188? 



GLEAKINGS IK BEE CULTUitE. 



?3.< 



uated in a beautiful country. I had always enjoy- 

 ed readinjr her letters in Gleanings, which I took 

 one year while in Iowa; and while reading I formed 

 an opinion of the writer. 1 found her to be Just as 

 I expected— g-et up atid dust— willing- to let her 

 light shine. She took me out to see her bees, 

 showed me the hives and fixtures she had gotten of 

 you. I found many objects of interest at her beau- 

 tiful home, which indicates that she has not been 

 idle, and 1 hope she may live long and have health 

 to enjoy the fruits of her labor. 



As I have been suffering so much lately from 

 rheumatism 1 have been to a great deal of ex- 

 pense, and did not feel that I could spare a dollar 

 for Gleanings. Mrs. Chaddock kindly gave me 

 some of hers and other late bee-journals to read. 

 1 have been offered, since coming to Canton, ten 

 colonies of Italians to work with next year on 

 shares. Every thing is to be furnished me- 1 to do 

 the work, and to receive half the honey and half 

 the increase. I can have them two years. Do you 

 think that a fair offer? Should I move them this 

 fall, or wait until spring? Tlitey are in LangStr'ith 

 hives. Mrs. R. J. Currv. 



Canton, Fulton Co., 111., Sept. 13, 1887. 



If yoii want my opinion in regard to tak- 

 ing bees on shares, Mrs. C, I don't believe 

 that any one who has had the success you 

 seem to "have had can afford to do any thing 

 of that sort. Buy your bees, even if you buy 

 only a couple of "colonies to commence with. 

 If, however, you prefer the '' shares "' plan, 

 the offer you mention seems to be a good 

 one. As you state it, I believe I would move 

 them this fall. 



FOUL BROOD " ACCORDING TO 

 HOYLE." 



SOME ITKTHEK SUGGESTIONS ANU 'IHKt )lt I i;S 1(K- 

 (iARDING THE DISEASE. 



r is with the greatest degree of interest tliat I 

 i-ead your experiments with foul bi-ood, given 

 in each issue of (i LEANINGS. lam glad to see 

 you so cautious in coming to a decision as to 

 the nature and cure of this disease: as your 

 conclusions, right or wrong, will have great weight 

 with the fraternity. Although you are very con- 

 servative on the subject, I conclude, from deduc- 

 tions you have made, that you are biased in favor 

 of some theory. This is what I refer to. When the 

 disease disappeared from your apiary, you 

 thought you had cured it. Naturally; but 

 when the disease reappeared, you gave it as your 

 opinion that the disease had been covered up all 

 that time, and that when you let them get near the 

 8tarvati(m-point they got down to the disease. Now, 

 is this conclusion supported by any thing we know, 

 or have reason to suppose concerning the dis- 

 ease? J think not; any way. 1 want to reason with 

 you on the matter. 



We will suppose, for the sake of argument, that 

 bacteria is the |)rime cause of the disease, and that 

 It is conveyed in the hone.v. It is natural to suppose 

 it gets in the honey when the himey is placed in 

 cells where diseased larvfo had l)ecu. Suppose such 

 were the case, would they not have eaten the affect- 

 ed honej" first? Or let us suppose that the affected 

 honey was some you had fed them, and it was all 

 placed up next the top-bar, would not the top-bar 

 have been reached in some combs in the apiary 



long before the disease reappeared? Well, you will 

 say, how did it reapjicar? Not being there, I could 

 not say positively, and I don't know that I could if 1 

 were there; but from what you said at the time, 1 

 should judge that the larva^ in the hives affected 

 were neglected by the bees, and, being weak for 

 want of sufficient food, were attacked by bacteria. 

 Bees will not feed the larva? plentifully when their 

 stores are low; and Itefore they use it all they will 

 quit feeding them and move them from the hive. 

 When foul brood is in an ajjiary, and it is not so 

 bad but that you can distinguish a difference in 

 some colonies, these are the colonics which have It 

 worst, other things being e(iual : Artificial colonies, 

 where the larva? are out of proportion to the nurse- 

 bees, and get insufficient attention; where there 

 is a puny queen; where there is a drone-layer or 

 fertile workers. 



You have evidence enough in Gleanings that 

 the disease sometimes gets well of itself; tiut you 

 believe in the germ theory, and you call such cases 

 a " mild type." There is only one way to distinguish 

 the mild type (?) from the genuine foul brood : The 

 former gets well, the latter doesn't. That is the only 

 difference. There is no doubt but that the larvae of 

 the former are killed just as dead, and in as great a 

 proportion, and smell equally bad as the larvfe in a 

 genuine case, other conditions being the same, of 

 course. There are as many different phases of this 

 disease as there are different causes, which accounts 

 for the different descriptions of it. 



I had the disease this last summer In my Whistler 

 apiary (that which I had two years ago was in Mo- 

 bile), that surpassed any case that I can call to 

 mind. The disease reached its height of develop- 

 ment in two weeks; that is, the combs containing 

 larvte were turned a bluish black. Even the cap- 

 pings were stained through. T do not believe over 

 ri.T per cent of the larviv hatched. If this state of 

 things had continued two months they would have 

 all died. In that event it-would have been it genu 

 ine case; as it was, it turned out to be only a mild 

 type(?). It was verv dry, and the bees were gather- 

 ing honey-dew; the spring flowers had ceased tn 

 bloom. There came a good rain, which stopped the 

 supply of honey-dew, and they, having very littli' 

 in their hives, and i)lenty of nectar stored, gradual- 

 ly got well. Of course, if they had gat hered consid- 

 erable of that honey-dew, and it was not taken away, 

 it would have tieen fatal. Bad water may have 

 assisted in causing the disease — I can't say; but 

 any waj% I can't help believing the rain saved them. 



I see you have a friend investigating the subject 

 with the microscope. I hope he will be successful. 

 and tell us something new about it. Now, if your 

 friend were a first-class chemist as well as a micro- 

 scopist, and would use both sciences in his investi- 

 gations, I have no doubt but that he could tell u.s, 

 very soon, something new and \aluable; but with 

 the microscope alone I hardly think he can do more 

 than verify the experiments of Cheshire and others. 



Through the chemists we learn what to eat, what 

 to give our horses, cows, hogs, chickens, etc. They 

 coulil tell us, no doubt, what foreign substance 

 there was in the honey that caused bad results, or 

 tell us if it lacked some essential thing. When bees 

 are fed plienol, jn-obably a chemist could tell tis 

 what percentage it was to the juices of the larva by 

 which it was received. If he could learn that, he 

 could easily tell if carbolic acid would cure the dis- 

 ease, by putting the same proportion In the compo- 



