IQOJ 



THE AMERICAN B^E-KEEPER 



acid also present, while not in sufficient 

 quantity to destroy the spores, never- 

 theless, prevents their development in- 

 to the bacilli. 



This last characteristic explains why 

 infected honey is the chief source of 

 spreadinff the disease. Spores therein 

 contained will keep their vitality and 

 develop as soon as introduced into the 

 brood or even the adult bees. 



It has been observed that adult bees 

 rarely carry the infection. Some writers 

 have doubted their being liable to the 

 disease. But they arc wrong. Micro- 

 scopic examination of adult bees from 

 diseased colonies will show bacilli, but 

 chiefly in their blood. The acid and 

 gastric juices of the adult bee's stomach 

 are very powerful antiseptics. The same 

 fact occurs in higher animals and the 

 human race. 



As long as an adult bee lives, the 

 bacilli multiply in her body by division. 

 But when she is about to die she goes 

 out and dies away from the hive. The 

 bacilli being then deprived of food, turn 

 into spores — millions, and perhaps hun- 

 dreds of millions of them; which es- 

 cape from her body and float in the air. 

 But as stated above, they can not live 

 long in the dry air and sunshine, the 

 winds carry them away from the hives, 

 the rains and perhaps the dews also, 

 into the ground or to the rivers. Only 

 occasionally some may be carried alive 

 into another colony. This explains why 

 foul brood can be starved out without 

 destroying the adult bees. 



On the other hand, the brood dies in 

 the hive. When dead, the spores result- 

 ing, spread in the whole hive, on the 

 combs, in the bodies of the bees, in the 

 honey, etc., millions and millions of 

 them. The wonder is that under such 

 conditions, the disease is not even more 

 disastrous than it is. 



TREATING THE DISEASE. 



Now we may be prepared to see why 

 the European operators may have been 

 more successful in using drugs than we 

 have. The details are not always given 

 in full: but usually the whole apiary 

 was treated alike, so as to prevent any 

 possible spreading of the disease. The 

 use of drugs seems to have been contin- 

 ued some time after the disease had 

 apparently disappeared, in some cases, 

 throughout the whole winter, thus pre- 

 venting the possibility of the disease 

 breaking afresh from the use of old. in- 

 fected honey. 



Whatever method I would follow, I 



should certainly use some disinfectant 

 (naphtalin, creolin, etc.) and perhaps 

 some medicated food with all the colo- 

 nies, the sound ones as well as the oth- 

 ers, as a preventive. 



In any case, I would destroy at least 

 the diseased brood, or perhaps to be on 

 the safe side, all the brood of the dis- 

 eased colonies. In treating pickled 

 i)rood, I remove the diseased brood by 

 raking off cells and brood down to the 

 septum and return the combs. But 

 pickled brood and foul brood are entire- 

 ly different diseases. I do not think 

 that such combs, in case of foul brood, 

 could be safely returned without being 

 disinfected. I suppose a liberal dose of 

 carbon bisulphide would do the disin- 

 fecting. 



In discussing the possibility of the 

 transmission of foul brood spores 

 through wax foundation, a correspon- 

 dent of a German paper, remarks that, 

 even if the heat of the melted wax did 

 not kill the spores outright, they would 

 be imbedded in it, and never be able 

 to get out, having no means to bur- 

 row their way through it. A coat of 

 wax will eventually kill anj^ living be- 

 ing anwway, by shutting air and mois- 

 ture out altogether. 



Knoxville, Tenn.. April i, 1902. 



Thc'Let Alone" Plan, 



(By Arthur C. Miller.* 



THE "let-alone" plan of bee-keep- 

 ing is one of wholesome neglect, 

 and the term was coined for 

 use in contradistinction to the systems 

 o[ excessive manipulations. It is a use- 

 ful phase and the system is more useful 

 still. Many bee-keepers, particularly 

 beginners, feel that unless they are 

 more or less constantly doing some- 

 lliing to or for their bees the latter will 

 not thrive, whereas the contrary is the 

 rule. Probably the idea that much 

 handling of the bees is necessary has 

 been caused partly by a misconception 

 that all the things recorded in the text 

 hooks are always needful, and still 

 more by many articles in the bee press 

 stating that great results may be 

 achieved by certain manipulations. 



Surely some operations properly con- 

 ducted at proper times are productive 

 of good results, but it does not follow 

 that all persons or all places are adapt- 

 ed to such proceedings. When the re- 

 sults are favorable the method; are her- 



