September, ItlOT 



'•57 



American Hee Journal j^^^^^gi^sg^j 



the disease appeared in the colonies 

 within 3 weeks witli syni[)tonis identi- 

 cal willi those produced by feeding the 

 scales of the disease. In the ropy 

 brown mass of the decaying larva; in 

 the disease wliich is produced experi- 

 mentally by feeding pure cultures of 

 BacUlus hirvoc there are found the same 

 large number of spores and rods as 

 when the disease is found in an apiary. 

 Pure cultures of Bacillus hiivac have 

 been olitained from the larva' dead from 

 the disease produced experimentally by 

 feeding pure cultures of Bacillus lar- 

 vae. 



Some ICuropcan investigators of 

 brood diseases omit the symptoms so 

 that it is imposible to tell which disease 

 they are investigating. Their descrip- 

 tions of micro-organisms also are en- 

 tirely too brief. These facts have led 

 to much confusion, and they necessitate 

 much additional work on the part of 

 other investigators. They have also 

 added to the present confusion. From 

 what can be gained from their papers, 

 the author is inclined to believe that 

 Burri has been working with Bacillus 

 larvae and has been referring to it as 

 the"baeillus diflkult of cultivation;" that 

 Maassen has been working with Bacil- 

 lus larvae and has been referring to it 

 as Bacillus brandcnburgiensis, and that 

 von Buttel - Reepen has referred to 

 Bacillus larvae as "B. burri." It is 

 hoped that this confusion may soon cease 

 to exist. 



In the study of Bacillus larvae on this 

 new medium some interesting additional 

 facts have been observed in the mor- 

 phology and cultural characters of this 

 organism wdiich will be given in a bul- 

 letin from this Bureau in the near fu- 

 ture. One fact is mentioned now be- 

 cause it seems to have caused one Ger- 

 man investigator, Dr. Albert Maassen, 

 to fall into error in the interpretation 

 of certain findings. This fact is that 

 this species. Bacillus larvae, produces 

 a large number of giant whips. (Giant 

 whips are at present believed to be in 

 some way a modification of flagella, the 

 motile organs of bacteria.) These giant 

 whips appear in pure cultures of Bacil- 

 lus larvae and persist there for a long 

 time. The structures which Maassen 

 evidently saw and reported in two dif- 

 ferent publications, naming them Spiro- 

 chaeta apis, are nothing other than 

 giant wdiips which normally belong to 

 Bacillus larvae and which are formed 

 by the growth of Bacillus larvae in the 

 larvae of the bee. 



Maassen seems to have no further 

 evidence that the structures which he 

 saw are spirochetes than what could 

 be gained by a microscopic examination 

 of the remains of the dead larvae which 

 had suffered from this disease. The 

 appearance which he interprets as a 

 spirochaete in the process of division 

 can be seen in the giant whips obtained 

 from pure cultures of- Bacillus larvae. 

 These giant whips are found in the 

 decaying larvae which are dead from 

 American foul brood experimentally 

 produced by feeding pure cultures of 

 Bacillus larvae. 



The author has observed these struc- 

 tures in a large number of examinations 

 of American foul brood, especially in 



the hanging-drijp preparations made di- 

 rectly from the dead larvie. There is 

 notliing else cimtained in the dead lar- 

 v.'c which can be seen that resembles a 

 spiroch;e(e.*and since Maassen made no 

 mention of the giant whips fomid there 

 so abundantly, it is quite certain that lie 

 has made this mistake. 



This preliminary note will be fol- 

 lowed by a bulletin which will contain 

 in full the results of recent investiga- 

 tions by others on the brood disease of 

 bees and a detailed account of the work 

 done here. 



The results may be summarized as 

 follows : 



(i) In previous publications the au- 

 thor has made no claim that Bacillus 

 larvae is the cause of American foul 

 lirood. 



(2) .\ medium has been devised by 

 which cultures of Bacillus larvae mav 



be obtained in large (|uantilie^ suitalile 

 for experimeiUal inoculation. This mc- 

 <lium consists of the sterile filtrate ob- 

 tained by diluting and filtering the 

 crushed bodies of bee-larva- throuah a 

 Herkefeld or other fine filter. 



