244 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 16, 1903. 



not get the swarming-fever; and, as I put two upper stories on each 

 of the strong colonies at this visit, there is no swarming except in 

 cases of supersedure of queens during the honey season. This does 

 away with all watching for swarms. 



cr^ As I want my clover honey separate from the basswood, I make a 

 third trip the first of July, and extract what clover there is, putting 

 back the upper stories to catch the last end of the clover and basswood 

 flow. 



What clover and basswood there is I extract about Aug. 1 ; and, 

 as there is no fall How at this yard, this ends the season. 



If it were not for keeping the clover separate, it would not be 

 necessary to make more than three visits a year. 



I have an assistant living about one-half mile from this yard, and 

 he looks over the colonies, and adds upper stories where needed, visit- 

 ing the yard twice during the honey-How — once about June 34 and 

 again July 1'2. He also helps me extract and pack the bees for win- 

 ter — in all, about eight or ten days' work. This yard is one-third 

 mile from any house, and there is no one there to watch and hive 

 swarms when I am away. 



Now, for results : The crop of 1901 was 10,500 pounds, and, last 

 year, it was 4,500 pounds, making 15,000 total tor two years. This 

 was sold at wholesale at T'.j to 9 cents per pound, at an average of 

 about 8 cents, making ¥1,200, or $1.50 each for the eight trips. 



Convention Proceedings. 



Chicago-Northwestern Convention. 



Report of the Chicag-o-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention, held in Chicago, 

 Dec. 3 and 4, 1902. 



BY OUR OWN SHORTHAND RKPORTBR. 



(Continued from page 22'i.) 

 Mr. N. E. France, Inspector of Apiaries for the State 

 of Wisconsin, talked on foul brood during practically the 

 whole of the evening session, as follows : 



FOUL BROOD— ITS CAUSE AND CURE. 



There are many parts of this subject, and so many and 

 varied are the interests that I hardly know on what part of 

 it to touch. I had outlined quite a paper, thinking that it 

 might go to the press, and through the published report of 

 this meeting do considerable good. The headings had been 

 finished, and I had started to typewrite out a full report, 

 when some one — some of my comrade bee-keepers who had 

 been in the northern counties hunting — sent down some 

 deer heads without so much as asking me if I were at home, 

 or would do the work for them, with instructions to " Mount 

 this head for my house and send it back ;" other heads kept 

 coming in until I had dozens on my hands, so my prepared 

 paper had to wait— the deer heads (fresh meat) could not 

 wait, but needed immediate preparation. 



I have been unable anywhere to procure an artist cap- 

 able of making a drawing looking down into the depth of 

 the brood-comb as the naked eye sees it. I went to three of 

 our State Normal Schools in our State ; gave the artists 

 samples of comb, explained to them what I wanted, and 

 they said, " Yes, we can see it." " Now," I said, " I am not 

 asking the price, but can you make a drawing of this?" 

 They said, " I will try it;" and after a time they would send 

 me back the comb, saying, " I can not get the depth as the 

 naked eye can see it." Consequently, if I can explain it so 

 that you can understand it, it is the best I can do. 



First, What is foul brood, and what does it look like? 

 It is a germ disease. Now, in going over our State at 

 Farmers' Institutes for the last six years, I have been sur- 

 prised to find old bee-keepers who were well versed upon 

 bee-keeping, and by so-called bad luck nearly run out of 

 the bee-business, not knowing that foul brood was under- 

 lying all their trouble, and they didn't know what the dis- 

 ease was, and as I heard a remark made since I have been 

 here, that one of the strong indications to detect it would 

 be by the odor or smell. I will confess that so far as my 

 study has gone, and from samples obtained from various 

 States, as well as from all over my own, I find many, many 

 yards where, in the same apiary, one colony is affected and 

 the next is not ; another is affected and the next one to it is 

 not ; one has a strong odor of foul brood, and the other little 



or none, according to the condition of that hive. Now, why 

 that is I can not say. We may have foul brood in our yard 

 and not detect it by any odor. If we had a room where we 

 could have the sunlight from the morning sun shining in I 

 would ask nothing better than that each one would indi- 

 vidually take a piece of comb containing foul brood and see 

 the different stages of it for yourself. There is nothing like 

 seeing to impress it upon one's mind. If those who have 

 not seen it — and I will confess that the samples I have can 

 not be seen well in this light — I question if you can get any 

 satisfaction out of it, but I will try to explain some of the 

 stages of the disease. 



