April 23, 1903. 



THE AMERFCAN BEE JOURNAL. 



261 



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 REPORTER. 



(Continued from page 245.) 

 FOUL BROOD — ITS CAUSE AND CURE. 



A Member — That larva that lies down against the side 

 of the cell, is that after the cell is capped ? 



Mr. France — It has probably been capped ; it is begin- 

 ning to have this sunken appearance, and about to begin 

 that perforation in there ? 



A Member — Then you can not detect foul brood in cells 

 that have never been capped ? 



Mr. France — I should usually say no, unless you have 

 been schooling yourself on this, and looking for it before 

 hand. 



A Member — Would the introduction of the queen from a 

 foul-broody colony received through the mails introduce 

 foul brood ? 



Mr. France — Well, I am not a queen-breeder, nor don't 

 want to affect any one's market. I will say yes and no ; no, 

 providing you take that queen-bee and introduce her in a 

 clean cage and destroy the cage that she came in. Right 

 on that point : In the largest county of our State we had a 

 peculiar case. There were some 40 odd hives, new that sea- 

 son from a supply house, that had never had bees in them ; 

 he had put his new swarms in them ; the old queens were 

 not desirable ones ; he sent to one of our distant cities for 

 some queens — five of them — and introduced them iu the 

 cages they came in. After a time he wrote me that there 

 was something wrong in those hives, and so remarkable ^n 

 instance was it, that it was every other all in one row, it 

 excited my curiosity. How could it be so, and what was the 

 cause ? No other bees in the vicinity were diseased. Why 

 should these be, and in that peculiar way ? Finally I learned 

 that these five queens had been introduced in those same 

 hives ; then I said, " You put it there. Where did you get 

 your queens?" He told me, and I said, " That apiary is 

 diseased ; I know it has been for some time." 



I have answered a good many questions in our State, 

 and I have written out the answers and questions, making 

 them very short, and will read them ; they may be of help 

 to some one here : 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON FOUL BROOD. 



1. How does foul brood become contagious? By rob- 

 ber-bees getting diseased honey. 



2. Do the germs float in the air and thus spread ? No. 

 Often bees hatch from diseased combs. 



3. Are any combs from a diseased colony safe to use ? 

 If so, what and where ? Combs above a queen-excluder, or 

 those never having had brood in are generally safe if they 

 have been cleaned out by the bees and exposed to the air 

 for some time. They need careful inspection before using; 

 also after. 



4. Is honey from diseased hives safe for people to use ? 

 Yes, but not desirable. 



5. Can honey from diseased combs be safely fed to bees ? 

 Yes, if boiled first. By that word boiled, I mean the honey 

 boiled — all to boil, and stir it while boiling. 



6. Is foundation from diseased combs safe to use ? Yes. 

 I proved this in 82 trials. 



7. Does foul brood affect adult bees ? I think not much. 

 They gather honey and swarm. 



8. How long will it take foul brood to destroy an apiary? 

 That depends upon conditions, seasons, etc. I know of 108 

 colonies, strong in April, and all dead inside of one year. 

 Others were diseased more or less for 12 years, but they had 

 fair management that saved them. Usually one ti three 

 years. 



9. Will a queen from a diseased colony produce diseased 

 brood? No; but I know of several cases where the intro- 



duction of foreign queens in the cages they came in caused 

 disease. It is not safe to use foreign cages to introduce 

 queens in. Put the queen in a clean cage on arrival, and 

 burn the other and bees in it. 



10. Is honey stored above the brood in boxes or super- 

 combs safe to use? Yes, for people, and possibly for bees. 

 I know it is if boiled before using. 



11. Are super-combs partly drawn out over diseased 

 brood, that have not had honey stored in them, safe to use ? 

 Yes, as a rule. 



12. Is there any danger of using tools that have been 

 used in handling diseased bees ? Yes, if they have become 

 soiled or stained with honey from the diseased hive. 



13. How do you disinfect such ? Plenty of hot water 

 kills the germs 



14. Can you cure this disease late in the fall. If so, 

 how ? If you have plenty of sealed honey in healthy combs, 

 after brood-rearing is over, place the combs in a clean hive 

 and drive the bees in it with smoke, or, better, brush them 

 from the combs into the new hive, and the colony is cured. 

 The diseased combs to be treated later. But if you have 

 not the above, and the bees have a good supply of honey 

 and bees, they will winter, and then treat them next spring. 

 Take great care that no robber-bees enter the hives. 



15. What harm is it if you make public the names of 

 places diseased, or owners of such bees ? Allow me to illus- 

 trate : Your bees are diseased ; you sell queens ; I make 

 public foul brood among your bees. How many queens 

 would you sell ? The same is true in the sale of honey. On 

 the other hand, we at once cure the bees, and everything is 

 perfectly safe — then your business is as before. The Na- 

 tional Association can do a good deal in this line some day. 



16. Is it necessary to burn anything to cure foul brood ? 

 No. But often it is good economy. It all depends upon 

 surrounding conditions. 



17. How do you cleanse a diseased hive to make it safe 

 to use again ? Generally all that is needed is to scrape the 

 inside of the hive. But if honey has been soaked into the 

 lumber I would use some boiling water. The danger, as a 

 rule, is not in the hive. Wm. McEvoy has cured thousands 

 of cases and not scalded the hives. 



18. Is there any danger of buying combs to use ? Yes. 

 I know of many cases where that was the means of con- 

 tracting disease. Also using implements from strangers. 



19. Is solar or sun extracted wax, honey, or the refuse 

 from such, safe to use ? No, not if any diseased combs 

 were in the extractor. It is not hot enough. 



20. Is there any danger in buying second-hand honey- 

 cans or barrels? Yes. And I want to say second-hand 

 goods of any kind are poor property to store honey in. 

 Especially the 60-pound tin can, if emptied by manufac- 

 turers. 



21. Will pickled brood, or black brood, produce foul 

 brood? No. They are separate and a different germ. They 

 are not liable to be in the same hive. Small-pox will not 

 produce diphtheria, scarlet fever, or typhoid fever. 



22. Can foul brood be cured by abundant feeding ? A'o, 

 so long as there is an abundance of feed coming in, either 

 from natural sources or from feeders. When the supply 

 stops, and brood is fed from stored honey from a diseased 

 cell, said larv£e will become diseased and die. 



23. Will a foul-broody colony swarm ? Yes, it is often 

 the case. Diseased lightly. 



24. Will a diseased colony carry disease while swarm- 

 ing ? Yes, it is liable to do so. 



25. If such a colony goes to the woods, will that bee- 

 tree be diseased ? No. I have proven this in four cases at 

 least. Said bees are without any combs or even foundation 

 in the tree until they have produced it, and by that time 

 they have consumed what diseased honey they took with 

 them. 



26. How, then, can a bee-tree become diseased ? By the 

 bees from the tree robbing some diseased colony. 



27. In a locality where foul brood exists, if all diseased 

 colonies are treated, is there not great danger from diseased 

 bee-trees near by ? No. A diseased bee-tree will soon 

 have no live bees, and the squirrels and bee-moths will soon 

 dispose of everything in the tree. This I have also fjrovea 

 in several cases. 



28. Are any of the drug treatments a sure cure ? No. 

 They only check it for a time. 



29. Is there any sure-cure method ? The McEvoy treat- 

 ment cures every time, if carefully followed. 



30. What is the real cause of foul brood ? It is hard to 

 tell. We know conditions where it produced disease. 



31. If my bees are diseased what will it cost to cure 

 them? and can I expect anything from them the same sea- 



