308 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



November 



to spare. As the diseased colonies 

 formed about one-third of ray apiary 

 at that time I began to look about to 

 see what could be done to save them. 

 I turned to Qulnby's Bee Keeping and 

 there found that if the disease had not 

 advanced too far the colonies would 

 swarm, .and if such swarms were hiv- 

 ed in empty hives no disease would 

 follow them, as the honey taken with 

 the bees would all be used in comb 

 building before any larve was hatched 

 in the new combs. Accordingly I 

 hived all the new swarms from these 

 colonies in empty hives, and twenty- 

 one days later drove out all the bees 

 from the old hive and hived them the 

 same as were the swarms. The honey 

 was strained and boiled, the combs 

 rendered into wax and the hives burn- 

 ed. The coloniei> to which the combs 

 were given that were diseased were 

 driven out on the start as they were 

 too weak to swarm. In this way all 

 that were at first noticed wei'e cured, 

 but in the fall I found two more that 

 investigation showed had had a frame 

 of brood given them from one of those 

 hives which were among the last in 

 which an exchange of combs had been 

 made, that at first gave no signs of the 

 disease. These two were allowed to 

 go over until the next year when they 

 were treated as were the others and 

 effectually cured, since which time I 

 have had no foul brood in my apiary. 

 If I were the only one who had cured 

 foul brood by the above plan there 

 might be a chance for a mistake on 

 my part, but when hundreds in the 

 United States and Canada have done 

 the same thing, and when the govern- 

 ment of Canada keeps a paid inspector 

 and foul brood physician in the field 

 all the while curing foul brood colon- 



ies by the above plan as fast as found 

 it seems to me impossible that all this 

 "host of witnesses " should not know 

 whereof they affirm. Cheshire furth- 

 er says, " There is not one single idea 

 about this disease which is not incor- 

 rect except that it is contagious. Time, 

 I am convinced, will fully prove that 

 the old bees almost invariably are the 

 channels of infection." If this were 

 so, certainly the above described pro- 

 cess of cure, used with success by so 

 many of our best apiarists during the 

 past thirty-five years, would not have 

 proved effectuall in their hands. That 

 it has been effectual but proves that 

 there was something faulty in Mr. 

 Cheshire's research. 



Again, he tells us that the eggs of 

 the (jueen contain " bacilli," he hav- 

 ing counted " no less than nine " in 

 one egg,. Any one can readily see 

 that if this is so, that foul brood must 

 go wherever this queen goes while she 

 lives. If foul brood could be carried 

 in the ovaries of a queen it would 

 place an effectual barrier against our 

 queen traffic which has been carried 

 on so successfully in the past to the 

 improvement of nearly every apiary 

 in the land. Speaking of the queen 

 carrying this disease Quinby says, "I 

 have never known such a result in a 

 single instance." If it were possible 

 for a queen to carry foul brood then 

 the plan which I used in my apiary 

 would not have cured the disease for 

 the queen went with the bees into 

 every new hive in which the bees was 

 placed. I have no hesitency in say- 

 ing, from all of my experience in the 

 past, and that which has come under 

 my observation, that foul brood can- 

 not be developed from any queen or 

 drone in any way, shape or manner. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



