480 



have cool nights and chilly clays right in 

 the midst of summer; and in our cell-build- 

 ing operations, at least, we find it better to 

 use the double-walled hive throughout the 

 year. This is not a theory with us, but a 

 demonstrated fact. Even in a comb-honey 

 super we find that bees will do better comb- 

 building in a protected super, taking our 

 weather conditions as we find them, than 

 when there is only a single thickness of 

 wood between the bees and the weather. 



Resistant Strains of 



How they Make for the Eeducttion 

 of European Foul Brood; Some 

 Difficult Points Cleared up 

 The Provincial Apiarist, Mr. Mjorley 

 Pettitt, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, in charge 

 of the Apicultural School and experimen- 

 tal work at that point, has sent out a bulle- 

 tin detailing " some results of co-operative 

 experiments on races of bees to determine 

 their power to resist European foul brood." 

 It seems that he sent queens from some of 

 the best breeders of resistant strains of Ital- 

 ians to beekeepers throughout Ontario. He 

 instructed each recipient " to introduce the 

 queen to a good average colony that is af- 

 fected with European foul brood. Some- 

 times there are colonies that seem to be im- 

 mune to European foul brood for a while. 

 Do not use these for experiment. If you 

 have treated your bees by the shaking meth- 

 od, introduce the queen to a good colony 

 that was diseased before treating." 



The replies after the lapse of a year or 

 two are exceedingly interesting and valu- 

 able. Naturally enough in one respect at 

 least they show just what we should expect 

 to find — that a vtigorous leather-colored 

 strain of Italians are much more resistant 

 to the disease than the common black bees 

 — better than Carniolans, and in most cases 

 better than the extra yellow bees bred for 

 color, although there is one exception where 

 the goldens seem to be more resistant than 

 the darker strains. 



The replies in some instances are not 

 clear on one point; and that is, whether 

 merely introducing a queen without shaking 

 or dequeening accomplishes a cure or not. 

 But it would appear in most cases that the 

 colonies were either shaken or dequeened 

 prior to the introduction to the resistant 

 strain of Italians. In a few cases it was 

 very clearly shown that where blacks or 

 hybrids continued to be used, that European 

 foul brood came back after shaking, and 

 continued to do so, and that the introduc- 

 tion of Italian blood after the last shaking 

 finally affected a permanent cure. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



It is shown also that all Italians are not 

 proof against the disease ; that a strain that 

 is resistant in one apiary where European 

 foul brood holds sway is not necessarily 

 resistant in another. But this is explained 

 by the fact that European foul brood, after 

 it has been in an apiary or a colony for a 

 few years loses its virulence. At the end of 

 that time it yields more readily to treat- 

 ment. It follows, then, that if an apiary has 

 recently contracted European foul brood it 

 will give its owner more trouble in the 

 handling of the disease, and that when it 

 does break out in a yard for the first time 

 the owner should rely on all known means 

 to hold it in cheek. First of all, it is of 

 prime importance to introduce a strong vig- 

 orous strain of Italians — preferably those 

 of the leather-colored type. The inspectors 

 of New York have for years made this em- 

 phatic, and they ought to know. Dequeen- 

 ing for a certain number of days prior to 

 the introduction of a vigorous strain may 

 be sufficient ; but it may be advisable to 

 shake as well as requeen; and it may be 

 necessary to shake again until the disease 

 begins to lose some of its virulence. 



Mr. Pettit is to be commended for his 

 enterprise in starting an inquiry that in- 

 volves so large a territory, and for bring- 

 ing together a mass of testimony that is so 

 convincing on a problem on which there has 

 been such a difference of opinion. If it is 

 a fact that European foul brood, after four 

 or five years, loses its virulence (and that 

 fact seems to be now pretty well establish- 

 ed), then it explains why a mild treatment 

 in one case effects a cure while in another it 

 seems to be entirely ineffective, and why 

 there has been such a conflict in testimony. 

 Every beekeeper, whether he has European 

 foul brood or not, would do well to secure 

 a copy of the above-mentioned bulletin. We 

 presume that all Americans, at least, will 

 have to pay, say, ten cents. Certainly every 

 beekeeper in Canada should get a copy at 

 once; for even if he has no European foul 

 brood it will save him hundreds of dollars 

 against the time when it may come among 

 his bees. In the mean time, as a preventive 

 means, if he has not already done so, he 

 should get rid of his blacks and hybrids at 

 once, and introduce in their stead a vigorous 

 strain of Italians. European foul brood, 

 unlike the American type, is disposed to 

 break out again after treatment. Preven- 

 tion is better than cure. While good Ital- 

 ian blood will not keep it out necessarily, 

 it will help, and, what is of considerable 

 importance, make the problem of cure much 

 more simple if it does break out. 



