1000 



American Itoe Journal 



Dec. 6, 1906 



they will work best. It is as impossible artificial kernel of corn that will sprout 



to make a proper dispositioned swarm and grow. 



of every cluster of bees as to make an Chatsworth, Calif. 



rf* 



or vent ion 

 I Proceedings 



The San Antonio Bee-Inspec- 

 tors' Meeting 



The meeting of bee-inspectors called 

 at San Antonio, Tex., for November 12, 

 1906. by the committee consisting of 

 N. E. France, W. Z. Hutchinson and 

 Dr. E. F. Phillips, has come and gone. 

 The attendance of about 50 persons rep- 

 resented the whole country. No one who 

 attended thought the time ill spent. On 

 the contrary, everyone there felt at the 

 close of the afternoon session that it 

 was a day most profitably passed ; in fact, 

 many expressed themselves that it was 

 the best bee-meeting at which it had 

 ever been their privilege to be present. 



Dr. Phillips, of the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology in the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Washington, D. C, called the 

 meeting to order, and in his opening re- 

 marks gave the history of European 

 foul brood in this country, and also gave 

 a synopsis of the bee-disease work un- 

 der consideration of the Bureau of En- 

 tomology. He then called upon Dr. G. 

 F. White, of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, who gave an exhaustive de- 

 scription of the methods of working out 

 disease germs. Beginning at the start 

 he so carefully and fully explained his 

 methods of work that everyone felt that 

 he thoroughly understood every detail 

 in the investigation. 



Dr. White said in part, "If your cat- 

 tle were being poisoned in the pasture 

 and your neighbor's cattle were not, you 

 would make a careful survey of your 

 neighbor's farm and see what plants 

 were growing in his pasture. Then you 

 would make an examination of your 

 own farm and would subtract the plants 

 found in your neighbor's pasture from 

 those found in yours, and those left in 

 your own lot you would suspect as be- 

 ing the ones causing the poisoning. It 

 is so with the investigation of a disease. 

 A germ is a plant, and we study the 

 flora of the healthy apiary and also of 

 the diseased apiary and by this process 

 of elimination and by the examination 

 of a great many specimens we arrive 

 at the cause of the disease." 



The European foul brood is caused by 

 Bacillus alvei described by Cheyne and 

 published in 1885. The cause of Ameri- 

 can foul brood is found to be a germ 

 hitherto undescribed, but called by Dr. 

 White Bacillus larvae. To isolate this 

 germ Dr. White used a medium the 

 foundation of which was a bouillon 

 made from the larva- of the bees. No 

 ■one else ever used this medium, and so 



no one else ever discovered the cause of 

 American foul brood. 



These germs are slender, rod-like 

 bodies that grow in length and finally 

 break into two individuals. This di- 

 vision occurs every 30 minutes, so that 

 beginning with one, in one-half hour 

 you will have 2, in one hour 4, in one 

 and one-half hours 8, in two hours 16, 

 two and one-half hours 32, three hours 

 64, three and one-half hours 128, and 

 four hours 256 individuals. When the 

 larva dies the germ goes into the spore 

 or resting stage. It begins to thicken 

 in the center or near one end and finally 

 becomes a spherical body. This spore 

 form is the resistant form and is the 

 one which we have to fight in the field. 



Dr. White then explained in detail the 

 methods used in isolating one germ, 

 and in making cultures for study. He 

 also explained how the different media 

 or soils were made and how one 'germ 

 would show a certain character on one 

 medium or soil, for the medium is to 

 the germ what the soil is to the plant, 

 while another germ would show an en- 

 tirely different character. So by taking 

 many different kinds of media and 

 studying each organism on each me- 

 dium it is possible to identify them. 



Both American and European foul 

 brood exist in Europe. These terms 

 were given them because the European 

 foul brood was worked out by Cheyne 

 in Europe, and American foul brood 

 was worked out in America. 



Many samples of pickled brood have 

 been examined, but no cause has been 

 found for it. This is also true of bee- 

 paralysis, and we are still in the dark 

 as to the cause and treatment of these 

 two diseases. 



