Nov. 19, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



743 



been a cause of it in that apiary, but what the original 

 cause was I do not know. In certain cases it might have 

 originated there, but that would not be a standard rule. 



How do we spread it ? Why, in as many ways as the 

 bee-keeper knows of. I need not enumerate them. Some- 

 times by getting- combs from somebody who has the mis- 

 fortune to have the disease in his apiary. A man in my 

 State bought, at a very cheap price, a lot of combs pretty 

 well filled with honey from a neighboring apiary. He used 



It will remain as found there, the larva continuing to draw 

 down until it will turn up the head. Chinaman-shoe like. 

 Just in that part pickled brood and black brood will do the 

 same thing; that is, they will turn up, but they will not 

 have that little thread running up there. 



At that same stage is where it is brown, and has that 

 ropy, stringy nature that I can not find in the case of pick- 

 led brood, and I have found it entirely different in black 

 brood, so far as I have examined. Then, at the ropy stage, 



C. A.. HUFF'S TANK FOR FUMIGATING POUL-BROODT COMBS WITH FORMALIN GAS. 



these as feeders. In those colonies that needed spring feed- 

 ing I cautioned him, saying, " My friend, do you know 

 whether there has been disease in that apiary or not ?" He 

 said, "What is the difference?" X was out on my work, 

 when I received a telegram to come immediately to this 

 man's place. He could not wait for the dispatch to chase 

 me around over the State, but he came overland 60 miles 

 for me. He said, " I have got foul brood up there." I said, 

 " Do you remember a young man who bought some combs 

 with honey in ?" He had shown me one comb as clean and 

 white as you please, nearly full of honey, and in there I saw 

 only three cells with foul brood. He had said that it "did 

 not matter." Now, it was just those combs that he had fed. 

 These all had foul brood, but no others. And, by the way, 

 that bee-keeper was formerly of this county. He went back 

 from California to Wisconsin, has had his experience in 

 that, and is coming back to this county this winter to re- 

 main permanently with you. 



Now, I will describe some of the symptoms of foul brood 

 so that if any one here has not had experience, he may 

 profit by it. Foul brood has some characteristics that are 

 true to the nature of the disease; one would be the perfor- 

 ated or sunken cappings. That might also be true of some 

 others, but it is always true at some stages of foul brood. 

 If we would examine underneath this capping we would 

 find a larval bee, according to its development. If we would 

 take the early stages it would be of a coffee color, a brown- 

 ish color, with a lightish streak in it, and the head end of 

 that larval bee would be somewhat dry — a peculiar charac- 

 teristic of that stage. The tongue of the bee seems to ad- 

 here to the upper wall of the comb. I never found that 

 condition of affairs in pickled brood, black, chilled, or any 

 other condition of brood, that the tongue stands against the 

 upper side-walls ; the larva on the lower side-walls, which 

 is of a brownish color, and the bee is about one-half matured. 



we get the peculiar odor of foul brood. Now, these are 

 characteristics that are apparent to the eye. I might go 

 into microscopic features, but do not care to take up these 

 details here. I will say, however, this much : Here are 

 specimens from 10 different bee-yards in my own State, 

 samples of this foul brood. (Yes, I will keep them covered 

 up ! At your convenience, those of you who have not seen, 

 and want to see the disease, will come up here and inspect 

 these specimens. They are here for that purpose.) 

 Now, a little instruction as to what to look for : 

 First, I will ask the California bee-keepers to keep your 

 hands off of the inside of the box, so that you may not carry 

 the disease home. Handle it as you would any other poison. 

 But what are you going to look at ? I have marked on the 

 box so you will know just the top end of the box. Looking 

 straight down into the box, these cells seem to be fairly 

 clean, but when you hold it in the sun (I would want to 

 handle it with the sun coming into it in this direction over 

 my shoulder, so that you can look angling down in there, at 

 the lower side-wall, a little back from the front end of the 

 cell). In some of these you will see that dried, black, thin 

 scale, not quite as thick as the side-walls. That is the last 

 stage. I have had men say, " Why is the comb in that con- 

 dition ? What does that amount to 7" It amounts to just 

 what I have illustrated with that comb ; that brood was in 

 those combs ; it revived, and the disease starts again. In 

 one of these combs there are eggs deposited right on top of 

 these scales, and there is also pollen here, and there was 

 some honey. 



I was very much interested in the lecture last evening 

 by your veteran bee-keeper, Mr. Harbison, especially in the 

 close of his remarks in regard to foul brood in your district. 

 You have a warmer climate than where I came from, and I 

 do not know what would be possible if foul brood should be 

 in the trees and in the rocks, where your bees have not 



