MAY 15, 1912 



299 



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HONEY PRODUCED IN DISEASED APIARIES 



Breeding from Queens whose Bees are Practically 

 Immune 



BY OREL L. HERSHISER 



Brood diseases are rampant in many wide 

 areas, and are, in each succeeding season, 

 breaking out in localities heretofore free 

 from disease. The annual increase seems to 

 be in almost geometric ratio. That these 

 diseases will soon overtake every apiarist in 

 the country seems evident from authorized 

 reports, notwithstanding all that official and 

 private inspection and treatment has been 

 able to accomplish in the way of staying 

 their progress. Complete eradication of 

 brood diseases, the country over, seems to 

 be out of the question, and w'e may as well, 

 and better, turn our attention to what is far 

 more practical and profitable — namely, to 

 becoming disease experts. That is what we 

 must do if we are to continue in the honey- 

 producing business as an occupation. 



Much honey has been produced in recent 

 years, in apiaries more or less affected by 

 brood diseases. The percentage of such hon- 

 ey bids fair to increase annually for some 

 indefinite time to come. This, at first 

 thought, is not a pleasing condition to con- 

 template; but being confronted by that fact, 

 the question for us to consider is, "With 

 brood diseases present in the apiary can we 

 profitably produce a crop of wholesome hon- 

 ey?" 



We have been assured, by those qualified 

 to advise, that the germs of brood diseases 

 are in noway injurious to the human being. 

 This is a most important fact. 8o important 

 is it that, if the reverse were true, beekeeping 

 as an occupation would speedily cease to be. 

 8o important is it, therefore, that this one 

 item of knowledge may truly be said to be 

 the cornerstone of the foundation upon 

 which apiculture rests. 



In the spring of 1909 European brood dis- 

 ease appeared in one of my apiaries. I could 

 not believe it at first. Spraying of shade 

 trees in Buffalo, within reach of the bees, 

 had been in progress, and poisoning seemed 

 to me a proper explanation for the presence 

 of many dead larvae in many colonies. 

 However, when the summer was nearly over, 

 an authoritative statement from Dr. Phil- 

 lips, Washington Government Expert, con- 

 vinced me that my apiary had been over- 

 taken by the disease. It was too late to 

 treat the bees that year. The disease had 

 obtained a season's start. My first impulse 

 was to destroy the apiary, root and branch. 

 A request to our State agricultural depart- 

 ment brought to my aid Messrs. Stevens 

 and Stewart, two of our highly efficient 

 State bee-inspectors. They gave me hope, 

 and better counsel prevented the destruction 

 of the apiary. Four colonies were given the 



fall treatment by shaking upon combs of 

 honey brought from another apiary that 

 was not diseased. Fifty-eight colonies in 

 this ai)iary were packed for winter that fall, 

 several of which were the result of uniting 

 weak diseased colonies. Fifty-four colonies 

 were alive in the spring following, eight of 

 which were weak. The first examination 

 showed all but about half a dozen more or 

 less diseased; and it was thought advisable 

 to treat all that showed it. In my anxiety 

 to get the disease under control as speedily 

 as possible I was a little premature in treat- 

 ing the first eight colonies, which were the 

 weaker ones, and lost four of them, leaving 

 fifty colonies, spring count. 



A plan of treatment embodying well- 

 known principles, but varying from set rules 

 in matters of detail, was thought to be suf- 

 ficient, and, accordingly, all diseased colo- 

 nies were treated. This included all but 

 about half a dozen colonies of a fixed strain 

 of Italian bees that has never shown the 

 slightest trace of the disease. It may be re- 

 marked that, in my experience, confirming 

 thestatementsof numerous experts in brood 

 diseases, blacks, hybrids, and some strains 

 of otherwise good Italian bees are particular- 

 ly and possibly peculiarly susceptible to 

 European brood disease, and are apparently 

 predisposed to it. On the other hand, cer- 

 tain strains of Italian bees seem to be almost 

 if not quite immune to it. Be this question 

 of complete immunity of certain strains of 

 Italians as it may, it is my personal experi- 

 ence that five or six colonies of Italians in 

 this apiary never took the disease, which, 

 for all practical requirements in apiculture, 

 constitutes immunity. These Italian colo- 

 nies were among the strongest and most 

 vigorous in the apiary, and would certainly 

 have carried the disease from the same 

 source as those that were stricken. Other 

 black and hybrid colonies that were equally 

 strong and apparently as vigorous were bad- 

 ly diseased, and only prompt treatment sav- 

 ed them. 



A liart of the treatment decided upon was 

 the selection of the queen of one of the 

 Italian colonies that had not and did not 

 become affected as the breeder of queens for 

 requeening, and the substituting of queens 

 thus bred for the queens of all colonies that 

 showed the disease. 



Being a novice in brood-disease treatment, 

 and having a badly diseased apiary to ope- 

 rate, my croj) of honey from it for the sea- 

 son of 1910 was only about 1000 sections and 

 800 pounds of extracted honey, and an in- 

 crease to 60 colonies In the fall not a trace 

 of the disease was to be seen. 



The spring of 1911 showed four of the sixty 

 colonies of the fall before dead, and more 

 than theaveragenumberof weak ones. Un- 

 der the influence of settled warm weather 

 they rapidly built uj), and to all outward 

 appearance were as healthy as any bees. 



