162 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the Bienenzeitung during the last year upon 

 foulbrood?'' 



This question had been proposed by Baron 

 von Berlepsch, and, owing probably to his 

 absence, the discussion assumed a somewhat 

 desul'ory character. The substance, however, 

 was mucl) as follows: Dr. Preuss, a scientific 

 microscopist of some authority, and an experi- 

 enced bee-keeper, and Professor Leuckart, un- 

 hesitatingly attribute the worst kind of foul- 

 brood to the presence of a microscopic fungus, 

 similar, probably, to the one affecting the silk- 

 worm in North Italy. It was also remarked 

 that foulbrood had much increased since the 

 introduction of the Italian bee. The fungoid 

 theory was also supported by some of the mm 

 scientific bee-masters present, as affording a 

 satisfactory explanation of many of the details 

 connected with foulbrood. 



Professor Leuckart thought it probable that 

 the eggs (but, of course, only in the worst 

 case) contained already the germs of the dis- 

 ease, an opinion which was opposed by those 

 who alleged eases where they had saved the 

 queens of condemned stocks, which had after- 

 ward always produced a healthy succession. 



Upon the question how to deal with foul- 

 brood, the opinion was almost general, that the 

 stocks, some said the hives, too, must be de- 

 stroyed. Others, again, and amongst them no 

 mean authorities, maintained that they had 

 cured foul brood by a process recommended by 

 the Rev. Mr. Schieberle, of Moravia, at the. 

 meeting of German bee-masters held at Briinn, 

 iu September, 1803.* It seemed also probable, 

 that in many cases foul brood arose from feed- 

 ing bees with the impure honey imported from 

 Havana and other places. The next question 

 on the programme was — 



"Whether foulbrood is a result of using 

 hives with moveable combs, and not rather of 

 imprudence when giving them drink in winter?" 

 Unfortunately Mr. Kleine, whose question this 

 was, was detained at home by domestic afflic- 

 tion ; but in his stead Mr. Dzierzon remarked, 

 that though, doubtless, in the hands of inexpe- 

 rienced and incompetent bee-keepers, the system 

 of moveable combs had its dangers, yet, as a 

 matter of fact, it was the easiest, if not the only 

 means of discovering foulbrood and overcom- 

 ing it. He could not understand the meaning 

 of the second half of the question, and had no 

 idea what could be passing in Mr. Kleine's mind 

 to make him connect foulbrood with giving bees 

 drink in winter. 



Dr. Busch remarksd that possibly Mr. Kleine 

 had formed his opinion from some scientific 

 articles which had appeared in the Hanoverian 

 Bee Journal, of which he is the editor, A Mr. 

 Lambrecht had there made known the results 

 of various chemical investigations, which had 

 induced him to attribute foulbrood to the bees 

 feeding upon pollen which had been wetted and 

 in consequence had fermented. 



The next question discussed concerned some 

 details in the construction of hives (first intro- 

 duced by Dzierzon) with moveable combs, and 



♦We shall give a description of Mr. Schieberle's 

 mode of cuiing foul brood in an early number.— Ed. 



since used with but slight modifications through- 

 out Germany. We may pass this by as having 

 little interest for English bee-keepers. 



After this followed the question; "Whether 

 there are localities so absolutely unfitted for 

 keeping bees that, in spite of all the experience 

 and pains of the bee master, the best stocks, 

 if moved thither, die off in a short time?" 



The only speaker to this question proved that 

 bee-keeping might be impossible in some locali- 

 ties owing to neighbors poisoning the bees. 

 After keeping them successfully tor forty years, 

 he had, owing to the diabolical behavior of a 

 neighboring manufacturer, lost in four years 

 the whole of his bees, above $500 in value. 



This led naturally to the question next in 

 order, only interesting to Germany, as to the 

 desirability of some laws as to bee-keeping. 



After this Mr. Dzierzon spoke to one of his 

 own suggesting — 1st, "At what age do young 

 bees first leave the hive and first gather honey? 

 2nd, Would it be advisable, without reference 

 to vvinteting, to hinder the breeding of bees 

 which cannot gather any honey in the current 

 season ?" 



Mr. Dzierzon remarked that he had been 

 induced to suggest this question in consequence 

 of statements in Baron von Berlepsch's new 

 edition of his bee book, in which it is stated that 

 young bees begin first to gather honey in about 

 thiity-five days; and that, consequently, it is 

 advisable to prevent the increase of brood from 

 about thirty-five days before the end of the 

 honey season. Dzierzon believes that a young 

 bee may leave the hive when three days old, or 

 remain at home for as many months, so that no 

 precise number of days can be given. If there 

 are plenty of workers, young bees would remain 

 longer at home ; if there were few old bees, as 

 when a hive has been moved, the young bees 

 would gather sooner. This he could assert from 

 experience. And the second suggestion was 

 grounded upon a mistake, for the activity of 

 bees depends very much upon the amount of 

 brood. If, therefore, for the last thirty-five 

 days they had but little or no brood, they would 

 gather comparatively less honey. 



Mr. Vogel had seen young bees, after careful 

 observation, come out of their hives when six 

 or seven days old, but only in isolated cases. 

 As a rule the eighth or ninth day would be the 

 earliest, and dependent also upon circumstances 

 of temperature, wind, strength of the stock, &c 

 Young bees do not gather honey till sixteen 

 clays old, as is proved by the fact that they 

 starve under that age, if left in a hive without 

 honey or older workers. He agrees, therefoie, 

 on the whole with von Berlepsch as regards the 

 first part of the question. As regards the sec- 

 ond half, Dzierzon has not understood von 

 Berlepsch, -» r ho does not say that one should 

 not suffer any brood after a certain time, but 

 that one should not suffer unnecessari brood, a 

 mistake often made by begiunera. And von 

 Berlepsch's remarks are intended for places 

 with very short honey harvests. 



Mr. Kbhler agreed with the last speaker, and 

 remarked ir. addition, that the question how old 

 the hse is when she first leaves the hive, had a 

 veiy important bearing upon the question ot 