This disease, as I find it largely in the Northern States, 

 especially Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, and on 

 to the west, seems to affect the bee when it is along from 

 four to nine days of age ; sometimes it will be later. As we 

 go farther south into the Southern States, it seems to affect 

 it at an earlier day, along from two to three up to six days 

 of age, making its first appearance. 



Those first symptoms to the naked eye perhaps would 

 not be noticed. I had to shade it here to show that it lies 

 down curled up ; right there is where it gets its first fatal 

 blow ; it is in the food. Foul brood becomes contagious to 

 that larval bee just when it is fed the disease, and not be- 

 fore, and never until then. For instance, this cell [refer- 

 ring to drawing] is diseased and that is not, simply because 

 this has been fed the disease and that not. 



The first indications are that this larval bee becomes 

 restless, and instead of lying down in a fiat, curled-up condi- 

 tion, it becomes standing on the point end, with the larger 

 portion of the larva uppermost, and a little brownish streak 

 begins to show. The naked eye, perhaps, would not notice 

 it at that stage ; but instead of that growing (these are not 

 true drawings) — all of us have seen the natural healthy 

 brood — this bee, lacking the vigor of a healthy bee, the 

 j germs of disease preying upon it, it becomes weakened and 

 falls flat upon the lower side-wall of that cell instead of 

 standing apparently out from the walls of the cell. 



Right at that stage the gases begin to accumulate in- 

 ternally in that larva, and it becomes somewhat of a gela- 

 tine or gluish nature, and the moment that larval bee strikes 

 the lower side-wall of the cell (represented as if the comb 

 were turned, looking straight down from this — this would 

 be the lower side-wall of the cell in its natural condition), 

 wherever that strikes it will never let go ; wherever pickled 

 brood, chilled brood, starved brood, may strike against the 

 lower side of the wall, or upper, it is sure to stay, and it is 

 lost. 



You can take a pair of tweezers and go down in here 

 and take that out, but if it is foul brood, and it once strikes 

 the side-wall, it is there for all time, and I know of no medi- 

 cal treatment that will ever cure that germ of disease once 

 there. Instead of maturing and hatching, the cells become 

 sunken instead of being capped over ; they begin to be 

 irregular, the gasses accumulating, drawing down appar- 

 ently until it will break the capping sometimes in the center, 

 but more frequently to one side of the center, the weaker 

 part giving away, and have ragged holes in the cappings. 

 Quite often that is the first stage that the naked eye would 

 see. 



Now, at that stage it has become dead matter; when it 

 is in the ropy stage it is brown and stringy and ropy in its 

 nature. The head of the bee will become dried faster than 

 the rest. As I have tried to illustrate, here on the lower 

 side-wall the head end of the bee turns up ; back of that, as 

 this spreads out in the cell, just as it is getting ropy, there 

 apparently is a little back-bone with ribbing showing, then 

 the odor is worse ; it is then at the ropy stage ; it may stay 

 in that condition from three or four days to three weeks, 

 according to the condition of the weather ; such weather as 

 we are having lately it would remain in one unchanged 

 condition the entire time. It will continue to dry down on 

 the lower side-wall of the cell until we have just a little 

 thin scale ; sometimes it is as thick as the side-wall of the 

 cell ; quite often it is not even so thick, but invariably this 

 one thing prevails — the head of that bee will become dried 

 before the rest and curl up, and frequently that little bunch 

 right at the top, and no one need ever mistake that for any- 

 thing else. In the comb here in the window, that was the 

 first indication that I looked for — this dried-down scale with 

 that curled-up appearance. 



If there are any questions on that part of it, perhaps 

 we had better hear them before going further. 



Mr. Meredith — I would like to ask a question in regard 

 to ropiness. If it would be extended out by a toothpick, 

 would it represent half or three-quarters of an inch ? 



Mr. France — That would depend upon the season. Just 



