670 



Aug. 2, 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



in one location and I had, half a dozen times, at least, right 

 through the honey season, pickled brood. I had the same 

 thing in 3 apiaries in Wisconsin. 



Mr. McEvoy— And running on till the end of the honey 

 season? You will find some of it in combs near the end of 

 the honev season. 



Mr. Hatch— How is feeding going to help it? 



Mr. McEvoy— Don't let it start. It didn't start them. The 

 bees from some queens are poor feeders of larvae. 



Pres. Dadant— If it continues during the honey season 

 it is contagious. 



Mr. McEvoy— No. 



Pres. Dadant — My experience is different. 



Mr. McEvoy— It will hang on and continue. This year 

 it did continue pretty nearly to the end of the honey season, 

 but I would change the queens in that case when they won't 

 feed their larvae. . 



Mr. Hatch — I have changed the queen in one and it 

 had no effect whatever; the disease kept right on the same. 



Mr. McEvoy — I never had a case, or saw a case. 



Mr. Hatch — This year I saw only one colony that was 

 the least affected, and that only in two cells. 



Dr. Phillips.— What difference does it make whether 

 there is a germ or not? was asked. I think it makes all 

 the difference in the world, if we have something in the 

 hive that is going to carry contagion if it is spread; if it is 

 due to some other cause it will not spread in the same way, 

 and the bee-keeper will have to know whether there is a 

 germ there or not, so that he will know how to avoid it. 



Mr. Baxter — I have had no foul brood in my apiary, or dis- 

 ease of any kind, until this year I had a case I thought was 

 foul brood. I got scared about it, and I asked my brother- 

 in-law to come and look at it, but meanwhile I changed 

 queens, and the trouble stopped at once. 



Mr. Evoy — It generally will in that case. 



Mr. Moore— This seems to be a heresy. Dr. Howard, 

 of Texas, has taught us that bacillus alvei was found in 

 foul brood. I have studied all of them, and all the authori- 

 ties have told us the same thing; but Dr. Phillips comes along 

 and says there is no bacillus alvei found in foul brood. I 

 thought an answer to the question would help us to get clear 

 on this point. 



Dr. Phillips — Bacillus alvei was first described about 1885 

 by Cheshire. They described it from specimens obtained in 

 England. The second description was that by Prof. Harri- 

 son, of Canada. He described it as present in foul brood. 

 Then Dr. Howard, of Texas, described it as foul brood. 

 After that Doctors Moran and White of Cornell got up and 

 found in black brood the same germ. I think, personally, 

 what Cheshire described was what Mr. Moore refers to, 

 and from the other conditions I should judge it was another 

 disease. Let me say here that in every case in which I took 

 a sample of brood I got it from a man who had had years 

 of experience in treating the diseases. I got it from men 

 who know these diseases from practical experience all over 

 the United States. 



Mr. Holekamp — Mr. Phillips, when we send you samples 

 of foul brood, do you keep a record of them? 



Dr. Phillips— Yes. 



Mr. Holekamp— I sent 5 samples last year to Mr. Ben- 

 ton. 



Dr. Phillips — I can't say about Mr. Benton's records. 

 I have kept my own. I suppose it can be looked up. 



Mr. Holtermann — There is one point in connection with 

 the paper that I think should be brought up, and that is 

 that quite a number of us are very much exercised about 

 the distribution of Caucasian bees. I think it would be wiser 

 if these Caucasian bees would not be spread about at the 

 present time. I may say I am personally very much pleased, 

 indeed, that the Department of Agriculture at Washington 

 is taking this matter in hand, of helping the bee-keepers, 

 and I think it should receive the warm co-operation and as- 

 sistance of the bee-keepers, not only in the United States 

 but in other countries. I am pleased, also, that they are 

 seeking to find if possible new races and varieties of bees, 

 and improve the race ; but for my part I think it would be 

 better if these bees were not distributed as it is proposed 

 they should be, because, as we know, we can not control 

 where they shall go. If we find they are as objectionable 

 as some say, it would be a very serious matter to have them 

 scattered abroad. One man in our own country had 22 



queens, and he says at the present date he finds strains of 

 these characteristics cropping up which are confined to the 

 Caucasian bees and he has tried to stamp them out during 

 the entire 23 years. Wouldn't it be better to test them 

 somewhere where they would not spread, instead of scat- 

 tering them through the country where we may not be able 

 to control them and it may prove serious for us? 



