Oct. 26, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



745 



^ 



(£onr>cntion 



rJ 



Report of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Couveutlou, held at Chicago, 111., 

 Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 1904 



(Continned from page T30.J 

 DETECTING FOUL BROOD. 



Mr. Wilcox — Have you traced the source of foul brood 

 to bee-trees or wild bees in the woods? 



Mr. France — That was brought out very strongly the 

 second year I was out. One man said, "There is no use 

 treating my bees because the woods are full of bee-trees, and 

 you will never get rid of it." I used to hunt bee-trees. 

 So after I had treated all the bees in the vicinity, and be- 

 fore I got through, I found two bee-trees. One of ihem 

 was where a swarm had gone from an infected hive; it was 

 away over yonder on a bluff. This man said that that tree 

 must be diseased. I said, "On what basis can you argue 

 that that is diseased?" He said, "Why, the bees went from 

 here over there ; they carried the honey with them, and 1 

 am dead sure it is diseased." I said, "Wait a moment. 

 What did we do to this hive?" "We took away the combs; 

 we gave them foundation' " "Have they got any over there?" 

 He said, "No." I said, "After they had drawn out the 

 foundation we took that away and made them go again and 

 they had nothing ; they had to consume all the honey they 

 took with them to produce tlie first combs, to start to store 

 the honey they gathered from the field, and I will venture the 

 assertion they are not diseased." 



We went over and cut the tree down, felling it very care- 

 fully,, and there was no disease. We cut some other trees 

 and I found trees where the bees had died from lack of 

 protection ; and I also found this, that within a year's time 

 after a colony of bees had died the squirrels and the bee- 

 moth will eradicate everything in the interior of that tree; 

 there is no danger left. If the bee-keepers will attend to 

 their end of the work they need not worry over the bee- 

 tree problem. There is just one way a bee-tree might be 

 infected. If a colony has combs drawn and has wintered over, 

 or towards the latter portion of the season they have some- 

 body who is careless, thereby having foul brood, that bee- 

 tree bees could go and rob from an infected bee-hive and 

 transmit it to that tree ; but we all know it is a matter of 

 short duration; that colony of bees would not last long; 

 squirrels and moths would soon eradicate what is in the 

 tree. If we do our part we will get rid of foul brood. 



Pres. York — What kind of a foul brood law do we need 

 in this State? 



Mr. France— Coming out of another State I hardly like 

 to recommend, but my opinion is this : Keep the appropria- 

 tion you have ; put in effect your inspector with authority, 

 and you will accomplish a great deal of good. 



Pres. York — You mean as to a compulsory clause? 

 Mr. France — Yes. Now this comb I have here is an 

 illustration. As I understand this apiary is in your State ; 

 your inspector wants to investigate that apiary and has been 

 objected to. Look at the situation. We will take as an 

 illustration a row of these seats, each one representing dif- 

 ferent apiaries. The inspector comes to this party and wants 

 to look at the hives. "Yes, I am glad to have you come in." 

 The next says, "My bees are all right." The inspector says, 

 "I don't like to look at these, but while I am here I will 

 look at them." The answer he receives is, "You get off the 

 premises." He has got to go. You see the weak point in 

 the law. What would we do with contagious diseases amongst 

 ourselves if our law did not admit of our health warden 

 corning in and saying "this is small-pox," or any other con- 

 tagious disease, "and they must be quarantined." You say, "No, 

 we have no small-pox; let everybody come in and out." It 

 is just as necessary for your inspector to be clothed with 

 that authority if you would get the desired effect. 



Mr. Kimmey — You have considered the possibility and 

 propriety of having a National foul brood law? 



Mr. France — Yes, but we have first got to demonstrate 



through the States before we get that. It may come to that 

 in time. 



Mr. Pease — What proportion of the States have foul 

 brood laws? 



Mr. France — I think about nine. 



Mr. Abbott — Let me suggest that you cannot have a 

 national law. 



