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capping of the foul-broody cells will 

 be found to be more concave, and 

 more easily removed. Some imagine 

 that the foul odor fi'om the matter 

 therein aB'eet the capping, and makes 

 it softer and more easy of removal. I 

 have never found this disease to in- 

 crease as rapidly as the genuine foul- 

 brood ; in fact. I have known it to con- 

 tinue in a hive for two seasons, with 

 only a proportion (not exceeding one- 

 fourth) of the brood becoming all'eeted. 

 I can assign no reason for the fact — 

 but I have never known it lo ajipear in 

 any other than a hi/brid colony. 



Until the disease becomes quite bad. 

 it does not appear to att'ect their 

 honey-gathering qualities, but it seems 

 to have a discouraging efl'ect on their 

 breeding propensities, as they exhibit 

 less energy in that direction when so 

 aftected. Now the manner in which 

 this brood appears to die. and all the 

 appearances and circumstances attend- 

 ing its death, lead a great many to 

 imagine it to be genuine foul-brood. 

 It does not spread as rapidly, nor is it 

 as contagious as the genuine foul- 

 brood, usually confining itself to the 

 hives in which it originated. It always 

 lacks one of the true tests of real foul- 

 brood, viz.: the brown, coft'ee-colored. 

 ropy matter found in foul-brood cells. 

 But it is quite usual to find cells cap- 

 ped over containing the dead larvre 

 which are punctured with small holes 

 similar to that of foul- brood. 



Dead Larva or Brood Found in Colo- 

 nies after Shipment. — In bees that have 

 been shipped from one point to another 

 we frequentlj' find, a few days after, 

 cells here and there among the brood 

 containing dead larva; or brood just 

 ready to emerge. I have known this 

 to occur in shipping in the Spring. 

 Summer and Fall, but more frequently 

 in the Spring ; and have been asked 

 by experienced bee-keepers whj- dead 

 larvffi were found in cells at times. 

 even for weeks after their arrival. 

 Some atti'ibute it to the excitement of 

 the bees while in transit, neglecting 

 to feed the larva; at a very critical 

 period in tlieir development ; others 

 attribute it to jarring, and the general 

 disorganizing of the stati' of the hive. 

 and to various other causes. This 

 looks very much like foul-brood some- 

 times, but it may be known and dis- 

 tinguished from it by the larva retain- 

 ing its shape and its appearance ; also 

 by finding old and matured larva;. 



I once sent a shipment of 50 colo- 

 nies of bees to one of the best bee- 

 keepers in Canada, one who had much 

 experience, and one who was a good 

 judge of foul-brood, when, in looking 

 them over, he detected what he 

 thought to be the first symptoms of 

 foul-brood ; in two colonies the appear- 



ance was more marked. These two he 

 returned to me. I examined them 

 closely day after day for weeks, as 

 also did my men. and we satisfied our- 

 selves that it was not foul-brood, as 

 the colonies increased, we removed all 

 the dead larva;, and none of it ever 

 returned or turned to that brown ropy 

 matter which mu|jt be found where 

 foul-brood exists. There are many 

 parcels sent me every year to examine. 

 sup])osed b3' the senders to be foul- 

 brood, but while some prove to be the 

 genuine article, many are not. 

 Whether it is or not. is usually told by 

 the circumstances attending it. In 

 exchanging from one hive to another, 

 combs are sometimes taken from the 

 hives containing chilled, or perhaps 

 some of this dead brood caused by 

 shipping, and placed in other liives. 

 Should this dead l)rood be left, or not 

 removed by the bees, it is therefore 

 sometimes mistaken for foul-brood. 



Foul-Brood. — Foul-brood is a disease 

 in the honey, or rather, that is where it 

 appears to lurk. It seems that the 

 spores escape from the cells containing 

 the decaying larva;. lodge in the honey, 

 and by that means, to a very great 

 extent, it continues its ravages, or, in 

 other words, the contagion is spread. 