Mr. Abbott— I agree somewhat with ^ Mr. Holtermann, 

 but not for the reasons he gives. I don't think the Gov- 

 ernment should distribute anything, but I think the most 

 disgraceful thing the Government does is distributing seed, 

 and I would object to the queens being distributed on the 

 same ground. But it is entirely too late for us to tell the 

 Government what to do. We have a very excellent Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture, who is wide awake and progressive. 

 And we have a very excellent entomologist, and they have 

 marked out these lines and now the best thing we can do is 

 just keep our mouths shut and let them do what they want 

 to, in my opinion. 



I want to say, while Dr. Miller was commenting on this 

 excellent paper he said one thing that I don't believe is so — 

 he said that this would not be confined to one individual, 

 we could all have it. We can't do it. It has never been 

 known that all people have it. How many Burbanks do you 

 think there are in the United States? There is only one. And 

 there are only two or three men that have made any progress 

 in the matter of the Corn Investigation; and there are two 

 or three breeders. Now we have finally found a young man 

 with brains, with energy, and with a disposition to work, and 

 who is peculiarly adapted to this work, and the best thing 

 we can do is to just keep our hands off him and let him 

 go his own gait, and let him have his own way about it, 

 just as Luther Burbank has gone his own gait and had his 

 own way. This work can be done by these individuals, and 

 it will be done, and I think we make a serious mistake. 

 I don't believe in the distribution of anything. I do not 

 agree with Secretary Wilson on that line; and I do not 

 agree with the Government's work, wherever it sends any- 

 thing. I don't believe in giving away literature and sending 

 it out miscellaneously, and that costs millions of dollars, 

 and some of it is good and some exceedingly bad, and 

 the peculiarity of this paper is that it does not partake 

 of the bad. We have something here that is progressive 

 and intelligible. 



Mr. McEvoy — The best you ever heard. 



Mr. Abbott — Yes. There is a man with a disposition 

 to work. Now, let him go; don't let us bother him. 



Dr. Phillips — I have been for the last 8 days right among 

 the honey-producers, and I think I know their views in 

 regard to a good many things in addition to Caucasians. 

 I did my best to talk the thing over with them. I will give 

 you their criticisms. In the first place, the criticism was 

 made that these bees are too gentle; robbers will come in 

 and take away the surplus honey. In reply to that I will 

 say, I don't think these bees are gentle enough for that, 

 and just as long as a man does not know how to handle bees 

 he will do the very thing that will irritate them. The other 

 criticism was made that these bees are so gentle that you 

 will have amateur bee-keepers all over the country. I don't 

 think you have to fear much from the amateur; he always 

 goes to the wall in about a year or two. I am not afraid of 

 the amateur bee-keeper at all. Perhaps I am wrong on that 

 point. 



The criticism was made, and the only criticism that I 

 could consider as valid against any race of bees was, Will 

 it produce the honey? If it will not produce the honey we 

 don't want it. In regard to that I don't know enough about 

 it to give a definite answer. Rauchfuss Brothers, of Colo- 

 rado, have reared Caucasian bees and speak in the highest 

 terms possible of them as honey-producers. They were the 

 ones that recommended them to Mr. Benton for his work. 



In regard to the distribution, as soon as the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture gets hold of anything and somebody 

 wants it, what are you going to do about it? To prevent 

 an indiscriminate and unwise distribution I have limited the 

 distribution in the way I have mentioned. It was the only 

 way I could see out of it, and I don't think it is going 

 to be detrimental. The argument came up, you will con- 

 taminate all our other races. How much contamination do 

 you get that is any worse than the black bees all over this 

 country? I don't think the conditions can get any worse than 