Mr. Colburn — We have a pure-food law. 

 Mr. Abbott — That is interstate commerce. 

 Mr. Wheeler — What is your plan in regard to appointing 

 an inspector? How is it proposed? I suppose the law will 

 have to be plain. 



Mr. France — I think that those who are interested in 

 the line of work should select one whom they think com- 

 petent. I don't believe it is a good plan to allow this to be 

 a political appointment. Let that man be selected by the 

 State or local association. They know better who they want 

 than any other person, and let their recommendation be of 

 the one who serves them best. They cut out that portion 

 of our Wisconsin Law. I fought it to the bitter end. It was 

 first, "Upon recommedation of the Bee-Keepers' Association 

 the Government shall appoint." The political men saw fit 

 to modify our law, and now it says, "The Governor may ap- 

 point." 



Pres. York — If he does not care to appoint anybody, 

 you have no inspector? 



Mr. France — No, sir, and the State Association is not 

 asked, although it is still recognized. They have asked the 

 State Association. There is another thing they do in Wis- 

 consin. The State Board of Agriculture asked the bee- 

 keepers whom they want to be judges at the State fair. 

 They consider that the State Bee-Keepers' Association ought 

 to know who is competent for that ; and the one they recom- 

 mend has always been appointed. Now in regard to this 

 sample of foul brood, I have here, I will confess this much : 

 In this room, with the light you have to look into, I would 

 guarantee it would be almost a failure to see the various 

 stages of foul brood, from the fact that you would get 

 shadows that you wouldn't get in day-light, but I have illus- 

 trated .to you how you should look to see it. 



Pres. York — I should think now that we ought to be 

 able to know foul brood or almost smell foul brood or some- 

 thing, by this time, as we have been talking about it all fore- 

 noon. I was glad to have it discussed, but I was afraid 

 some that were not particularly interested would get tired 

 of it. 



Mr. Meredith — Mv reason for coming here was based al- 

 most entirely upon what I could learn about foul brood, 

 knowing that the disease is around Batavia, and I think in 

 an aniary that was inspected by one of the inspectors. If 

 I am going to keep bees I want to be in condition to know 

 when my bees are free from disease, or take such measures 

 to see that they are. 



Mr. Moore — I want to speak of a thing that has not 

 been mentioned here by anybody. In regard to fumigating 

 to cure foul brood, I have taken the same stand as Mr. 

 France and our best authorities, but I thought it was not 

 well to recommend fumigating on the ground that we didn't 

 know whether it was successful in all cases; and, second, 

 it is dangerous to put a knife into the hand of a beginner. 

 It is dangerous to nut a remedy we are not sure of in the 

 hands of the average, inexperienced bee-keeper. I had quite 

 a long talk with Dr. Eaton, who, I thought, would be here 

 to-day. He is the chemist of the Illinois Food Commission, 

 and we talked about this very matter of formalin fumiga- 

 tion. I said to Dr. Eaton, "Here you have a cup of honey. 

 Down in the bottom of that is a spore of foul brood covered 

 with honey an inch or two deep. If you fumigate that thing 

 for a month or two with formalin what will happen?" He 

 says, "After a while the formalin will unite with the honey. 

 It has an affinity for water, and honey is a solution of water 

 and something else ; and you will have a compound of for- 

 malin honey, and so on." I said, "What will be the effect 

 on this spore in the bottom of the honey?" He said, "It 

 will absolutely destroy it." I said, "What do you think if 

 we take our combs of foul brood and shave off the coverings 

 of the cells with a sharp knife so as to expose the honey, 

 pollen and germs of foul brood, if you put it in a boiler 

 of water and jounce it up and down, then put it in the ex- 

 tractor and whirl it like everything so as to throw out 

 everything that is dissolved by the water, and then fumi- 

 gate a long time, what will be the result?" His opinion was 

 that because formalin combined with the water it would 

 absolutely destroy everything in the comb that w-as in- 

 fectious. Now there is a point for these people that have 