(3) American foul brood has been 

 pr(jduced by feeding pure cultures of 

 Bacillus larvae, and the symptoms of 

 the disease are the same as those pro- 

 duced by feeding the scales of this 

 dicase and as those observed in the 

 apiary wdiere colonies are aflfected with 

 this disease. 



(4) The structures described by Doc- 

 tor -Maassen, of Dahlcm. Germany, as 

 spirocluctes and named by him Spiro- 

 chaeta apis are not spirochetes, but 

 normal structures produced by the 

 growth of Bacillus larvae. These are 

 known in bacteriology as giant whips. 



Washington. D. C. 



^eedoin M 



Conducted by LOUIS H. SCROLL. New Braunfels. Tex. 



Shallow Divisible Hives— What 

 Depth Should They Be ? 



Mr. Loris H.Scholl: — I have been in- 

 terested in your mention of the divisible- 

 brood-chamber hive. I have used prin- 

 cipally the 8-frame dovetail for an ex- 

 tracted-honey bive, and like it quite w-ell. 

 But for a few years I have used some 

 hives that were the same size except 

 that they are just 7 inches deep. I like 

 them, and think of putting in an entire 

 apiary in that size of hive. One or two 

 of them make a good winter hive, and 

 in the honey season I would tier up as 

 far as necessary. I think the bees ripen 

 a super of these combs so that only ripe 

 honey will come from them better than 

 they will supers of greater depth. I 

 would like to know what objection you 

 would have to this depth in compari- 

 son with the one you are using? 



I hope to get out to Texas some day 

 to see the country, but it is so big I fear 

 I would not get over much of it. 



'Referring to the above, I think of us- 

 ing Hoi¥man style of frame, closed-end 

 only 2 or 2' 2 inches. What would you 

 recommend? Harry Lathrop. 



Bridgeport. Wis., May 16. 



Localities differ! So do bee-keepers! 

 Yet. / do not think that locality makes 

 much difference with some kinds of 

 hives, as some are more adapted to all 

 kinds of localities than are others. 



The right kind of management must 

 go with the hive, however. Do not try 

 to handle shallow, divisible, brood-cham- 

 ber hives like you would a deep-frame 

 hive. Leave the handling of combs be- 

 hind, and handle the shallow chambers. 



The combs need hardly ever be handled 

 except when the honey is to come out of 

 them in the extracting house. You 

 would not handle sections individually, 

 and brush ofif the bees in the apiary, 

 but take off by .supers full. 



The 9-inch depth hive is too deep for 

 me to accomplish just ivhat I zvant. I 

 have tried it, and the Danzenbakcr and 

 Acme hives. It is very rarely that I 

 use only one section, (as I call all of 

 my shallow hive-bodies), for a brood- 

 nest, except once in a while for hiving 

 shaken swarms; but even then an empty 

 one is placed beneath it and soon be- 

 comes half of the brood-chamber proper. 

 Two or more sections are always used 

 throughout the greater part of the en- 

 tire season, and for the majority of my 

 colonies. The bees generally winter in 

 3 sections, the upper one cnntaining 

 honey. 



The Ideal sections I use for my hives 

 are the regular shallow extracting su- 

 pers on the market, with shallow sH- 

 inch deep Hoffman frames, V-edgc end- 

 bars, the kind I would recommend after 

 trying all kinds of frames thoroughly. 

 The only trouble wttli these regular- 

 style frames is that the top-bars are too 

 wide. I am using and prefer one only 

 J^-inch wide and J^-inch thick, full, and 

 no groove for inserting foundation, as 

 this only weakens the top-bars. The 

 groove is not needed for fastening 

 foundation, especially since our frames 

 are used again and again in bulk comb- 

 honey production, after the comb has 

 been cut out. This should cheapen the 

 frames all around, as they are easier 

 to make than those put out now. I 

 shall have several thousand more made 

 this fall. 