 It is true that combs containing foul- 

 brood cannot be used, at least I have 

 never been able to use them ; no 

 amount of doctoring that I could do 

 would disinfect them. It appears that 

 the combs are diseased in several 

 waj's ; the spores remaining in the 

 honey, and drying up in the cells, also 

 in the pollen and in the wax as well. 

 Those cells that have contained foul- 

 brood always appear to have spores 

 left in them, and if the dead larva; 

 have not been removed, they drj' up in 

 the bottom of the cell, and are some- 

 times scarcel)' discernible without the 

 aid of a microscope. I have failed to 

 purify these, although I have made 

 repeated eiibrts to do so. I have not, 

 however, given up, as I hope to be 

 able to disinfect combs without resort- 

 ing to destruction, but as yet heat is 

 the only thing I have found which will 

 destroy the germs by which the disease 

 is generated. 



I have taken lioney from diseased 

 colonies, have frozen it in an ice-cream 

 freezer for days, and subjected it to 

 the lowest temperature that could be 

 obtained in that way, then made a 

 nucleus, and fed it on this frozen 

 honey. The result was that a very 

 large number of the larva; first cap- 

 ped died of foul-brood, thus proving 

 conclusively that subjecting the honey 

 to a low temperature had no efl'ect. 

 Again, I made repeated eft'orts by 

 freezing both honey and comb which 

 liad been taken from foul-broody colo- 

 nies with like ett'ect. 



Once I had subjected honey-combs 

 to a temperature of 35^ below zero, 

 allowing theiu to remain frozen all 

 Winter. The following Spring, when 

 one of these combs was placed for ex- 

 perimental purposes in tlie nucleus, it 

 gave to it the disease,' as also did the 

 honej- fed it. 



After repeated experiments, I am 

 fully convinced that no amount of 

 frost will kill the spores, and I believe 

 that they lie dormant during frost, 

 and when thawed out, lose none of 

 their destructive qualities. It is gen- 

 erally believed that severe frost will 

 kill the disease, but let me warn bee- 

 keepers never to attempt its cure by 

 that method. Some of the honey 

 which had been frozen along with the 

 comb in the experiments I have men- 

 tioned, after having been boiled a few 

 minutes, failed to transmit the disease. 

 Thus, after many trials, I proved be- 

 yond a doubt, that heat will kill the 

 germs by which the disease is gener- 

 ated, and that foul-broody honey, after 

 having been boiled, can be fed with 

 impunitj' to any colony. 



There are some who, I believe, 

 honestly imagine that the disease is 

 conveyed by the bees carrying it on 

 their bodies, feet, proboscis, or other 

 parts ; now, that appears to be not the 

 usual way at least. It maj' be that 

 after a colony is very badh' infected, 

 some spores rtiay he convejed in this 

 manner, but I have never known a 

 case which could satisfy me that that 

 was the cause of its origin, after hun- 

 dreds of experiments to. test the matter 

 most thoroughlj'. to describe which 

 minutely would require a good-sized 

 volume. 



If the bees carry the disease about 

 their bodies in any w.iy, how is it that 

 after innumerable experiments I have 

 proved most conclusively that as soon 

 as the honey is consumed in their 

 alxlomens the disease is gone ? I have 

 taken scores of the worst afi'ected colo- 

 nies I could find, and placing them in 

 boxes with wire-cloth sides for venti- 

 lating purposes, have set them awaj' 

 in a cool place, where they would clus- 

 ter, the same in appearance as a 

 swarm on a lamb, and if the place 

 was sullicientlj' cool and damp, say the 

 cellar for instance, they would remain 

 in that dormant state with scarcelj' a 

 visible motion, until the honey was 

 consumed in their bodies. 



As soon as this was accomplished, I 

 have taken them out and shaken them 

 down (like a swai'm) on combs or 

 foundation, and have fed them honey 

 or syrup, after which, in a very short 

 time, they set to work. If all this is 

 done properl}', the disease never re- 

 turns, and how is it possible, if this 

 disease remains attached to the bodies 

 of the bees composing this cluster, that 



