

 from home, bringing home his honey 

 and sometimes the bees with him, 



which was undoubtedly the way the dis- 

 ease came to appear in his yard. In- 

 stances might be multiplied where it 

 has seemed very certain the disease 

 came from wild bees. 

 Middlebury, Vt. 



Does the Queen Convey Euro- 

 pean Foulbrood ?— Is Che- 

 shire Good Authority on 

 This Subject? 



BY OREL L. HERSHISER. 



THE leading editorial of the Septem- 

 ber, 1915, issue of the American 

 Bee Journal, by Dr. C. C. Miller 

 and C. P. Dadant, has inspired the 

 writer to a little investigation and the 

 offering of a few remarks on the above 

 important subject. 



That the disease of European foul- 

 brood is spread by the nurse bees feed- 

 ing the juices of dead larvs, before it 

 becomes putrid, to healthy larvx, the 

 writer believes to be quite probable, 

 and this seems equally true whether 

 such juices are used purposely for food 

 for the larvae or whether the food of 

 the nurse bees may become contami- 

 nated during the process of removing 

 the dead larva;. 



The stronger flavored honeys, such 

 as that from buckwheat, seem to excite 

 bees to robbing more than do the 

 milder flavored sorts, such as clover. 

 In like manner may not the peculiar 

 sour odor of European foulbrood, be- 

 fore it becomes putrid, or even after- 



