THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



11 



J, Ibr luy ]»art lost 500 g-uilders through 

 the foul brood introduced by the Italiims, 

 and on these grounds I wurn all my Asso- 

 ciation friends. I must hence decidedly 

 oppose any further importations. 



Inestiniable damage has been done to 

 our neighborhood by the introduction of 

 the Italian race. I could mention whole 

 apiaries, containing upwards of forty 

 stocks of movable comb hives, that were 

 Italianized and have gone to total ruin. 

 In 1868 I owned 100 movable comb hives ; 

 three fourths of which had pure Italian 

 queens, and the other fourth were half- 

 breeds. From that time on I began to 

 Germanize m}' stocks, and from 100 have 

 come down to 40 Italian stocks; and so 

 perhaps it may be with other members of 

 the Association. I could show you with 

 statistics how great the loss has been to 

 our Association alone. • You would be 

 amazed, and from this basis advise against 

 every introduction of foreign races. 



The Heath bee does not suit us, because 

 it swarms too much, when it should be 

 gathering honey. I have in my imme- 

 diate neighborhood, a beginner, a man of 

 good judgment, who, persuaded b}^ the 

 praises of Graven horst, procured 22 stocks 

 of heather-bees. These cost, when they 

 reached Alsbiem, somewhat over 500 guil- 

 ders. He built a house. To-day they 

 are standing there Avithout a half ounce of 

 hone}' ; they swarmed, however, in abund- 

 ance. Thus are failures produced, and 

 upon these grounds I hold it to be my 

 duty to so work, that our Associations 

 will take this matter decisively in hand. 



Since 1868 I would not endure any Ital- 

 ian blood in my apiary. I have half-breeds 

 who do very well. Last year I allowed 

 myself to be again jiersuaded and engaged 

 4 ver}' choice queens, and this spring three 

 of them were proved to have foul brood. 

 The entire stands were destroyed. This 

 again cost me a fine sum of money. It 

 would be far otherwise, if we would more 

 closely watch our native bees, and from 

 year to year note what stock distinguishes 

 itself beyond the others, and make these 

 the standards from which to rear our 

 queens,and I believe we would improve our 

 race of bees without costing us so much 

 monc}'. 



President. It might, perhaps, be inter- 

 esting should Mr. Dorr explain how the 

 foul brood irot into his hives, Avhether it 



was imported with the Italian bees, or 

 whether from a peculiar character of the 

 Italian bee, which Avould in our climate 

 produce foul brood. 



Ilerr Dorr. From 1857 to 1863, as Sec- 

 retary of this Association, I received from 

 Dzierzon Italian Queens. The Associa- 

 tion of the Palaterate received from me 

 Queens. Yet not in one instance did foal 

 brood appear. In 1863 after the meeting 

 at Hanover occurred the discussion as to 

 the difference between the queens raised 

 by Dzierzon, and those imj^orted. 



In the spring of 1863 I received my tirst 

 queens from Mora, and the following Fall 

 foul brood made its appearance. At the 

 time I ascribed the appearance of foul 

 brood to a peculiar circumstance. A friend 

 of mine had some Italian queens in a triple 

 hive. He desired me to put it in order. 

 I agreed to do it, and had the hives 

 brought to my apiar3^ I then purchased 

 some honey from the honey dealers, for 

 feeding, and I believed that the foul brood 

 was caused by this honey. But it so hap- 

 pened that others, who in 1863 and 1864 

 received queens were as unfortunate as 

 myselfl Last year I tried some from Uhle, 

 but with the same result — foul brood. 



Prof. Baest. At what time did foul 

 brood appear most abundant ? 



Mr. Dorr. I have not yet concluded. 

 From the hundred, yes, hundreds of queens, 

 I have certain information of, I am con- 

 vinced that the queens reared in May, 

 June, and July are not foul-broody ; while 

 on the other hand, those raised in the Au- 

 tumn months, and those raised in Canton 

 Tessin and sent out by the farmers, are 

 nine-tenths of them foul-broody. Of the 

 former, hardly one fourth show themselves 

 foul-broody. Hence let the importing of 

 strange races of bees alone. If we had 

 spent for the aid of natural bee-keeping 

 in the Grand Dutchy of Hesse, the amount 

 of money expended for importing foreign 

 bees, bee-keeping here would be in a very 

 different stage. 



President. Judging from the remarks 

 of Mr. Dorr, it appears that foul brood is 

 imported with the Italians, and not a pe- 

 culiarity of that race. 



Mr. Dorr. I have one more remark to 

 make. I have, for example, often in Fall, 

 in order to quickly accomplish my work, 

 smoked the bees with a puff-ball, and in 

 the evening I opened the hive and placed 



