596 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



apiary into foul brood with a vengeance. 

 In the Foul Brood Bulletin, page 14, 

 Mr. D. A. Jones, of Beeton, Ont., says : 



" A man once had a hundred colonies 

 in an isolated locality, with no other api- 

 ary within miles of it, and no bees in the 

 woods, as far as known ; there were no 

 signs of foul brood in his apiary all sum- 

 mer, though the colonies were carefully 

 examined once or twice each week. In 

 August or September, a flood came and 

 drowned a large portion of the brood in 

 some of the hives ; 10 or 15 of them 

 were so. much injured by the flood that 

 the bees did not remove the dead brood, 

 and in most of these colonies nearly all 

 the combs were full of brood. The 

 weather, after the flood, was very warm 

 and muggy, the atmosphere very op- 

 pressive for days, with frequent showers. 

 All the colonies from which the dead 

 brood were removed came out all right, 

 while the 10 or 16 from which it was 

 not removed became very badly dis- 

 eased ; they attempted to rear brood, 

 but some of it was affected, so much so 

 that the odor arising from the brood 

 » dying was very unpleasant. When all 

 the dead brood was removed, the disease 

 continued, and it appeared that the 

 spores of the disease were in the honey, 

 as many of the larvae were found dead. 

 Each time brood was reared the disease 

 continued to increase, in spite of salicylic 

 acid and other treatments then in vogue. 

 Honey from the combs when given to a 

 healthy colony produced the disease. It 

 appeared in every respect like foul 

 brood, and I feel satisfied that it was. 

 Now, if it did not emanate from the de- 

 caying brood, which was a mass of cor- 

 ruption, where did it come from?" 



Mr. John F. Gates, of Ovid, Erie Co., 

 Pa., U. S., had foul brood originate in 

 his SiPiary from his bees dwindling so 

 badly one very backward spring that the 

 bees could not cover or care for and 

 keep warm the brood they had started 

 during the early warm spell. When 

 weather came in earnest, Mr. Gates ex- 

 amined his colonies and discovered that 

 the rotting of the uncared-for brood 

 had developed into foul brood. 



Foul brood is a disease that is caused 

 by the rotting of uncared-for brood. It 

 usually originates in spring in weak col- 

 onies that have spring-dwindled so badly 

 that they have not bees enough left to 

 cover or care for all the brood, and if 

 the spring keeps raw and backward the 

 bees will crowd together to keep each 

 other warm, leaving the uncared-for 

 brood to die and rot in the cells. The 

 brood covered by the bees In time 



hatcl^s, Which so increases the force of 

 the colony that a wider circle of comb is 

 covered by the bees taking in the space 

 occupied by the decaying brood. Then 

 the brood that is fed in these cells where 

 brood lately rotted down, will have to 

 consume their food mixed with the re- 

 mains of decayed brood, and that is the 

 whole, sole, real, and only cause of foul 

 brood. 



In the bee-yards of beginners, over- 

 worked farmers, and business men 

 (whose time was fully occupied in other 

 things) is where I found many a foul 

 brood nursery. When brood has rotted 

 and advanced to the brown-rotten-mat- 

 ter stage it is then a very dangerous 

 thing, and if a large quantity of that is 

 put in a weak colony it will start foul 

 brood at once. The so-called scientists 

 have done a terrible lot of damage by 

 saying that the rotting of uncared-for 

 brood could not cause foul brood ; that 

 sort of teaching has caused bee-keepers 

 to be very careless, and when foul brood 

 has broken out in their apiaries, it 

 makes rapid headway because the own- 

 ers did not take proper care of their 

 colonies, but depended too much upon 

 the so-called scientists who are not 

 practical bee-keepers. 



In the summer of 1890 Mr. John F. 

 Gates wrote up the cause of foul brood, 

 and had it published in the Canadian 

 Bee Journal. When I read it I was 

 greatly pleased to see that Mr. Gates 

 had discovered in his own apiary that 

 foul brood was caused by the rotting of 

 uncared-for brood. I wrote Mr. Gates a 

 letter at the time, thanking him very 

 much for his valuable article on the 

 cause of foul brood. He is just right on 

 both the cause and cure of foul brood, 

 and it will be a good thing for all bee- 

 keepers, that have foul brood in their 

 bee-yards, if they will follow his instruc- 

 tions how to cure that disease, and let 

 the professional guessers carefully alone 

 until they find out. 



In the fall of 1890, I was very much 

 pleased with an article that Mr. C. J. 

 Robinson, of Richfield, N. Y., had pub- 

 lished in the American Bee Journal, 

 on the cause of foul brood, and as that 

 was a real test case of his, proving that 

 foul brood was caused by the rotting of 

 uncared-for brood, I prized his article 

 very much, as that was in the same line 

 of my discovery. I wrote Mr. Robinson 

 at the time I read his article, and also 

 thanked him for it. 



Some bee-keepers believe that the 

 empty hives that had foul brood in, will 

 cause foul brood if not boiled, scalded, 

 or disinfected, which is the greatest of 