Dr. Phillips then gave a detailed de- 

 scription of American and European 

 foul brood as it appears in the field. He 

 stated that when Cheyne made his in- 

 vestigations he had, according to his own 

 statement, but one specimen which was 

 brought him by Cheshire. Since both 

 diseases exist in Europe it is quite pos- 

 sible that the one specimen was what 

 we now call European foul brood, es- 

 pecially since Cheyne describes the 

 specimen as "watery." To the casual 

 observer the diseases bear a similarity 

 of appearance. 



Dr. Phillips stated that at the pres- 

 ent time European foul brood exists 

 in New York. New Jersey. West Vir- 

 ginia, Connecticut. Massachusetts. Ver- 

 mont, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 

 nois, and Michigan. The European foul 

 brood is usually the more virulent of 



the two diseases, but on the other hand 

 sometimes disappears of its own- ac- 

 cord. He then gave the history of bee- 

 disease investigations, and taking each 

 investigator in turn, showed what was 

 the probable cause which led him to ar- 

 rive at his conclusions. It is interest- 

 ing to note that the earliest theory was 

 that a parasitic fly laid its eggs in the 

 body of the diseased larva?. 



Dr. Phillips then announced three 

 publications of the Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy: Technical Series, No. 14, "The 

 Bacteria of the Apiary with Special Ref- 

 erence to Bee-Diseases," by Dr. G. F. 

 White. Circular No. 79, "The Brood 

 Diseases of Bees." by Dr. E. F. Phil- 

 lips. And a reprint from Bulletin No. 

 61, Bureau of Entomology, entitled. 

 "State and Territorial Laws Relative 

 to Foul Brood." 



Mr. N. E. France, the veteran bee- 

 disease inspector of America, then read 

 a paper on the History of Bee-Disease 

 Inspection in Wisconsin. This paper 

 was one of the gems of the meeting. 

 Mr. France stated that many apiaries 

 where foul brood once existed, after 

 having been treated, were the means 

 of paying off the mortgage on the farm, 

 or of the building a new home for the 

 owner. Other apiaries under different 

 care, though once profitable, are now 

 entirely wiped out or reduced to a few 

 colonies. 



Dr. Phillips read a paper from Mr. 

 Charles Stewart, of New York, and also 

 one from Mr. Fred A. Parker, of Cali- 

 fornia. Both papers were valuable and 

 interesting, and both clearly demon- 

 strated the value of thorough and care- 

 ful work on the part of the inspector. 

 Mr. J. M. Rankin, of the Bureau of 

 Entomology, w-ho is stationed at Chico, 

 Calif., gave a short talk on the inspec- 

 tion on the Pacific Coast. He stated 

 that he did not know of a case of Eu- 

 ropean foul brood in California, but 

 that the American foul brood was much 

 more virulent there than in the East 

 or North. Few inspectors in California 

 now recommend the shaking treatment, 

 as the time required to treat the disease 

 is of more value than the bees de- 

 stroyed. The method fast coming into 

 favor is that of boiling up the diseased 

 bees and combs in a large tank. Bee- 

 inspectors, he said, are born, not made. 

 It is an easy matter to learn to detect 

 the disease and to effect a cure. Any 

 man of ordinary intelligence can do 

 this, but it is only a small part of bee- 

 inspection. The difficult part lies in 

 handling the bee-keeper, and, without 

 antagonizing him, get him to comply 

 with the law because he sees the ad- 

 vantage it brings him in so doing. 



The practice of carrying an instru- 

 ment with which to test the dead brood 

 is not a good one. Such an instrument 

 in the hands of an ordinary man is 

 bound to spread infection. The best 

 method is to carry a pocket full of 

 wooden toothpicks, and after testing a 

 diseased cell either push the toothpick 

 into the comb to mark the spot or drop 

 it down the mouth of the smoker and 

 .lisp,, sr of it. "1 do not yet know of 

 one single 'nspector," said Mr. Rankin, 

 "who is in the work for the money he 

 is getting out of it. They have the 

 good of the industry at heart, to the 



